June 4, 1946 — Dec. 27, 2022
Linda Patricia Adler left us too soon. We weren’t ready to say goodbye and neither was she — and yet, here we are, writing her obituary. It’s not enough to simply write someone’s life story in 500 words or less — that doesn’t seem right. We’ll need a lifetime to tell her story, a story that she herself wasn’t ready to stop writing — but maybe that’s the point — we’re her legacy and we’ll continue to honor her life in everything we do.
Nevertheless, an obituary must be written, and while the limited snapshot provided here won’t do justice to her lived experiences, talents, and joys, it’s a start.
To begin, the way we choose to remember Linda is smothered in her grandsons’ love and cuddles, baking brownies, barking at Louie to come in from the cold, changing over the laundry, and nervously watching football games every Sunday afternoon with her hair in curlers.
We’ll remember and cherish her love for empty shoe boxes, all things office supplies, her 1967 Camaro, dragon flies, unfinished quilts, and the color purple. Honestly, it could be a purple oven mit and she would swoon over it — simply because it was purple. THAT was our Linda.
The Linda our community knew was more guarded and proper, but engaging and warm regardless of the setting. She was a study in humility, kindness, wit, and patience. She preferred to work behind the scenes in her work and philanthropy. She despised being the center of attention but loved to help others.
Obituary formulas say we need to provide background. So here you go.
Linda Patricia Adler, passed away suddenly and unexpectedly on Dec. 27, 2022.
She is survived by her husband, Louis J. Adler, her only son, Zachary R. Adler, her daughter-in-law, Carmen R. Adler, her two grandsons and lights of her life, Blakely Adler (8) and Jacob Adler (4), and her brother, Donald Hoyle. We are all still reeling with her passing and working on picking up the pieces after one’s matriarch dies without warning.
What happens next? We’ll figure it out together.
Linda was born to Robert and Phyllis Hoyle on June 4, 1946, in Los Angeles, Calif. She would often tell us stories about sailing and fishing the waters between the mainland and Catalina Island on her father’s sailboat. In the way that life moves, she found herself living in Eugene, Ore. and fell in love with Louis J. Adler, of Creswell. They wed on June 5, 1976. They were married for 47 years and had just begun discussing possible plans for their 50th anniversary trip — her heart was set on a trip to Harry Potter World.
We’ll make it happen for you, Linda, we promise.
Linda became a mother on Jan. 21, 1982, as she and Louis welcomed their only child, a son, Zachary Ryan Adler, into the world. Zach was her pride and joy.
He gave her heartburn and gave her a run for her money, but, damn, she loved him with her whole heart.
Linda welcomed her daughter-in-law to the family, when Zach married Carmen on Aug. 10, 2008. Several years later and after expressing her discontent with simply being a grand-dog-mother, Linda became a grandmother to Blakely William Adler, on March 10, 2014, and she was smitten. She added another to her grandson brood on Sept. 24, 2018, when Jacob Henry Adler was born. He was her baby.
Her grandsons brought her endless joy and pride, kept her young, and were the topic of most of her conversations for the past eight years.
Throughout her adult life, Linda worked as an accountant at West Lawn Memorial, Jones and Roth CPA, and South Lane Fire & Rescue. She loved her work and the people she met in her day to day professional life but she especially loved the South Lane Fire & Rescue family. She adored the firehouse atmosphere and keeping tabs on “the guys.”
She retired from the fire station exactly one year to the day of her passing.
Yes, we’re mad about that, too. Chalk it up to grief, but it just doesn’t seem fair.
We are grateful that, while she didn’t get much time to enjoy retirement, at least we know she loved where she worked and was loved and appreciated by her employer.
In her spare time, she was the treasurer of OSTC, a member of the Odd Fellows, and a member of a thriving Quilting Guild. She loved floating through these circles and being in the mix.
She was also an active member of the Creswell Boosters as her son, Zach, came up through the Creswell school system. She loved to go on quilting retreats, dinners with friends, and of course, to stop by Something to Crow about to pick up her Block of the Month quilting challenge.
But truly, what she loved the most was her family. Family was her everything and her grandsons were her world. We are committed to continuing her legacy by raising strong, kind-hearted boys with the love of their grandmother inside of them. We know that would make her proud.
We will be having a memorial service for the rock of our family, Linda Patricia Adler, on Saturday, Jan. 7, from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. at Smith-Lund-Mills Funeral Chapel, 123 South Seventh St. in Cottage Grove. It is a drop-in style service. Come, share a memory, give a hug, and have a quiet moment of remembrance with Linda.
And you better believe her casket is purple — anything less would be criminal.
Feel free to share this information, as, while Linda was a humble woman who preferred to stay out of the limelight, she cherished the friendships, private moments, conversations, and fellowship she shared with so many in our community.
We just know that she would love it if she got to have one last moment with you.
