Linda Arlene Goelman

The love of my life, Linda (Lind) A. Goelman left this plane of existence for parts unknown. Linda was born in a small shack near Chadwick, Missouri on what I assume to be a beautiful autumn day in the Ozarks. At two years of age, her parents moved from Missouri to California and then Oregon where her father Fred Tansey passed away from heart failure when Linda was the age of five. Her mother Nola remarried a man named George Deterich. Since Linda was so young,George became her father and she loved him very dearly. Linda grew up and like most of us, she made both some good and bad decisions which affected her life and the lives of those around her. At the tender age of forty-two, she met and fell in love with me (her husband Kerry). Although it was an unusual arrangement due to the age difference, we were so in love with each other that it didn't matter. We spent nearly twenty-one years together (twenty in marriage), when Ovarian Cancer took her from me. We were never financially well off, but Linda learned to enjoy life as best she despite the hardships she had in her life prior to our getting together. She showed me what a beautiful world we live in. A world I never knew existed until I saw it through her eyes. Linda was preceded in death by her father Fred Tansey, her step-father (who she knew as dad) George Deterich, her mother Nola Andrews-Tansey-Deterich, and her older brother Paul Tansey. She left behind two children, Robert Craig Smith and Stephanie Smith as well as six grand-children. There will be no service for Linda. I will be scattering her ashes at a place special to the both of us at some future date. I would like to thank the wonderful staffs at St Clare Hospital's Progressive Care Unit, St Josephs Oncology Unit and Intensive Care Unit, Dr. Bahman Saffari/Betty Stewart and their staff,and the staff of Orchard Park Care Center for trying to save her life and keep her with me just a little bit longer. I also would like to thank Franciscan Hospice for the comfort and care they gave to both of us in Linda's last days. Finally, I would like to thank my family, friends, and co-workers who openly let me cry, rage and otherwise vent my anger, sadness and frustration. Linda's life journey has ended, but myself and the rest of the world will go on, but it will be a sadder place without her in it.