Linda Jo Rice Spain

Linda Jo Rice Spain, {Rice}

Born in Titusville, Florida on June 17th, 1969

*Died in Chapel Hill, NC, Anderson Hospital, on December 29th, 2025*

*5:05 am* Age 56

Parents: Mr. Clyde Merritt Rice, Father, B. 9/19/1937 – D. 4/15/2019

Alice May Linda Rice, {Schoen}, “Malinda”, Mother, B. 1/27/1938 – D. 2/20/2009

Linda owned her version of her father’s laugh, and she had his distinctive eyebrows too; his unique, warbling laughter at home in her throat, her smile, couched in lips divine, however, was cliché, and always without fail lit up the whole room! Her oh so intelligent eyes, often blue, sometimes near green, knew a friend when they met one, and a Poser when she hadn’t! And she had her mother’s hands—The Most Beautiful hands…the God-Blest hands of a genuine

crafter…

Linda was a very loving wife to me, a very loving mother to her son Kristopher and to her daughter Kimberly, a mother-in-law to Ryan Quinn, husband of Kimberly, a daughter, a daughter-in-law, a younger sister to Denise Callison and to Darrell Rice her, older brother whom predeceased her, a sister-in-law to Shelby Ross, my younger sister, Daniel Spain, my older brother, and Rusty Ross, husband of Shelby, and my brother-in-law, a grandmother to her darling grandchildren Kenna and Kolton, daughter and son of Kristopher and Nicole, a great aunt to Mason and Trent Stevens, the children of her niece Amanda and her husband Travis Stevens, and Abry and Leighton Grajeda, the children of her niece Rebecca and her husband Jacob Grajeda, she was a friend to many, an ally to some, a confidant to those thus blessed, a top-notch career professional, a ceramics artist, a craftswoman of varied interests, a cruciverbalist, a dissectologist, and an avid lectiophile, (please, just look ‘em up people!) as well as a Logistics Guru in her own right, a computer Maven, a lover of cats (shout out to Little Boy, Miss Prissy, and Spot! So missing you “Mammy”!)--and pretty much all critters in general, stray or otherwise. Which might have been the one single inroad that granted me a number of demanding auditions with her for the high honor of becoming her future husband! Of course she wore many other role-specific hats throughout her God-Orchestrated tenure here with us on this good earth. But more about that momentarily.

One would never assume without the irrefutable presence of “hard evidence” actually in front of them that Linda had dropped out of high school in 1985, while still in her budding youth. Mandarin High School, located in Jacksonville, Florida. She was 16. I think she was in

the 11th grade then, but it may have actually been the 10th. But it is still true nonetheless that she dropped out. It surely wasn’t because she couldn’t handle the curriculum though; she told me that she had often helped her older brother Darrell and her older sister Denise with their own homework!

She was soon going to have a baby (Kristopher) and school simply didn’t fit into her busy and about to get even busier schedule at the time. She did however manage to achieve one of her many, many goals, a self-motivational practice that she would soon enough embrace for the rest of her natural life, goal setting, and she subsequently earned her GED; the rest of her extensive education, however, was earned through the ever reliable alternative utilizing the self-education method, to a large degree making her an “autodidact”, or, more simply, “self-taught”. Primarily her thus acquired acumen in regards to both her personal life and her professional career were both attained through her “just dive in already!” and “grab-the-bull-by-the-horns!” and the “then hang on for dear life!” approach---and so it continued throughout the remainder of her life in the often meandering hallways of the toughest school of all, “The School of Hard Knocks”.

And although many of us are still fully enrolled and active pupils there, she is now an “alumna cum laude” of that demanding and venerable institution, Replete with Honors Aplenty; All of the Very Highest Order.

Her resultant career path seemed to almost literally blossom perennially beneath her Spirit-guided footsteps. From packaging nautical goods for a marina sales and supply company located in the state of her birth, broadly known as “The Sunshine State”, Florida, to working at a Burger King as a deep-fry team member, and from there to crawling underneath houses to help install HVAC ductwork, and onward, ever onward, to eventually even encompass the genuine and just so degree of rightfully and honestly earned pride that came with actually owning her very own ceramics shop, “Simply Ceramics Crafts and Gifts” in Largo, Florida, where she gleefully taught her enthused customers/students how to pour slip into molds and how to paint and then glaze and then fire their precious figurines in a very, very hot 1,700*F to 2,300*F and even up to 2,700*F kiln! She also fired within those worthy acolytes her own creative and undying passion for the very craft itself! And from there? A ground floor level launch into a lifelong career that fully embraced her acquired logistical and auditing talents! Osmosis, as you may have already gathered, can indeed be a very powerful thing!

And she confidently moved ever further up the ladder of her continuing success by way of simply reaching up and grabbing firm hold of the proverbial and always there next rung, accepting the changes as well as the challenges of her progressive climb as its own unique and inherent reward, always moving upwards, always onwards, ever ready and ever willing to display her arsenal of hard-won skills and multiple talents along the way to a varied array

of impressive employers, each of whom were soon to be as equally impressed by her wining personality, her irreproachable character, her dynamic personal drive, and the overall accomplished finesse she so willingly brought to the table as a cumulative, ever burgeoning and mutually rewarding end-result. With names such as Best Labs, Melitta North America,

*Crown Marketing Group, Flanders~Presicionaire, LLC, PacificAg, Pamlico Air, AP Exhaust Technologies, and Rinker Materials~A Quikrete Company, in that rather awe inspiring lineup. Absolutely no offense intended to “BK” by my omitting Burger King from that rather impressive listing.

Roberts Rules of Order, which reigns supreme over parliamentary procedure and which is, at least, tentatively speaking, the go-to protocol established for correct business conduct, and the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002, itself a legal instrument solely contrived to both demand and to insist upon the most stringent financial reporting and auditing standards for publically held companies was the absolute business world gospel, commandments and all, to her!

