Linda Lee Rice
September 1, 1943 - December 25, 2024
Obituary
Linda was born September 1, 1943 in Springfield, Missouri. Her parents were John Garcia and Dorothy Hutchins. Linda had two younger brothers Jerry and Larry. Linda married Leonard Rice in December of 1965. Linda had 4 children, Lenny, Larry, Dorothy & Johnny. They moved to Seattle in early 1966. Dad would divorce mom in 1971 leaving mom to raise the four of us without much if any help. Linda was attacked at an early age which caused her to have seizures for the rest of her life. Linda would go to Highline College and get her cake decorating certificate and work for several years as a decorator in a bakery in Des Moines. Because of the seizures she would eventually lose that job, there were times later on when meds would help but due to the severity of the seizures she would be unable to work but that didn’t stop her from making cakes for pretty much anyone and everyone. Growing up that is what her kids would do, mix the cake batter or make up the frosting or of course our favorite, eat the extra cake that was left after she would cut the tops off to level out the cake.
Mom would continue to make cakes for just about anyone or any occasion, she especially loved to make theme cakes for not only her kids but later on her grandchildren and then her great grandchildren.
Linda loved Jesus and being somewhat new to the area and with 4 kids she would eventually make her way to BPPC in the mid 70’s. According to what mom had written down it was mainly in part due to Sharon B. (Richards at the time) inviting her to the single adult bible study & later Jan A. and her talking on the way to a Billy Graham revival. She would find a fantastic group of men and women here and would bring us kids and pray that we would not cause too much trouble as we often did. Mom loved to sing and sang in the choir for years until her vocal cord disorder would prevent her from singing out loud but she would always sing in her heart. I think that she would say that this was the hardest disability to deal with because it made it so difficult to talk and be understood at times. She didn’t however let this stop her from talking.
Linda served in many different areas here at BPC, she was a deaconess, wedding coordinator, and she would love to spend time with Kathy and would “help” in the office whenever she could. After Larry & Sandy got involved in Awana it was hard to keep Linda away as she wanted to be with the kids & adults and encourage them and pray for them. Linda practiced what she preached and earned her Citation award in Awana which is the highest award that you can earn, it is the accumulation of 10 years of Bible reading and scripture memorization, over 800 verses.
In our eyes mom was the biggest prayer warrior in our lifetime and she would not pass up a chance to pray for you or your family or co-worker. Mom also loved to bless you with a card for whatever reason she deemed important. Mom was the biggest cheerleader for her kids, grandkids and great grandkids, she would never miss a chance if she could help it to attend a sporting event or whatever special event we had going on to encourage and praise us.
Linda is survived by her sister in law Sue Le, brother Larry (wife Barbara), her children, Lenny (wife Denise), Larry (wife Sandy), Dorothy and Johnny. Grandkids, Rebecca (Husband Josh), Anthony (wife Reagan), Nicole (husband Spencer), Josh (wife Natalie), Angelica, Bryan, Derek & great grandkids, Kali, Kinsley, Emma, Cedric, Eli and numerous nieces and nephews.
I met Linda through Larry and Sandy in early 1980’s (high school days). Linda was a kind, pleasant and interesting person. Loved to get to know the kid’s friends. A great love for her kids and protecting them. Very creative and liked sharing anything she could knowledge, baking, crafting. She had a huge heart and didn’t let obstacles get in her path. She overcame a lot in life, but it shows how strong her will was and her soul never gave up.