Linda Sue Bost

Linda Sue Bost died of Lawrence died April 5, 2022, at home, surrounded by her loved ones. Linda was born in Mammoth Spring, AR on April 9, 1950, to Otis and Lola (Hedrick) England, the youngest of three and the only girl.

Linda spent most of her childhood in Eudora, KS, graduating from Eudora High School in 1968. Shortly after graduation she married Dan Hallmark. They lived in Minnesota and then Warsaw, MO until his death in 1973.

In March of 1974 she married the love of her life, Jim Bost. She was his “Susie” and he was her “Jimmy” and together they built a life full of love, laughter and adventures.

Jim and Linda were a true partnership, whether it was working together to build a successful plumbing business or hunting together, where Linda was as good a shot as any man. Jim and Linda raised two sons and their house was always full of boys, playing video games or soaking in the hot tub. She was a mother to all their friends and loved to feed, counsel and when needed, chastise the hoard of young men who seemed to always be filling her home.

While home was the place, she loved the most, she also loved to travel and see and experience new places. For their 25th anniversary, they traveled to London and the surrounding countryside. Linda enjoyed visiting the castles, churches, villages and most especially the Chelsea Flower Show. Estes Park, CO was a yearly trip and Linda cherished the mountains, the wildlife and sitting beside Fall River, listening to the gurgling water, and chatting. She and Jim packed up their dog, Lola, and meandered through the south, down to Biloxi, Baton Rouge, and San Antonio, visiting military cemeteries and soaking up the good food and atmosphere. Charleston was one of her all-time favorites, and she loved visiting Chicago and another special trip was seeing the cranes in Nebraska.

Linda worked many places during her lifetime but two stand out – McQueen’s, the jewelry store and Undercover, the lingerie store. She told such great stories about both and made life-long friends.

One of the great loves of Linda’s life was gardening and caring for her flowers. She was also a fervent reader and an outstanding cook, known for her lasagna and pies. She bought a piano, so her sons could learn to play and when they wouldn’t, she took lessons herself. Her house is filled with her own paintings. Most of her family and friends have been gifted with something she knitted for them, another one of her passions. There was not a lot that Linda wasn’t interested in and couldn’t do.

If you asked her, however, she would probably say her greatest achievement was being NeNe (grandma) to her grandsons. If everyone in the world had a NeNe as devoted and interested and involved as Linda, the world would be a better place. She never got too old or too tired to read another story or get down on the floor to play dinosaurs. She built child sized rocket ships out of boxes and filled her dining room with trains and toys. She gave them not only love but TIME, true uninterrupted time, and her full attention.

Linda was diagnosed with cancer in 2003. While her health fluctuated, her passion for life and the people around her never wavered. She spent the last nineteen years of her life not dying but living every minute she was given.

She is survived by her husband, Jim, sons Derek and Paul (Megan) and grandsons Henry and Steele, all of Lawrence, her brother, Jerry England of Lee’s Summit, MO and her sister-in-law Linda England of Davenport, IA, many cousins, nieces, and nephews. She was preceded in death by her parents and her brother, Bryan and her sister-in-law, Peggy England.

A Celebration of Life service will be held 11:00 am, Saturday, May 7, 2022, at St. Margaret’s Episcopal Church, 5700 W. 6th Street, Lawrence, KS, 66049, followed by a luncheon. It is Linda’s heartfelt wish that everyone come dressed casually and be comfortable. Jim will be in shorts, as she wished, but she nixed his favorite Hawaiian shirt.

To live in hearts we leave behind is not to die.” Thomas Campbell

Linda will always live in our hearts.