Recognitions (*CMG): *Crown Marketing Group Employee of the Year 1999*

*“Partners in Success by Advatis Technologies” 2002*

When I first met her some twenty-one years ago, (2005), she was an active dues paying member of Toastmasters, a club founded by Ralph C. Smedly in 1924, where it’s astute members to this very day learn the singular art of public speaking by both preparing and delivering self-composed and carefully timed speeches to their assembled conclave of fellow aspirants, and then respond to cleverly posited questions about their topic from said conclave in a “round robin-like” atmosphere. They then receive constructive feedback in order to more fully develop their confidence as they meet head-on the budding trepidations of stage fright, which typically is made evident by way of sweaty palms, extra-moist armpits, a dewy forehead, and about a gazillion butterflies fluttering about and bumping into each other

willy-nilly inside of one’s queasy stomach---(!)--and then in a flash all of those outward symptoms unite as one and morph into a full-blown case of instant and total apprehension, carried to the next power, times ten. This usually happens out of the blue, especially when addressing an audience of any reasonably expansive size, say, perhaps, more than three. She, however, was as calm and as cool as a cucumber as they say when it came her turn to speak. I know, because I was once there to witness it all for myself—at her personal invitation, of course.

I had the most singularly blest opportunity to meet my future bride in the year 2005, while we both were employed by Flanders~Precisionaire, LLC, located in Smithfield, North Carolina. After six whole months’ worth of various “Tournaments of Sir Galahad”--quality extra-challenging trial-by-fire prerequisites to our relatively brief courtship, we were married on

May 7th, 2006, on a rainy Sunday, at the First Baptist Church of Four Oaks, Four Oaks, North Carolina, the Right Reverend John Norman, Jr., conducting the nuptial ceremony. Our service was simple and small, in keeping with our combined wishes; only twelve people counting the preacher were in attendance to the very best of my recollection; her parents, my parents, her young daughter Kimberly, my sister Shelby (whom also played “The Wedding March” on the church organ, her husband Rusty whom also recorded the special event on video, their daughter, Jennah, two associates of ours from our business world ties, Julie Haight and Randal Mencer, and the indomitable Mrs. Blanche Allen, mutual friend of us both and co-worker at Flanders, a True Southern Lady and consummate hostess, whom also, sadly, predeceased Linda.

Immediately after we were joined in Holy Wedlock we held an equally simple albeit sincere reception at our home in Four Oaks, Mrs. Blanche serving all therein gathered her locally famous fresh baked that very morning chess cake, as well as the typical for just such of an occasion, an assortment of delightful finger foods; and she so graciously served up herself as well to us as our ever cheerful and honored hostess! All the above mentioned attendees to our joyful main event were there as well, but now with the addition of two of our closest neighbors, at that time, both literally and figuratively; Mr. Frank Blackmon and his wife, Mrs. Gayle Blackmon, she too, sadly, now deceased as well. If I further recall that occasion correctly sparkling cider or non-alcoholic champagne was served to all. Linda and I exchanged brand new watches, one to the other, as symbolic gifts representing our new beginning together. Both are still here with me now.

And the very next day, a Monday, we were back at work, busily toiling away once again for our ever demanding employer! Nope! I for one didn’t much care for them in the least, but a body’s got to eat! And I do so prefer to sleep comfortably indoors!

At that time her role was that of Customer Service Rep, and, according to all the “hush, hush, she’ll hear you” office gossips, a bona fide “corporate spy” to boot. I was merely a lowly underpaid and overworked and highly stressed out Production Scheduler then, but then too one should never ever underestimate the Powers nor the Wisdom of Our Blessed Lord and Savior nor His Innate Affinity for Moving About in oh so many Mysterious Ways!

And we both couldn’t hardly bear to wait another single second to spring the news of our Sacred Union on them all at that early morn’s production meeting! Vis-à-vis--that now Mr. Gregory Alan Spain, formerly a lifelong single man up until that most glorious event, was now a happily married man at the ripe old age of 47!--and that now he and his brand new bride of 36 years of age were a united force to be reckoned with--forever! And I’m almost certain that they indeed did tremble. I know for a fact that they were positively shook. We both had to

watch where we stepped afterwards--because of all the tongues and jaws just lying there littering the conference room floor!

And so it was for 19 and a half of the absolute very best years of my, and dare I venture to say it on her behalf as well? Why, yes!--and most certainly! Of our absolutely triumphant and most glorious life Together!

And then came, eventually that is to say, our late October, 2006, Honeymoon “Halloween Cruise” to The U.S. Virgin Islands aboard The Royal Caribbean’s “Mariner of the Seas” Cruise ship, getting underway from Cape Canaveral Port, Florida, if my memory serves me, and that well after we had already been married for seven whole months!—and it was absolutely fantastic man!

As I at least subtly alluded to earlier in this fully intended to be relatively brief honorific to my most wonderful bride, my girl had her passions too! Believe it or not she was really into blueberry picking when that little delectable fruit was in its proper and ready for instant consumption season! She had her own special “berrying” basket, her picking stool (a prized collapsible little steel-pistol-blue-grayish Samsonite job that she had acquired at some yard sale or another for the economically priced sum of $2 whole dollars! And a most excellent purchase it was too! She almost always dressed just for that special occasion in a whimsically coordinated blueberry picking outfit of her own choosing, a fanciful hat usually completing her eclectic ensemble. She always looked “Most Fine” to me in practically any and all of her spontaneous seeming but actually quite carefully selected--outfits along with her often whimsically “it simply must match” choice of hats to wear!

And she truly was an accomplished negotiator in the thrift store, flea market, and yard sale game, to be sure! (As well as with our monthly service providers--for a bona fide fact!) Always supremely pleased and proud when she could resupply a weeks’ worth of her wardrobe, or even “select” elements of my own, for less than $60 in outgoes at The Second Fling consignment store in Goldsboro, North Carolina! And rightly so!

She was a devoted and avid Scrabble player, especially liking the game-board that rotates thereby making the physicality of the game play a thing of ease and convenience (me too!). Sometimes the hard sought win went to her, and sometimes it went to me. But mainly it went to her to be absolutely aboveboard-honest about it, as this really isn’t the time or place to start telling tall tales! But then too she loved nearly all board games in general.

And books, man, don’t even get me started about her and her affinity for books! In this pseudo-symbiotic relationship with books she did not have a peer—myself included! My bride of nearly twenty years woke up with a book and went to bed with a book. She took her lunch breaks at work with a book. She bought books; I bought books for her. She gifted

books, and books were gifted right back to her! New books, old books, used books, free books, wherever there was a book hiding, she’d find it—and quick too! I know for a guaranteed absolute bottom-line fact that she practically had read everything on the planet in the way of books, except for maybe the phonebook of both my youth and now, surprise!--of yore!

