Mark Fletcher Linton Remembers Mom

I didn't have a handy picture of Fletcher and mom together - so here's the next best thing Marge Linton with Fletcher's wife Laura and their daughter - Marge's granddaughter - Rachel. Not pictured in that family - Fletcher and his son Owen

At mom’s memorial, both Fletcher and I spoke from basic notes, so there’s no fully-polished piece to post here. Clarification for folks who may have tracked the Linton family but not kept up with every detail: Mark Fletcher Linton went by “Mark” growing up, but goes by “Fletcher” now and has done so for more than a decade.

I’ve tinkered with his notes a tiny bit, in order to try to make them slightly more comprehensible to the uninitiated… but (as with even the full transcripts I’ve posted so far) you had to be there to get the full effect…

Fletcher delivered this Margaret Gerhardt Linton remembrance at her memorial at Tustin Presbyterian Church on Saturday August 6th 2011.

Who she made me:

Nuts and Bolts: (any parent, I hope)  Diapers, Food Clothing, Shelter, Education

Culture: She gave me the things that made me who I am, the things I pass on to my kids:

• Beatles [movie] Marathon (Oxy [Occidental College])
• [Mozart’s opera The] Magic Flute
• Occidental [College] Summer Stock (Gilbert & Sullivan)
• Monty Python (PBS – 70s)
• Apple Pies (Crust) [Joe’s note: Fletcher is a phenomenal baker, and he uses the pie crust recipe that mom taught him, that mom learned at Home Economics class at Montebello High School]

Friendship: Bike Ride (Montana de Oro/Morro Bay), Correspondence, Encouragement

Patience with mistakes – Unconditional Love (even when I was being, as she was fond of saying in jest, “an ungrateful wretch”)

      Speaking of Love…