Linda Avery

Linda Skerritt Avery, 83, died on January 10th. She died from the side-effects of a rare form of cancer (Thymoma - cancer of the thymus gland). She was born in 1941 in New Jersey. Her parents were Helen and Gayle Skerritt. She is survived by husband Richard, sisters Diane Brodsky and Gloria Reed, brother Michael Skerritt, "honorary sister" Sally Breeden and her fifth small poodle Chico. She also had numerous nieces, nephews, cousins, and friends. She was an active member of Kappa Kappa Iota, the Westerners, and first Unitarian Church.

She had severe asthma as a child and her doctor recommended that she come to the Southwest to go to college. She chose WNMU and loved it. She was quite active and was elected homecoming queen in 1961. She obtained her MLS from Denver University in 1964.

Linda's first job was at Cochise College near Douglas, AZ. She was there for three years and spent one semester in Austin. She moved to Albuquerque in February 1968. She was a school librarian at Sandia High School and Hayes Middle School. She and Richard were married in 1970 and the both retired in 1990. They had a wonderful marriage and had just celebrated their 54th anniversary.

During retirement, she and Richard enjoyed camping and touring in various small RVs. Her favorite place to visit was the family property in NE Pennsylvania. She annually made numerous containers of huckleberry jam and gave them away. While in Albuquerque, she read voluminously and made many blankets for Project Linus.

Linda was an avid recycler. One of her sisters said "She could recycle anything - two or three times!" in the early 1980s, she invented the "Tummy Huggers Combination Pillow". She sold the rights to the patent, but the pillow was never produced.

Her memorial service will be at French Mortuary (Wyoming) at 2:00pm on January 31st. In lieu of flowers, the family requests donations to Doctors Without Borders of the NM Library Association or your favorite charity.

A friend recently wrote "She was the kindest and most positive person I knew. She was a ray of sunshine for so many".