And I’m not talking about the lowbrow trashy kind of stuff gratuitously flooding the marketplace shelves without end nowadays either! Inspirational, educational, motivational, empowering, transformative, transportive, engaging, adventurous, and innovative was her preferred bread and butter in the way of books! Authors that had glorious names such as;

W. Shakespeare, C. Dickens (His Complete Works!), Defoe, G. Eliot, H. D. Thoreau, R. W. Emerson, J. London, Tolstoy, M. Twain, R. Kipling, A. Christie, S. King, M. Albom, Hawthorne, Cervantes, Milton, Burton, H. Melville, L. Carroll, E. & C. Bronte, H. B. Stowe, J. Austen, R. L. Stevenson, Stoker, Shelley, J. Vernes, J. Steinbeck, H. Lee, A. C. Doyle, E. A. Poe, J. Auel (Her Complete Clan of The Cave Bear Series!), Grisham, Koontz, W. Lamb, Follett, V. Hugo, A. Dumas (His Entire Musketeer Series!), A. Rand, A. Tan, K. Vonnegut, Fielding, LaHaye & Jenkins Entire Collection, Warren, Sedaris, D. Adams, F. Flagg (All!), H. Wouk, Orwell, Badachi, Coben, Heller, Hemingway,to name but a select few!--and of course Our Lord’s Own Book, the Holy Scriptures—she was very, very well versed in her Bible!

And those are just the ones that I know about by name and content because many of them currently stock our home library to this very instant!

And man, let me just tell you, aside from her extreme passion for books, my darling young bride enjoyed putting really complicated puzzles together—and solving jigsaw puzzles, crossword puzzles, cryptograms, word searches, and, well, you just name it! And she was more than willing and fully competent to gleefully solve them too! Her enthusiasm and natural ability for puzzle solving accommodated her often in life and therefore easily and readily transitioned into her workaday world as well! Either out of her own sense of the entertainment that she garnered from the challenge itself or simply just in order to gladly be an “assist” to the oft floundering “asker”, whomever that might be, or both, and regardless of the actual need , meaning the actual “ask” of the given moment, she was always, always, always, and to ensure that I thoroughly drive home my intended point, always--again!—far, far more than just merely willing to share with others her typically superior but humbly proffered expertise about a thing whenever and about whatever was requested of her too!

I’m so thankful that there is still one jigsaw puzzle that she did long before we were united in Holy Wedlock, for it is properly mounted, professionally framed, and hanging in our den at this very moment. It’s a multi-faceted tiger with all his colorful glory on full display. A true

collage-like image proffering to any who are fortunate enough to see it an instantaneous reward for the eyes of a miraculous mirage-like thing of beauty! Thank you, Love, for thus sharing that oh so wonderful gift of yours—with me as well as with many others!

I’m convinced without question that she personally solved more than a thousand+ crossword puzzles or more during the course of our Sainted Marriage alone! I’m certain of it! She had ‘em for breakfast like anyone else would go after eggs and bacon with a side of grits and cornbread---or perhaps gently toasted white bread lightly buttered with just a dash or so of garlic salt—California blend preferred! That was a favorite of hers, you see, in that particular line of things.

And crafting—why she’d hand-make her own Christmas ornaments just to give ‘em all away—for FREE!!? The same with the little cute gift boxes that she would make from uniquely and intricately folded pamphlets harvested from a Welcome Center in some state or another she or we might be passing through in the given moment! And she even dabbled in Crochet and Origami--just for kicks!--and not in the least bit because she had to!

And from there we next move on to her deep and abiding passion for music! Again, totally and absolutely eclectic all the way! Performing artists such as B. Manilow, Prince and the Revolution, F. Mercury, A. Jackson, P. Kline, D. Bowie, J. Cash, Willie Nelson, T. Petty, Pink, D. Crowder, The Beatles, G. Brooks, The Stones, The Dead, CCR, Adele, B. Dylan, A. Morisette, Elvis, Matchbox Twenty, Big & Rich (Yeeeeaaaah), Kansas, BTO, The Eagles, Devo, Eric Clapton, Bob Seger, Fleetwood Mac, Kiss, Jim Croce, Lynrd Skynrd, The B-52’s, Chuck Berry, Dwight Yokum, Janis Joplin, Kris Kristofferson, et al, to name just a handful, soothed her soul—and she would play any one of them when doing a household chore too—singing along with their music and often dancing to their tunes as well! And she most fully sampled that celebrative genre as well!--and you’d better believe it too! She was even known to have taken her thus inspired singing voice for a little public exercise at an unsuspecting Karaoke bar a time or several back in her earlier days! To be sure, fun most certainly was had by all! As a child she even played the clarinet, and could also play the piano some! She even regaled me with many, many a song over the years! She never ceased to amaze me with her remarkable ability to recall the lyrics to anything she’d ever heard or that was currently playing within her earshot and then to suddenly burst into song right along with the artist in question! In any given moment! And that’s yet another thing amongst the Many that constitutes “The Everything” about her that I personally will and already do sorely Miss!

She eventually came to also greatly appreciate certain enlightening aspects regarding our nation’s foundational history too, and history altogether, in general speak, at least to a point, a very elevated point I might add, as well as developing through both time and exposure to it the much to be always relished thrill revealed as it were by both accidental discovery and

direct revelation that only that specific choice of interest could so uniquely invoke—and she was oftentimes flat out astounded by just how rudimentary and Domino-like all things are fantastically interconnected, one to another. She maintained an abiding respect and admiration for its’ vast and lasting impact—an impact that continues to directly affect us all till this very day—like our own very recent combined histories, that is to say.

She even went so far as to encourage and to permit us both to spend more than one “vacation on a shoestring budget” throughout the course of our blessed union visiting various historical landmarks, for instance Mark Twains’ beautiful Victorian home still located to this day in Hartford, Connecticut, where that venerable soul and his thriving young family lived from 1874 through 1891. We paid our respects there in September, 2013. And then too there was our “by automobile” pilgrimage to Walden Pond, in homage to the singular Henry David Thoreau, the famed Transcendentalist, located in Concord, Massachusetts. During that very same undertaking to the famed humorists’ fanciful home, et al, we also took in Appomattox Courthouse, Appomattox, Virginia, Skyline Caverns, Front Royal, Virginia, Antietam Battlegrounds, Antietam, Virginia, and Harper’s Ferry, Harper’s Ferry, Maryland; and all during that very same excursion, just me and her, and all by car. We couldn’t seem to make ourselves stop from giggling like two mischievous school children for quite some time from repeatedly saying with an extra-exaggerated Southern draawwll the word “Cuullpepppaah!”—especially after having traveled so recently through that particular neck-of-the-woods!

