Linda is a Colorado native and was raised outside the small town of Hotchkiss where
she learned from her father the appreciation of the great outdoors and the rural way
of life. She graduated from the University of Colorado, Boulder with a Bachelor of
Science in Commercial Recreation. Following a number of years working at Peaceful
Valley Lodge and Guest Ranch near Lyons, Colorado she and husband Tom began their
next chapter at the Bar NI Ranch in Stonewall, Colorado. For fifteen years, Tom and
Linda managed the ranch and its lodge focusing on environmental land and wildlife
stewardship, livestock management, and guest services for the ranch owners and their
personal and corporate guests. Many environmentally focused collaborative initiatives
were accomplished and heartfelt relationships were formed.
After leaving ranch and lodge management Linda’s path has been two fold. She thoroughly
enjoys her work at Trinidad State College as Executive Assistant to the President.
Before this position, she served the College as Office Assistant for the Trinidad
State College Educational Foundation and as Trinidad State STEM Outreach Assistant
supporting K-12 area schools. She has been a co-coordinator of Southeast Colorado
Rural Philanthropy Days, a statewide initiative through the Colorado Resource Center
and Anschutz Family Foundation of Denver. She is currently a board member for Mt.
Carmel Health, Wellness and Community Center.
Additionally, Linda continues to be dedicated to each nonprofit organization developed
while she and Tom were at the Bar NI Ranch, those being the Bar NI Ranch Community
Fund, the Purgatoire Valley Foundation (www.purgatoirefoundation.org), and the Culebra
Range Community Coalition whose flagship programs are the Trinidad Water Festival
and the Culebra Range Scholarship Program.