Linda Tamburelli

Linda Marie Tamburelli, 66, lost a very courageous battle with cancer on Saturday, Dec. 6, 2008. We have lost a loving wife, a generous mother, a devoted grandmother, sister and the best friend anybody could possibly have.

Linda was born on Jan. 14, 1942, in Yuba City, Calif., to Nolan Audra Lewis and Hulda Marie Lewis. Linda spent her childhood in Yuba City with her sister, Susan, and her brother, Nolan (Butch). In 1959, Linda met the love of her life at the state fair. Mike and Linda started their nearly 50 years together and the adventure of a lifetime by marrying on July 2, 1960. In June of 1966, Mike and Linda started their family with a young boy named Joseph and later a beautiful girl, Christina.

Mike and Linda decided in 1976 to pack up their family and move to the rugged hills of Montana. They spent many days building a mobile home park in Columbia Falls. Linda managed the trailer park until she graciously left us. After 12 years of having a beautiful family of four, what a blessed surprise, a baby boy of their own, Michael, was born in January 1978.

Linda loved to go boating, fishing, water skiing and traveling between Montana and Arizona. Mike and Linda have had the best years of their lives traveling — seeing the world and meeting new friends on each journey. Linda battled cancer off and on for the past 20 years. Cancer slowed her down occasionally but it never got her spirits. Linda’s hardest struggle in life was watching her baby girl, Christina, pass away from cancer in 1995. Through all the trips to doctors, Linda still had a smile on her face and took time to spend with each of her grandchildren.

Linda was preceded in death by her daughter, Christina; mother, Marie; father, Nolen; mother-in-law, Angelina; and father-in-law, Mike.

Linda leaves behind her devoted husband, Mike; son, Joe, wife, Tammy and their children, Courtney, Angie and Joey; son, Michael, wife, Maria, and their children, Mickey and Kristina, Taylor, and Hunter; sister, Susan from Colorado; brother, Butch, wife Brenda, and their children, Aaron and Rebecca from California; and son-in-law, Rory Schwalk.

A visitation was scheduled Wednesday, Dec. 10 from 1 to 8 p.m. at the Columbia Mortuary in Columbia Falls.

A funeral service will be held Thursday, Dec. 11 at 11 a.m. at the Columbia Mortuary in Columbia Falls. Burial will follow in Woodlawn Cemetery.

The family would like to invite all friends and family to join them at the Columbia Falls Fire Department afterwards for a luncheon and to share wonderful memories of Linda. We rejoice in the time we were given with Linda but are saddened by her early departure. God bless you, Linda. You will be dearly missed!