While in Concord, Massachusetts, and at the Concord Museum, which pays equal homage to both R. W. Emerson and H. D. Thoreau, we played “hide and seek” together from the other guided tours and independent tourist ambling about much like ourselves, and we even casually strolled through Ralph Waldo’s whole yard as though we owned the joint outright!--and were simply there to collect rent—or---maybe to steal a chicken or two!--or something similar!

A month later, October, 2013, we visited her family’s former sprawling farm home in Renick, West Virginia, where the original wood stove of her blossoming youth was still serving its’ current occupants (another budding young family at the time) ever faithfully, as well as the beyond beautiful Lost World Caverns of Lewisburg, West Virginia.

The month before the meandering auto trek of September, 2013, we had visited King’s Dominion in Doswell, Virginia, August, 2013. Baby Girl absolutely loved to ride a roller-coaster! The bigger the better! She even rode one of the Six Flags of New York offerings in that line, as well as Illinois’ Six Flags Great America’s offerings!—both in 2012. But let her find herself standing on the upper landing of a grated mezzanine--regardless of the height--and you could physically see her blanch and her body begin to tremble with instant onset

apprehension! I--never ever quite figured that one out! Of course we took plenty more trips in like kind over the years to places like Bush Gardens, Virginia, twice, once in 2012 and once in 2016. We took in Colonial Williamsburg during the 2012 venture, even engaging in trade at the Scotland House there where I acquired my black walking stick some 14 years ago that I still use to this day. That same year, 2012, and for our 6th Wedding Anniversary Celebration, we visited The Beaufort Maritime Museum in Beaufort, Carteret County, North Carolina.

Awesome in a word! And the year prior to that, 2011, we happily included in our journey further down south and into Georgia, a stop by and just to say “howdy y’all” at FDR’s famed “Little Whitehouse” in Warm Springs, Georgia—and at The Paradise Grill nearby there we ate some of the absolutely best fried green tomatoes that you could ever wish to experience in the whole of your entire life! Aside from that one time, however, she wasn’t really that much of a fan of tomatoes, in general, and as a firm and fixed lifelong rule.

And, too, typically evermore intent on moving forward by way of moving onward, she had us pay both a physical visit as well as our own humble respects to the fallen of both sides of that dreadful and hellish conflict known as our nation’s Civil War; both of us solemnly acknowledging whilst gazing at the vastness of the various fields of battle that we visited, firstly impressed by the overall beauty that comprised each location, but also deeply struck by the comingling of that beauty with its’ prior role both as surrogate sponge and as an earthen bed of forever rest to those that had long ago fallen there. In our combined hearts we knew without a doubt in an instant that All of the combatants were indeed true Americans, and nothing less. First we ventured to the equally revered Mclean House in Appomattox Courthouse, Appomattox, Appomattox County, Virginia, where General R. E. Lee of the Confederacy surrendered the whole of The Army of Northern Virginia to Lieutenant General U. S. Grant of the Union Army, and his assembled forces on April 9th, 1865, effectively ending our nation’s terrible and divisive and ultra-bloody Civil War. Then we made our way to Antietam, Sharpsburg, Washington County, Maryland. The Battle fought there took place in 1862, and is known as the single bloodiest day in American History. It halted R. E. Lee’s first Northern invasion attempt. Next, on to Gettysburg, Adams County, Pennsylvania, the Battle itself took place between July 1st through 3rd, 1863; our visit, September, 2013. It was Lee’s second and failed last attempt to invade the North. And she all but insisted that we also must, we absolutely must!, visit Harper’s Ferry, Jefferson County, West Virginia, site of the famous armory of the same name, where from October 16th through the 18th, 1859, the famed abolitionist John Brown and twenty-one other men besides himself, 16 of which were white and 5 of whom were black, attempted to initiate a slave revolt in the Southern states. All of that trip was sorta’ breathtakingly accomplished in September, 2013, now some nearly thirteen years ago—but it so seems nearer to yesterday to this old an aging heart—and how I so wish that it were!

Love actually lived for a period of roughly a little more than three years in By God! West Virginia herself, in Renick, Greenbrier County, West Virginia to be precise (located in in the southeastern/central quadrant of West Virginia) from the summer of 1978 until August of 1981, along with her mother, father, brother, and sister, and a goodly number of feral cats, on their sprawling 15 acre farm there. I’ve visited it at least twice, I think, with her, both a goodly number of years ago now, and I can personally attest to its’ extensive and in some places, steep and untenable landscape. Ageless caverns still snake undisturbed and for some, unbeknownst to themselves, just feet beneath the surface there! And she thoroughly loved having called it home once upon a time long, long, ago, and relished no end its’ easily and readily summoned to her mind pleasant memories! Before that? For a period of time they all together resided in their modest enough home in Titusville, Brevard County, Florida.

But again, onward! At her behest and to my pleasure, multiple visits were made over our run of years together to the Bentonville Civil War Battleground, located in Bentonville, Johnston County, North Carolina, a mere 18 miles more or less south of our very own home, of recent freshly christened by myself in her honor as “The “Love” Shack”, in Four Oaks, North Carolina. There, from March 19th through March 21st, 1865, Confederate forces under the command of General Joseph Eggleston Johnston, engaged in a fierce and open battle with Union forces under the command of General William Tecumseh Sherman, and were ultimately defeated.

Many lives lost on both sides, either directly as a result of the engagement itself, or via the medical disadvantages indicative of the time period, vis a vis misinformation about proper medical treatment and the resultant rampant malpractice(s), and, in essence, the just “chop it off and toss it away” application of primitive surgical procedures, i.e., amputation. A touching reenactment of this momentous and decisive battle continues there till this day, and she and I have witnessed said same together, and that to our mutual reverential delight, on more than one occasion.

