Linda Longtin McCurdy

I’ve put off creating my profile until now. Once started, I couldn’t seem to stop and I’ve really enjoyed the exercise. I won’t be hurt if anyone decides not to read it…it's pretty long.

Michael says now my obituary will be easy to write. I say, let’s put that off for awhile!

Here goes…

I was born in 1943 in Kansas City, Missouri. My father was in the Army and my mother entertained for the USO with her Marionettes. They met and then married five weeks later. My first home was a tiny Air Stream trailer in which, after my father’s discharge from the Army, we traveled to California.

I survived Polio when I was eight, Asian flu/pneumonia when I was 15 and breast cancer at 61.

As a small child my family traveled a lot. I don’t really remember why but I do remember going to numerous schools before settling in Sacramento when I was eight/3rd grade. In Sacramento I attended American Legion Grammar School (3rd), Immaculate Conception Elementary School (4th), Riverside Elementary School (5th), Holy Spirit School (6-8th), Saint Francis School (9th), McClatchy High School (10-12th) and Sacramento City College.

I remember 5th grade at Riverside very well. This was the first time in my life that I stayed somewhere long enough to make friends. I remember so well Lin Feil, Jud Callahan (my first crush), Nanci Blumhart, Bea Bell, Cathy Hattersley, Fran Marshall, Marion Weatherhead, Terry Abell, David Coombs, Jim Doolittle and so many others.

Holy Spirit was the Wymores, Hank Crowle, Marty Henderson, Carole Decetis, Mary Hossack (and her really cute brother, Andy), Jim Cordano, Jim and Janice Kassis, the Panatonni’s, and so many more…I think our class had about 60 kids in it. Especially remember Sister Mary Stanislaus who was very tall and had really large nostrils. Also, report cards were handed out by Monsignor McCuen (spelled wrong, I’m sure). Scary guy…he called us up to the front of the room one by one. He looked at your report card and then made comments on your grades.

I’ve lived in Sacramento since 1951. During that time I have lived in Oak Park, Old Land Park, South Land Park, Curtis Park, Hollywood Park, Sierra Oaks, Wilhaggen, Elk Grove, and Sierra Oaks Vista. We have just bought a new house on the American River and now are selling the house I’ve been in for the last fifteen years.

I’ve been married three times. First to Bob Beach. We had one child, Jeni, who is 44. Bob died in 1998, long after our marriage ended.

I married Wayne Johnson in 1973. We had two children, Amy, who is 34 and Steven who died at birth. I also acquired two wonderful step sons, David and Scott, who remain a part of my family. As of now I have five grandchildren under the age of 5. Sage, Josh, Sierra, Andrew and Amber.

I married Michael McCurdy in 1998. Michael has five children, Tracey, Keri, Tyler, Mindyn, and Kelsey. He has at least 11 grandchildren and probably more coming.

I lost my father to cancer in 1995 and my mother to heart disease in 1998. Both were still very much in love and completely committed to each other.

It took a while for me to find my career. I started out as the cashier and candy girl in my father’s theatres, the Guild and the Encore, when I was 15. I rarely saw American movies, but saw many, many foreign films during that time and Spartacus about 200 times.

After I married Bob, I was a homemaker and a stay at home mother until I went to work as a proofreader when Bob lost his job. I moved up into computer typesetting, preparing resolutions and newsletters for various State Assemblymen. I did this for about five years and then took a position with Assemblyman Robert Badham, of Newport Beach, in his Sacramento office. After about a year I was offered, and accepted, a lobbying position for a firm that represented various clients including Locally Elected Officials, School Bus Owners, Shopping Center Developers, etc. I believe I was the second (paid) woman lobbyist in the State of California.

I didn’t like the lobbying business and so returned to the Assembly, working for Assemblyman Bob Beverly, and the Energy Committee. I married Wayne and had my wonderful daughter, Amy.

In 1974, Wayne and I went into the scaffold business. He was the field person and I was the administration. For a year I did the bookkeeping at night and worked for the Legislature during the day. After that year I quit working for the Legislature and worked full time in our business. During the next 14 years we continued to build and expand the company and in 1988 we sold it to what was then the largest scaffold company in the world. As part of the sale, Wayne and I would continue to run the company, with each of us having three year contracts. What lessons we learned! We happily retired after the three years were over, built our dream house in Elk Grove, and lived out our non-compete agreements. We then started a small suspended scaffold business. Shortly after starting the business, in 1996, Wayne died very unexpectedly.

I decided to keep the business going and it became a successful operation in the Bay Area. I married Michael in 1998 and together we have started two more businesses and continue to run them. We have Performance Swing Stage in Hayward, SkyLine Scaffold in Sacramento and Big City Access in Houston and San Antonio.

My daughter Amy, son David, and husband Michael all work in the businesses and we see each other daily.

Michael and I have traveled a lot and have enjoyed many exciting adventures including scuba diving, boating the Delta and even taking our boat to Ensenada and back. (The “back” included almost getting killed because we got caught in an unexpected storm at sea.)

I’m a dog lover. I think I’ve had 25 in my lifetime: Hussy, Mutt, Blackie, Lady 1 and Lady 2, Zero, Mitzi, Sam, Cindy, Ernie, Lizzie, Strawberry and Squirt (mother and daughter, named by the kids), Rudi, Biscuit, Zack, Hank, Toto, Sam (the second), Lyle and Eric (named after the Menendez brothers because they behaved very badly), Jack, my marvelous Akita, Ike, Annie and Daisy. Ike will be 18 in December and is still with me. He’s pretty blind and very deaf but still looks like a young dog and is healthy but fragile.

Hobbies, at one time or another, include: Tennis, Reading, Photography, Collecting Art, Scuba Diving, Boating the Delta, Bird/Nature Watching, and Traveling.

Travels: Alaska, Japan, France, Italy, Spain, Hawaii, Mexico, Germany, Canada, England, Puerto Rico, Tahiti, China, Spain, the Bahamas, Portugal, Luxembourg, Monaco, Portugal, Puerto Rico, Vatican City and the best of all… trips to Fiji. Twice to the Wakaya Club (private island) and a one week live-aboard dive trip in the Fijian Ocean.

Thoughts on aging:
As Michael would say, “I’m pretty much against it!”
I say "It's better than the alternative".

Of course I’m attending our reunion. I’ve been to every one and can’t stop now. It’s been fun watching all of us change. I’ll miss the friends we’ve lost and, in the missing, cherish those of us who remain.