LINDA MERKEL

1948 - 2021

LINDA S. MERKEL  
Linda Merkel died on Monday, February 1, 2021, in Baltimore, MD, due to blood cancer (MDS) and congestive heart failure. She was 72 years old.  Linda was born in Grand Forks, ND, on May 1, 1948. She met her future husband, David, in her first year as an English teacher in a junior high school in Fernandina Beach, FL. They later taught as a teaching couple in Yokohama, Japan, and Silver Spring, MD. After her two children entered elementary school, Linda returned to the classroom in two Catholic schools in Kensington and Bethesda, MD. In her last school, she also served as assistant principal and acting principal. After an educational career of 36 years, she retired in 2012. Linda and her husband, David, were married for 49 years. She is survived by her husband, two sons and daughters-in-law: Stuart and Michele, in Baltimore, MD, and Steven and Ashley, in Edmond, OK, plus four grandchildren, also a sister, Sandy, in Nashville, TN and a brother, John, in Sioux Falls, SD.  Linda was a lifetime knitter, and everyone who knew her was in awe of her needlework talents. In particular, she knitted and donated hundreds of exquisite baby blankets for the Christ Child Society in Washington. Linda loved people, and her love was reciprocated in countless ways. She will be remembered fondly by her family, friends, and members of her school communities, especially the thousands of students whose lives she helped to mold. We will all miss her greatly. Because of the pandemic, a memorial service will be planned for a later time. Her family requests that any donations be made to mds-foundation.org.