We made a visit at some point in time that I no longer recollect nor have a record of to see the eclectic Kernersville House, known from its’ inception as Korners’ Folly, an eccentric Victorian mansion built by Jule Korner in 1880, located in Kernersville, Forsyth County, North Carolina, itself a most worthy anomaly in the world of architecture. My notes, unfortunately regarding the date(s) of that pilgrimage are no longer available to me. We were pleasantly pleased however with the undertaking of that trip, and we really dug the house!--and I think others would enjoy it just as much as we did.

And, but of course, I simply must make mention of our remarkable excursion to The Biltmore Estate, located in Ashville, Buncombe County, North Carolina, for our 14th Wedding Anniversary, May, 7th, 2021. A sprawling mansion (to say the least, for it is after all widely recognized as “the largest privately owned house in the United States”) built between 1889

and 1895 for George Washington Vanderbilt II in what is known as the “Chateauesque Style”. We, as was our usual preference when out and about, took the self-guided tour, and she came away from the whole glorious experience convinced that the singular occupation of being a Biltmore Estate tour-guide greatly appealed to her inner aspiration and was her absolutely and sincerely hoped for retirement plan pipe dream evermore thereafter, and---Amen!

Another absolute must mention! We were truly blessed from On High to have traversed the entirety of The Blue Ridge Parkway—from the Great Smoky Mountains National Park near Cherokee, North Carolina, all the way to Shenandoah National Park in Virginia, some 469 miles! All mountainous! All scenic! All glorious beyond words! She loved to visit the mountains during the fall season—especially at peak leaf changing colors time! Interestingly, one can view The Biltmore Estate from the Parkway between mile markers 394 and 395 when looking to the north! According to my notes we were last on the Parkway October, 2011, some 15 years ago now. I now believe that that is when and where she had made up her mind that one day we would go there together. And so we did. Black walking stick and all.

And God knows my girl just loved to travel. She pretty much visited a reasonable amount of the major sites in the contiguous United States during the course of her adult life, predominantly in direct response to and as as a side benefit when and where permitted, to her professional responsibilities, per se; meaning either to receive further training/instruction herself—or to provide said same to others (which was something that she absolutely thrived on doing! She always embraced closely and most dearly to her heart of hearts her ultimate desire to someday be able to so instruct others in such a way that their lives would be forever blest!)--whom were placed under her direct charge. Oftentimes flying without fear nor any real hesitation whatsoever from the West Coast to the East Coast; and she even managed to cover a whole lot of the Central States and even parts of the upper Mid-West, as well as the lower Southern portion of our great country as well. Both my notes and my now fickle memory do certainly agree that she flew to Dallas, Texas (once in 2019), and while there visited The Sixth Floor Museum At Dealey Plazza, site of the sniper’s nest wherein Lee Harvey Oswald is commonly believed to have singlehandedly assassinated President JFK on November 22nd, 1963 . North Dakota (once in 2018), Oregon (once in 2016)—with a side trip into Washington State, New York (twice in 2012, once in 2011), Illinois (twice in 2012), Reno, Nevada date?—but I do remember that someone stole the license plate off of her rental car while she was there, New Orleans, Louisiana, date?—for Mardi Gras long before we had met, Salt Lake City, Utah, date?—she visited the renowned Mormon Tabernacle, home of The Mormon Tabernacle Choir, during that particular trip, San Francisco, California, date?—once to visit her older brother Darrell, I think sometime during the 1980’s. Much later on, while employed by PacificAg, she took the opportunity to also visit the infamous site of the

doomed Donner Party of historical fame while in southern California on another of her business trips. Washington, DC, date ?—she told me that she had personally visited the Washington Monument, the Lincoln Memorial, and had seen with her very own eyes The Whitehouse and The Smithsonian Institute as well long before we had met! Then Arizona, Pennsylvania, Twin Cities, Minnesota, Ardmore, Oklahoma, North Dakota location?—date? And possibly even many more!--and she also made countless flights to Florida over the years!

“Love”, my personal pet name for my dear young bride, even made it all the way into Tijuana, Mexico! My sweet little well-traveled migrating butterfly actually single-handedly invaded Mexico! I flew with her only four times—to and from Orlando, Florida, and, again, to and from Portland, Maine—for the soon to be addressed “Lobsterfest” in Rockland. And that’s the very last time that I will have flown—simply because she is no longer here to hold my hand in hers.

She went everywhere that she wanted to within reason, or was required to/requested to/or absolutely needed to—again, all within the bounds of reason. Whether by plane or automobile, it made no difference. Sometimes I think she would have walked it if she deemed it absolutely necessary! She really valued her “windshield time” though. My notes reflect a total of no less than 20 trips minimum to Florida alone during the course of our 19 and ½ years of Wedded Bliss! Utilizing Jacksonville, Duval County, Florida as a reasonable enough termination point, and based on a starting point of our home in Four Oaks, Johnston County, North Carolina, the distance betwixt the two being 429 miles, more or less, that comes to a bare minimum of 8,580 miles travelled! And that number is in and of itself, a gross understatement! No matter who’s doing the measuring! But still the overall average is fairly easy enough to determine; nearly twenty years of marriage and at least a minimum of twenty trips to Florida, whether by plane or car or a really long walk or hitch--still comes down to at least one visit per year in my book!

While in Maine we put more than 1,200 miles on our rental car just casually jaunting about and sightseeing just as much of the magnificent lake-filled terrain as we possibly could, and Love even took a spontaneous dip into one of those lakes just because both she and it were there at the exact same moment! We quickly grasped just why it so affectionately bears that most wonderful of appellations, meaning of course the ever-enticing sobriquet of “Vacationland”! To be most forthcoming with the facts, “Lobsterfest”, which is held annually for 5 whole days during the first weekend of August, beginning on a Wednesday and concluding the following Sunday, all in Rockland, Maine, was our motivating factor to go there to begin with. We even managed to take in a visit to the 50 plus years former home of the late and rightly honored Joshua L. Chamberlain, located in Brunswick, Cumberland County, Maine, long since standing even after his final days on earth have all but become a

vaporous and for some, elusive or altogether forgotten memory, and now is a museum only—but nonetheless dedicated both to and in his right and justifiable honor. J. L. Chamberlain, by the way, was a Colonel in the Union Army during the Battle of Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. His command was the 20th Maine. He famously led a downhill with “fixed bayonettes” charge into the up-swarming Confederate forces on Little Round Top. His, and the actions of his brave force, during the second day of that bloody conflict, effectively saved the day, and quite possibly, the Union as a whole. He later became the 32nd governor of Maine, and also served as president of Bowdoin College. She would simply eat a bit of trivia like that up and look around for seconds!

