Linda Kay Soderstrom

Linda Kay Soderstrom passed away April 30, 2015. The family requests private family services. Cremation arrangements are under the direction of Walker-Brown Funeral Home. Linda was born May 6, 1947 about 9 months after daddy, Perry, came home from WWII. She was born in Hamburg, Iowa, as was her mother, Wanda, and also her grandmother, Gladys Hayes. She has strong family roots in Iowa. In 1947, soon after Linda was born, Perry and Wanda were both baptized into the SDA church. In 1949, when Perry felt a strong call from God to be a SDA minister, the family moved to Lincoln, Nebraska to attend Union College, they lived there until 1953 when he graduated. In 1950, Linda was made a big sister when Susan was born. She loved Susan greatly because she was the most beautiful baby anyone had ever seen in their lives and Linda absolutely loved babies and baby dolls so she was one happy little girl. When Perry graduated from Union College the family moved again to Lander, Wyoming where Perry had his first job as a pastor of the Lander church. Linda and Susan were absolutely adored as the Pastors daughters and every head would turn when the Pedersen girls walked into church. To Linda's great disappointment her second sister, Jan, was born and another disappointment was that she was a girl. Linda always told Jan that she was supposed to be a boy. (Linda always did like the boys.) But again, Linda loved babies and Mom said Linda would pinch Jan's foot to make her cry so she could have an excuse to pick her up and hold her. In 1955, after two years in Lander, the family moved again to Casper, Wyoming where they lived until 1960. Linda attended a one room, one teacher SDA school that provided 1st through 8th grade education. She went there from 3rd to a few weeks of 8th grade. At the beginning of the 8th grade the family moved once again, this time to Minneapolis, Minnesota where she attended Minneapolis Junior Academy for her 8th, 9th and 10th grades. Her junior and senior years she attended Maplewood Academy, a SDA boarding school an hour’s drive from Minneapolis. Linda hated the rules and regulations and restrictions of Maplewood, but loved the friendships and excitement of breaking the rules. Her parents received many calls from the school about her having more "fun" than was allowed. Linda met Don Soderstrom at the Southview SDA church where the families attended services. Linda graduated from MWA in May of 1965. The war in Vietnam was going strong and the draft loomed over her male friends’ heads. She attended Union College in Lincoln, Nebraska for her freshmen year in 1965. She loved college and the friends that she made there. She was in love with Don by then and knew he was the one. They became engaged their freshmen year at Union. She stayed home the next year so she could work and save money to help with the wedding expenses. Don and Linda were married June 2, 1968. They moved to Lincoln after the wedding so Don could continue his schooling. That summer Daddy was asked to come to the Central Union Conference in Lincoln to work so the rest of the family followed Linda back to Nebraska. (They didn't want to let her out of their sight for too long.) They had a daughter, Kristine, Nov. 3, 1969 and son Richard, Jan. 30, 1972. Linda and Don lived in Lincoln from 1968 to 1974 at which time they moved to Burlington, Iowa. In 1980 they left Iowa to make Ochelata, OK and the Bartlesville area their permanent home. Linda was preceded in death by her father, Perry Pedersen and her mother, Wanda Hayes Pedersen. She is survived by her husband, Don Soderstrom, two sisters; Susan White of Columbia, MD and Jan Kramer of Redlands, California, daughter, Kristine McLaughlin of Ochelata and son Rick, Soderstrom of Bartlesville, plus five grandchildren that were the center of her world.

Linda Kay Soderstrom

May 6, 1947 - April 30, 2015