Linda Peterson Emerson

Linda Emerson was beautiful, imaginative and inventive. She was an artist whose strong emphasis on imagination combined with her considerable talent to create beauty, whimsy, and new perspectives on shape and form. She learned to work in a wide variety of mediums as an art student at the University of Utah, where she earned a BFA. Most of her work was on canvas, and whether she used oils, watercolors or chalk, her artwork stood out as unique interpretations of the world around her.

Over the years, Linda had many art shows to highlight her work. Her dear friend, Peter Barnes, assisted her. He developed an Internet site to showcase and catalog her works, which can still be viewed at linda-emerson.com.

Linda never met a stranger. She loved people and because she always found everyone she met interesting, she easily connected with them. Linda knew how to celebrate and to revel in the joys of community. She created events for her family and new found and long time friends to come together and share their stories, their ideas, and their insights. Her birthday party, always thrown on April 13th, was legendary. For over 25 years she hosted a Christmas party dedicated to the people she met in the art world, and for them Christmas will never be the same.

Linda loved animals, particularly dogs, children, her friends, her family and her husband of almost thirty years. She was an avid gardener, loved to sail, played croquet with flair, had a fondness for perfume and jewelry, and was happiest when she was at her summer home. She was also deeply loved by her family and friends.

Linda will be lovingly remembered by her family as generous, wonderfully eccentric, and gifted with a warm and open heart. For every occasion, and no occasion other than being together, Linda gave perfume to all the "girls" in the family. With each spritz of an exotic scent, they will remember her. Perhaps she knew of the quote from Henry Scott Holland when he asks, "Why should I be out of mind because I am out of sight?"

Linda died peacefully at home on July 17th after a long and arduous battle with colon cancer. She is mourned by her husband George, her sisters, many nieces and nephews, great nephews and nieces, and her beloved friends.

They will celebrate her special life on Saturday, August 23 from 1:00 - 3:00. To all of you who remember Christmas, you know where the celebration will be. Linda would have loved this invitation.