Some number of years ago now we also had the splendid pleasure of visiting Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s “Little White House” in Warm Springs, Georgia. It is where he, initially the 32nd President of the United States, died on April 12th, 1945, just shortly before “The Greatest Generation” soundly won the Second World War after fierce opposition and ultimate defeat of the combined Axis forces consisting of Germany, Italy, and Japan. (The initial purpose of our visit/reason to be in the vicinity was solely for her son, Kristopher, whom was living in Alabama at the time). It was also during his unprecedented, both before and since, and at least thus far in our nation’s history, early fourth term as duly elected President of the United States. Many other things occurred there during his lifetime, good things indeed, but I fear I digress perhaps even far more than I really should already. It was a truly awe inspiring visit for us both though! And we had some of the best darn fried green tomatoes in the whole state of Georgia---and relatively nearby too—such as you could ever, ever hope to enjoy on this millenniums old planet!

We made at least two trips together to Busch Gardens, located in Williamsburg, Virginia, and interestingly enough, Williamsburg is actually considered a “unique independent city” and does not actually reside in any county whatsoever-- (!),--but is bordered by James City County to its west and south, and by York County to its north and east. One of those visits included the welcomed presence of her son Kristopher, and the other just us two. I even rode the roller coaster called Apollo’s Chariot with her. It’s the one that Fabio most famously killed a 10 pound goose with his equally and famously handsome face, nose foremost in the encounter, some years back. I had grossly misinterpreted the description of the ride for myself, and thought it bearable enough and without too very much to get all excited about, I mean, it is only 4,882 feet long, 170 feet tall, and reaches a top speed of 73 mph—no Biggy, right? Only to wind up hanging on with one hand for my dear life while with the other I pressed for all I was worth against my forehead directly on the bridge of my own no doubt slightly endangered nose in an economically motivated attempt in my own right just to keep my dang eyeglasses from going the way of the aforementioned forlorned goose!--and, meanwhile, my dear young bride, also one-handedly, was hanging on with a determination

much akin to my own with her other hand as well, all the while with her “free” hand pressing my ball-cap down upon my jolting and bobbing head with all the strength that encountering the g-force effect at those varying speeds would permit her to adequately apply! We laughed (!) so hard after that one! Let me tell you!

During that particular trip we also managed to take in Colonial Williamsburg—a passable version combining both elements of the old and new comprise the current rendition of the early Virginia settlement--- founded in 1699. It is rife with reenactors, quaint shoppes, and so forth. But we took it all in “on the cheap”—only indulging myself with the wise and necessary purchase of the black walking stick that I still use and actually sometimes require till this very day. I’m now on my second stick “tip”. I even used it in Hospital when visiting her during her worsening illness as well.

And do let me tell you that we both really enjoyed settling down to a quiet, peaceful evening in front of the trusty TV! The evening news itself was a true mainstay, and what I truly mean to imply is, that as a professional Logistics Dispatcher for Rinker Materials, Wilson, Wilson County, North Carolina, (and a job that she truly loved doing I must add!)--it was really all about the weather, man! Pun completely intended!

But then too there was Survivor, Jeopardy and The Amazing Race! They were her absolute favorites--hands down!--but we still managed to broaden our mutual horizons by giving other viable contestants a chance to become a part of our ever-changing TV viewing repertoire! She was totally enamored with the new Elsbeth series—and the all New Matlock with Kathy Bates—man, I mean look out! Mr. Monk too was a past favorite, and NCIS – three words--Jethro Leroy Gibbs! She and I equally immersed ourselves into the entire series of Breaking Bad and its highly anticipated spinoff, Better Call Saul. We miss you too “Saul Goodman”!

And we were both deeply moved and equally impressed by Ken Burns’ “The Civil War” documentary!—as if no one couldn’t have seen that one coming from a mile off! And too the one that he did about the humanly induced decline to near extinction and the slow but sure comeback of the American buffalos! Terribly moving in its’ own right!

She really did enjoy the film noir variety too that once reigned supreme amongst the old black and white movies of yesteryear! From Bogart to Stewart to Cagney to Wayne, O’Hara to Hepburn and Fonda to Lancaster, Bette Davis to Gregory Peck, Marlon Brando to James Dean, and et al!--and neither of us could ever get enough of the indomitable Cary Grant or Jean Arthur for that matter! Conversationally speaking, she was an absolutely huge fan of The Twilight Zone, which originally aired from 1959 – 1964, and was wonderfully hosted and largely written by Rod Serling himself! But she absolutely hated the one with William Shatner about the creature on the wing of the plane during flight (“Nightmare at 20,000 Feet”,

episode 3, season 5)! But I really must move this Love tribute to her along and that by merely saying in short that she indeed was a captivated and all engrossed TV sponge—but only when she really wanted to be and could just simply allow herself to totally indulge the craving to binge!. Which also meant that she would have to at least momentarily relinquish for a period of time whatever the current book of the moment was! Alas, life is full of tough decisions!

One of her instant “most favorite” movies of all time was Paper Moon (1973)!--Ryan O’Neal and his ten years old daughter at the time, Tatum, in the lead roles. She got the Oscar. And he got–well, you know, royally Ticked off about that!

And there were plenty, plenty more! And we both really, really dug on William Powell in the titular role of “Godfrey” in the classic movie My Man Godfrey (1936) big time!

And scene: Irene: “Can you buttel?” Godfrey: “Buttel?”

Irene: “Yes, we’re fresh out of butlers. The one we had left this morning.”

And cut!

But enough about all of that now. My woman-girl-child could cook too! And she invested a lot of what she had learned from her own mother as well as what she had gleaned through “applied osmosis” over an immeasurable amount of time, and crammed it all most freely into her personal account solely maintained by her—and then she reinvested the bulk of it all into the “bank of trust” named “me”! I think maybe now it was so that I could fix her up some fresh extra-large Rock Shrimp the way they do it at the Dixie Crossroads in the town of her birth, again, Titusville, Brevard County, Florida, just so I wouldn’t turn that particular delicacy into barely chewable rubber, or worse. We visited there with family once or twice over the years and just we two alone at least once.

