Linda Louella Luinstra, "Linda Lou", age 66, died at Mercy Hospital unexpectedly in the early hours of Sept. 21, 2015. She was born on Jan. 16, 1949, in Winona, MN, to John and Mary (Earle) Stanek. She attended Winona public schools, graduating from Winona Senior High in 1967. She graduated from Winona Vocational School with a Business Admin/Secretarial degree. In 1979, she moved to Janesville, WI, and began a career as a Avon Sales Representative, which she truly enjoyed. She worked for Prent Corporation in Janesville, retiring in 2014, after 20+ years of employment. Linda was a member of St. Mary's Catholic Church.
Linda had many different hobbies and passions. She loved fishing as a child with her father on the Mississippi River and telling stories of her childhood with her siblings. She enjoyed cooking new recipes and made amazing family meals. Family and friends loved her "tasty treats". She enjoyed sewing, crocheting, and crafting. She also had a passion for shopping! She loved to put on extravagant garage sales and enjoyed the hunt for treasures at garage sales. She loved to attend classic car shows, enjoyed reading books and collecting them. Linda was a proficient typist and took great pride in perfect penmanship when handwriting long letters. Linda loved her dogs, Mitzie, Summer and Cheyenne. She loved to decorate for the holidays and show off her collections. She loved to laugh, enjoyed watching movies and always wanted to be on television game shows. She was very competitive and loved to play board games or cards. Linda loved a nice long telephone conversation if you were willing to lend an ear. She enjoyed dancing, dressing up and playing bingo. Most of all, she loved her children and would often say that she wanted nothing to change but for us boys to be young again, so she could have another go with us. She was the proudest grandma ever, happy for her sons and their beautiful healthy children and families, always showing off pictures of her grandchildren any chance she got.
Surviving are her three sons and grandchildren: Shannon (Katie) Luinstra of Chicago, IL, and Maddie, Caden, and Delaney; Shawn (Shanna) Luinstra of Phoenix, AZ; Shayn (Helen) Luinstra of Poynette, WI, and Xander and Lyllian; Linda's significant other, Richard Cook of Janesville; her brothers and sisters: Jill Ehlen, Lana "Bananna" Williams, Larry Stanek, Lucy Wittenberg, Tim Stanek, Heidi Jones, and Terry Stanek. Linda was preceded in death by her parents John and Mary Stanek.
A Celebration Of Life for Linda will be held at the JANESVILLE MOOSE CLUB, 2701 W. Rockport Rd., Janesville, on Saturday, Sept. 26, 2015, from 2 until 6 p.m. This is open to all family and friends of Linda.
Memorial contributions are welcomed. Please go to http://www.gofundme.com/ev4sb638.
Shannon, Shawn, and Shayn would like to personally thank all of our friends and family that have reached out with support in our time of need! We are thankful for all the prayers that are sometimes left unheard but never forgotten. We greatly appreciate and feel blessed for the donations given to us to help pay for all of these unexpected expenses.