Linda Frances Dow

Linda Frances Dow lived a beautiful life of 81 years.

She was born in Bremerton, Washington, in 1942, to Mary Amelia (Plovanic) Dow and Harold Francis Dow, who started their family with Linda and Marilyn as Dad worked in the Navy Shipyard in Bremerton during WWII. Our family moved to Bozeman and Lewistown, and settled in Billings in 1953. We were members of St. Patrick’s Parish and all of us kids attended Fratt School and Central Catholic High School. Linda was a “candy striper” (nurse’s assistant program) at St. Vincent Hospital and continued in nursing, earning her degree from Sacred Heart School of Nursing at Gonzaga University in Spokane, Washington.

After graduating, Linda moved to Seattle and started work at Children’s Hospital there. She worked nearly her entire career there and was well loved and respected for her skill in the OR, intelligence and loving heart.

In 2015, she reunited with her son Ken was given the love of her life. Photos of the reunion show the joy and love. Hours-long conversations with Ken left her (and him) satisfied and happy to have completed the circle so beautifully.

Linda passed away at the Billings Clinic on Sunday, Dec. 3, 2023. Ken and I (brother Bill Dow) are Linda’s immediate survivors. Our sister Marilyn passed away in May of 2021 and left us a beautiful family of her own — even a great-great-niece, Sawyer McKnire. Linda was able to meet the “bundle of joy” recently on a “girls’ lunch” at the Windmill. It was pure joy for Linda and everyone present.

Family view will be at 1 p.m. Thursday, Dec. 7, at Michelotti-Sawyers Mortuary, 1001 Alderson Ave.