Typically a person that loves to cook has a certain affinity for food in general—and she was not so very different from the common herd when it came right down to the brass tacks of the thing! For our 6th Wedding Anniversary, 5/7/2012, I took her to Ruth’s Chris in Raleigh, North Carolina, (the actual date that we celebrated was 5/24/2012, to be accurate) for a most delightful meal with in-house service both unlike and far superior to any that either of us had ever experienced—excepting perhaps the wonderful experience had by all, expanded family members included, during that now long ago Honey Moon cruise upon the “Mariner of the Seas”!

But she was equally content to “get her nosh on” at a Joe’s Crabshack or a Red Lobster or an Outback Steakhouse or a Texas Steakhouse and Saloon or an Applebee’s or practically any

decent Mexican Restaurant or taco stand vendor on the planet Earth! And this moderately short list would still be painfully inept and lacking greatly if I neglected to mention her affinity for Thai and Chinese food in general!—even more so if I left out Dee’s Diner, Home of Southern Style Home Cooking, located in Goldsboro, Wayne County, North Carolina or Grady’s BBQ located in Dudley, also in Wayne County, North Carolina! And, well, being a longtime denizen of Four Oaks proper, one simply must give a shout out to The White Swan BBQ folks as well. She also really enjoyed a good Cubano sandwich, but I for one am almost positive beyond the shadow of all doubt that a Reuben sandwich, done right, meaning absolutely perfectly!--was her bottom-line favorite of them all in that line, meaning of course A Traditional; corned beef, Swiss cheese, sauerkraut, Russian dressing, marbled rye bread lightly buttered and grilled to absolute perfection. When I think that I can handle it, I intend to have myself one in her honor!

[**Addendum to the original Instrument, thus amended 1/19/2026**]

Having been a “lay foodie”, that is to say having been a “regular” type of person albeit with an exceptionally enthusiastic and passionate and deeply curious interest in food in general, it is only right and proper that she further expanded that particular passion by way of gardening—and canning the oh so delicious end-result(s)! Our garden was typically 22 feet wide by 53 feet long, averaging 6 rows containing all sorts of homegrown goodness!, Cucumbers, Red Onions, Peas, Straight-necked or crooked-necked Yellow Squash, Lettuce, Cilantro, Jalapenos, Cabbage, Green Peppers, a wide variety of Tomatoes, Red Potatoes, Dill, Blue Lake Snap Beans, Beets, Horse Radish, Garlic, Carrots, Zucchini, Shallots, Silver Queen Corn, and Watermelon, were planted without fail from year to year! We followed this formula for six seasons consecutively, starting in the early spring of 2009 and staying at it through the end of summer growing season of 2014! She certainly enjoyed watching the beauty of the plants as they matured and eventually, finally, yielded their long-awaited fruit--almost as much as eating from them! We would often gift some of our harvested bounty to the Abused Women’s Shelter in Smithfield, Johnston County, North Carolina, anonymously, of course!—and much was simply given away to our neighbors! Our good neighbor Mr. Frank Blackmon and his wife, Mrs. Gayle, both aforementioned far above this point in my narrative, often provided us with their encouragement and support, both having come from farming backgrounds in their youth. Mr. Frank would even break the hard ground for us with his old McCormick tractor each and every season without fail! Of course we paid him for doing that—but he never once asked us for a single penny!

Canning time was a busy time, let me tell you! I was the jar washer and lid prep person, just as important to the whole process as the boil and seal station—everything has to be done exactly right and on time too!—of course that job was strictly Love’s! In 2009 we canned 8

quarts of fresh tomatoes, 11 quarts of dill, 13 quarts of low-sodium dill chips, and four quarts of dill spears! And a whole slew of pint and ½ pint jars containing everything from jalapeno salsa, red and yellow watermelon rind pickles, chili sauce (13 pints!), to fiesta salsa (10 pints!), and much, much more! And in 2014 we harvested 473(!) tomatoes!—which was down from our 2009 virgin crop, which yielded 521! We even were blessed with 653 jalapenos in 2009, as well as 330 cucumbers! Lots of canning was going on up in here back then! We even got a respectable 9 whole quarts of stewed tomatoes during growing season 2014 and 7 pints of watermelon rind pickles! The only thing that I really miss now from that whole experience is her! Pulling weeds, however? It simply ain’t no fun.

I’m pretty certain that I could go on and on and on, extolling the magnificent wonderfulness that was indeed her. She stood out in a crowd. She did to me. Her character was light-years beyond reproach of any kind. I’ve already mentioned earlier the constraints that Roberts Rules and Sarbanes-Oxley can put on a person in the business aspect of the world—and yet she wore those very same constraints 24/7 like a loose and relaxing oversized Tee shirt or a soft and comfy cashmere sweater! Her undying and absolute devotion to myself moves me to tears just by the very thought of it.

A former colleague of hers from some years ago whom I reached out to recently to inform him of her passing (Mr. Kent Barefoot, from AP Exhaust Technologies, a worthy salt himself whom at Love and my dinner table conversations I always, or very nearly always, referred to as “Barefoot Kent”) said to me in that particular conversation that out of all of his some forty-three years in the Logistics game that he had only met two people in that duration of time that actually had really stood out enough to make a genuine and favorable impression on him. One, he said, was a man, the other, he said, was a woman,--and “that the woman out-shined that other lesser worthy by a score of many, many light-years!” Of course he was talking about Linda, to you all, and, well, “Love” as referenced above, to me.

She had no credit card debts--didn’t believe in them. She highly approved of the Dave Ramsey school of thought when it came to finances. She simply chose to live debt free. And then she simply chose to make it happen! She didn’t have a car payment. She believed it far better to let the hardheaded gullible pay the bulk of the “stupid tax” and the sage to reap the reward usually predictably inherent in that particular arrangement. She insisted that the “buy used option” was the optimum best policy over all others. She had no outstanding loans when she departed. She loved to provide her driver’s at Rinker with !surprise! Home cooked food heading right at you! She more than once donated her beautiful hair to The Locks of Love folks. She temporarily volunteered at an Animal Kill Shelter just to let the helpless innocents therein receive some rendition of Love while they still had their fleeting moment to. She refused on principal alone to ever have a mammogram after her own dear mothers’

experience(s) with breast cancer. There is Not a Single Person Alive on this Planet that can Ever, Ever Replace Her! We always agreed amongst ourselves that you can fill the position, as it were, but you can Never Replace the Person that has Vacated it!

