Linda Sue Roesener

Linda Sue Collier was born in Palo Alto, California on November 8, 1948 to Charles and Evelyn Collier. With her curly blond hair and big blue eyes, she soon captured the hearts of her whole family, particularly her big brothers Rob and Skip. When she was just a toddler, her family moved to Lakewood, Colorado where she spent the rest of her childhood. Linda grew up in the 1950’s in a neighborhood of growing families, at a time when all the kids on the block played outside until dark and dressed up in their prettiest party dresses for each other’s birthdays. On the first day of kindergarten, Linda decided she was going to be a teacher. Each day, when she came home from school, she would play teacher and she corralled her younger sister Barb into being the class. As a result, she managed to teach Barb to read long before she ever started school. Linda was a voracious reader and she had an ability, even when she was very young, to read aloud using different voices for all the characters. She could make any book come alive. Her favorite book as a child was “Misty of Chincoteague” and her favorite TV shows were “Fury”, “My Friend Flicka” and “Roy Rogers”. One of the few times she got into trouble as a child was when she punched one of the neighbor kids in the nose because he told her she didn’t look at all like Dale Evans. She also loved to sing and as a child she tried to sing exactly like Dinah Shore. Linda had a great love for all animals, but particularly dogs and horses. Many summers were spent training her dog Ringo and the neighborhood dogs to jump over the red wagon, sit, come when she called or run a circuit in the backyard. For Christmas, she always asked for a horse but never thought it would happen. When she was about 11 or 12, though, the much-desired horse finally appeared. Riding became one of Linda’s strongest passions all through junior high and high school. She and her horses, Cha Cha and later Flicka, joined Westernaires, a precision riding group in the Denver area, and they spent each weekend riding with the group. Westernaires became a very important part of Linda’s life, and she rode on several different teams, including the Precisionettes Drill Team, the elite team at that time. She even took up barrel racing, much to her mother’s dismay! It was through Westernaires that she met her lifelong friend, Lynda Patterson. Linda’s love for horses continued throughout the rest of her life. She had numerous horses over the years, each one with its own personality, and Linda cherished them all. Linda went to grade school at South Lakewood Elementary, to junior high at Creighton Junior High, and to high school at Lakewood High. She was very involved in school activities, and she was always the kind of girl who included people rather than excluding them. She loved writing and communication, so it seemed that she always ended up as the secretary of her class or student body or current organization. At Lakewood High School she was also on the drill team, which performed at all basketball games. After graduating from high school in 1967, Linda went to Colorado State University, where she graduated with a B.A. in English and Speech and an M.S. in Reading Education. In addition to being a student, Linda worked for Boettcher & Company, a Denver investment brokerage firm, did student teaching in Steamboat, Colorado and worked at the CSU Animal Reproduction Lab, working with horses and cattle. In the Spring of 1971, while still a student at CSU, during the annual College Days celebration at Ramblewood apartments, she met Rick Roesener, an undergraduate CSU student and fellow Ramblewood resident. They became fast friends and inseparable shortly after meeting, and later she would become his soulmate and life-long partner. After graduation for both, they took up residence in central Fort Collins until their wedding on May 18th, 1974 in her hometown of Lakewood in her childhood church, Lakewood Methodist. In 1976, Linda and Rick purchased their first house in southeast Fort Collins and it would be home for the next 27 years. Linda continued her work at the CSU Animal Reproduction Laboratory while Rick was employed at Advertising Development Specialists, one of the first advertising agencies in northern Colorado. After a few years, Linda realized her life-long dream of teaching, landing a job as an English and Reading Education teacher at the newly opened Boltz Junior High School. Regretfully, eight-graders proved to be too much for Linda’s positive outlook, and she left teaching. In 1980 Linda joined the agency which she and Rick had purchased from the founder in 1977. She became a steading force for the business taking on copywriting and editing, bookkeeping, office management and any other tasks that needed to be done. For the next four years they continued to build the business and enjoyed trips to the Napa wine country; Hawaii, with sister Barbara and Brother-in-Law Patrick, and Ixtapa Mexico with dear friends Lee and Sandy Diel. On June 1st, 1984 Linda and Rick’s lives changed forever as they joyously celebrated the birth of their first child, welcoming Lauren Alissa into the world. She quickly became the center of their universe and accompanied her doting parents everywhere. Nearly six years later, another joyous occasion was celebrated as Linda gave birth to Spencer Allan on May 15th, 1990- the son she had always wanted. With the family now complete, Linda took reins of the household, shepherding Lauren and Spencer through grade school, junior high and high school homework, activities, adolescences, their dating years and into college all while continuing and expanding her role in the marketing agency she loved so much. In December of 1997, Linda and her family realized the completion of their dream home in southeast Fort Collins where she and Rick lived to this day. With Lauren and Spencer grown and through college and meaningful careers, Linda’s joy in life became spending time with her adult kids, dear friends, husband Rick and their business. Linda’s guilty pleasures included Sunday morning coffee on the back patio with her husband and dogs, watching the sun rise above the pear trees, admiring her flowers and her love of deserts- a reputation that preceded her everywhere she went with family. In September of 2018 the family received the devastating news of Linda’s diagnosis of grade 4 glioblastoma brain cancer. Despite the terminal diagnosis Linda, never once waivered from her faith that God would look out for her, and never once lost the infectious smile or positive attitude that she was known for. During the depths of her treatment including two surgeries, multiple radiation treatments and countless chemo regimens, it was Linda who propped up her family members whom she referred to as her “army”. Her favorite saying early-on was “I’m going to kick cancer’s butt”! Next to the birth of her children, Linda’s proudest day as a mama was witnessing and participating in Lauren’s beautiful wedding to Rob Nelson on Saturday October 13th, 2018. On November 24th, Linda and Rick visited the Broadmoor in Colorado Springs, re-creating their honeymoon visit 44 years earlier. During the months after her diagnosis Linda and the family enjoyed fine dining, untold Happy Hours, and travel to Palm Springs, and to Arizona to see Spencer and companion Kalyn. On one Arizona trip Linda cajoled the five other family members into a visit to the iFly indoor skydiving facility in Phoenix. The laughter and beaming smile on her face during her three rides will be etched in our memories forever. Linda continued to enjoy the other love of her life, Lola, her 14-year old, registered Quarter Horse she acquired in 2009. Lola gave Linda daily happiness visiting, feeding, and brushing her pride and joy. After her second surgery in August 2019 and her condition growing more concerning, Linda, Rick, Lauren and Rob visited the Napa Wine Country for the last time. The winery visits, the hikes in the Napa hills, and quiet moments in the California sun seemed to complete her life. With travel behind her, Linda enjoyed CSU football games with family and friends, reflective moments at home, and getting to celebrate her birthday, Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year’s one last time. Linda will be remembered for her ALWAYS positive attitude, radiant smile, and gorgeous blue eyes. She seldom angered and never had a cross word for anyone. For those in stress or anxiety around her, her favorite advice was ”… take a deep breath and relax.” Linda, wife, mother, sister, aunt, friend to many, and businesswoman, will be missed by all those whose lives she touched. Rest in Peace, Sweet Girl- we all love you very, very much.

Linda Sue Roesener

March 14, 2020