And, as for every couples’ to be avoided at all costs “bane”, the to be dreaded difference of opinion, especially in regards to weighty matters, we handled it thusly; whenever we encountered a differing of opinions betwixt us, which, admittedly, was quite rare as a rule, in and of itself, we embraced that shade of difference with mutual courtesy one for the other, and filtered it through our sieve of unfeigned respect, and solaced each other with absolute consideration by recognizing the other person’s innate and therefore God-Given right to both formulate, to hold, and to maintain, one’s own independent opinion about each and everything under the sun, and through that practice we both grew even more stronger and evermore closer together. I will also, and do already, Sorely Miss that supportive aspect of her as well!

So I, therefore, in cold hard fact, cannot summon up--even from the very pit-bottom of my soul, a single solitary character flaw to dare levy her way—except perhaps one—and I will toss that particularly judgmental stone ever so gently and underhanded too--just near her, never, ever, directly at her. And that was that she absolutely despised having to go to the “Duuurr”, her exact manner of saying it, probably very nearly as much as I do, which, I’m now inclined to suppose is the best “I bet you didn’t really see this one coming” prompt that I can manage to now “ever-so gently” segue to those dear, dear members of the family at large whom have the Blessed Grace of Our Lord In Heaven to have survived her. Some of whom also have had the blessed honor and privilege to actually know her--others? Simply too young to Either Know or to even really Care right now, all Innocently enough though, to be sure.

So, in a final ditch effort to adhere at this very last inning to her constant editorial instruction to myself and to attempt just once more to “keep it tight, keep it succinct, and then move on!” I now present to each of you, and that most humbly and with the utmost respect, the list of the blessed survivors of Linda Jo Rice Spain.

As follows:

Kristopher Edward Yunk, son of Linda and Keith Yunk, father, (deceased), Nicole Elizabeth Kenney, mother of Kristopher’s two children, Kenna Yunk, daughter, and Kolton Yunk, son, Kimberly Allana Quinn, {Yunk}, daughter of Linda and Keith Yunk, Ryan Michael Francis Quinn, husband of Kimberly Quinn, {Yunk}, Breanne Yunk, daughter of Kathy Yunk, daughter of Kevin Yunk, cousin of Kristopher Yunk and Kimberly Quinn {Yunk}, niece of Linda, Kevin Yunk, older brother to Keith Yunk and uncle to Kristopher Yunk and Kimberly Quinn, {Yunk}, former brother-in-law to Linda, Kevin Yunk’s very significant other, Julie Brewer, Kent Yunk,

younger brother of Keith Yunk, no children, husband of Melanie Yunk and former brother-in-law to Linda, Denise Lynn Callison, {Rice},older sister of Linda, Gerry Callison, husband of Denise Callison,{Rice}, Amanda Stevens, [Callison], daughter of Denise Callison, {Rice} niece of Linda, Travis Stevens, husband of Amanda Stevens,{Callison}, Mason and Trent Stevens, sons of Amanda Stevens, {Callison}, great nephews of Linda, Rebecca Grajeda, {Callison}, daughter of Denise Callison, {Rice}, Jacob Grajeda, husband of Rebecca Grajeda, {Callison}, Abry Grajeda, daughter of Rebecca Grajeda {Callison}, great niece of Linda, Leighton Grajeda, son of Rebecca Grajeda, {Callison}, great niece of Linda, Shelby Jean Ross, {Spain}, my younger sister and sister-in-law of Linda, Roy Rogers Ross, Jr., [“Rusty”], husband of Shelby Ross, my brother-in-law, and brother-in-law of Linda, Daniel Gill Spain, my older brother and brother-in-law of Linda, and last but by no means least, Mrs. Elizabeth B. Spain, mother-in-law of Linda, mother to myself, wife of A. G. Spain, deceased, father of Daniel G. Spain, myself, and Shelby Ross, {Spain}, and a most generous giver of Many Good Gifts in her Own Right!

May Our Heavenly Father’s Many, Many Blessings Rain Down Upon You All! May your tired, tried, and weary spirits be Lifted, and may your Collective hearts know Absolute Contentment in All Good Things Henceforth! May you all enjoin with me in honoring my Dear Departed Wife, your Dear Departed Loved One, by truly Enjoying your respective lives and by truly expressing that Love to One Another and Beyond! Loving Each One of You from here, Blessed by the Messages of Love received from Many Amongst your number, I hereby bid you All a Fine and Safe Good Night! Until we see each other in person, talk over the phone or text, or otherwise engage in Conversation with One Another, Let Us All Rejoice in the Absolute Rock of Ages Fact that Our Dear Departed Loved One is Indeed Alive In Christ at This Very Moment and is Totally Devoid of All Suffering and Forever Free from the Cares of this World! In His Most Holy Name, I Pray, Amen!

Gregory Alan Spain, Honored Husband of his Bride, Linda Jo Rice Spain, Now Residing Forever and Evermore In Heaven!

PS This is the most important “letter” that I’ve ever felt I’ve needed to compose throughout the whole of my entire existence; it is “My Everlasting Tribute to Love”, and as such it was never actually intended to be an obituary, per se. I personally never really cared that much for that particular word myself. Though it is a pretty decent Scrabble “points gainer” kind of word when you can get the right game tiles for it. I sincerely hope that each of you is relatively content with my service in this regard.

PSS I Loved Her with All of My God-Given Heart! And She Willingly Gave Her Own Heart to Me in Fair and Trusting Exchange for My Undying and Most Sacred Vow to Her; to Keep Her, to Love Her, to Cherish Her, to Have Her, to Hold Her, to Honor Her, to Respect Her, to Revere

Her, to Protect Her, for Better, for Worse, for Richer, for Poorer, in Sickness and in Health, till Death Do Us Part. All noble sentiments that in and of themselves requires the most Chivalrous of Responses in order to Succinctly Satisfy their Each and Every Requirement Rightly. She is now gone---and still--what now? Well, there really isn’t any other response than the one that I so Innocently enough Vowed to Her to Keep some 19 and ½ Years Ago-- “I Do.” G. S.