My mom, my grandma, and I all shared the same birthday. My niece was due on our birthday that same year as Gramma lay balanced on the edge of two worlds for so many weeks. Our birthday was still 20 days away and my mom really felt that Gramma was waiting to see if the baby came on our birthday. Mom couldn’t bear it anymore, so she crawled up in bed with Gramma and said, “Mama, it’s our birthday today and guess what? The baby came! Isn’t it wonderful? She’s here, Mama. You can go now.” And within the hour she was gone.

My mom worried that her mom would be mad at her when she got to the other side and found out she’d been tricked. She also said she was sure Gramma was up there letting everyone know that that baby was going to be born on our birthday no matter what. And 20 days later she was. The releasing of a loved one from one world to the out-stretched arms of the next. And so it continues.

There is a good chance Lynda’s family knows my extended family. I will pass on this news to them.

On Monday, April 7, 2008, our loving wife, mother, daughter, sister, and dear friend lost her ten year battle with breast cancer, the past two years being painful bone cancer. She is now free from her pain and the cares of the world. For this we are grateful.

Lynda was born September 28, 1962 in Payson Utah. She was born to goodly parents, Daren C. and Ruth W. Young, and was blessed to have been born into a wonderful, loving family with five siblings. She resided most of her life in Spanish Fork. Lynda met her sweetheart at a Single Adult dance and knew that they would be eternal companions after this first chance meeting. She was married on June 26, 1981 in the Salt Lake Temple to Joseph Steven Tuckett. After living one year in Spanish Fork, they purchased a home in Payson and resided there until her death. Together they raised three beautiful children. The oldest is Steven, then Angeline, then her baby, Aubriana.

Lynda graduated from Spanish Fork High School and attended UVSC for a short time until her marriage. She was a very intelligent person although, in her modesty, she didn’t feel that she was.

Lynda served the Lord diligently, always going the extra mile, in every calling that she received. She served in the Primary, Cub Scouts, Young Women, and the Relief Society. She also served the Lord well by being a good neighbor and friend to those around her. Often, she would send notes to someone after they had given a touching talk or lesson in church…or to a stranger who she felt needed a little encouragement or to be lifted up in some small way.

Lynda worked for many years as a Title One Technician for Nebo School District. She worked until two weeks before her death. She touched the lives of many children, co-workers, and teachers alike. This is evident by her former students who would run to her and wrap their loving arms around her when they would see her years later. It is also evident from the comments of many of her co-workers who have expressed their deepest love and regards at her passing. Our family is very grateful for your wonderful gifts of love that you have given to us over the years. We thank you.

Our sincere thanks go to those health care providers who have blessed Lynda and made her ordeal as comfortable as possible. You truly showed to her the pure love of Christ. We thank Dr. J. Cordell Bott and Dr. T. J. Blair. We also thank Amber, Shirley, Natalie, and countless other practitioners, nurses, and aides from the Central Utah Cancer Clinic who blessed Lynda through these trying times.

Our thanks goes to our many LDS Ward and Stake leaders, members, neighbors, and friends who have given us food, gifts, and, most importantly, their love and support. We thank our families and friends who joined with us in countless prayers, fasts, and blessings in Lynda’s behalf.

Lynda is survived by her husband Joe; her children Steven Curtis, Angeline, and Aubriana; her parents Daren and Ruth Young; and her siblings Bruce, Annette, Lawrence (Larry), and Daren K. Lynda is also survived by many nephews, nieces, and cousins who she dearly loved. She was preceded in death by her sister, Nancy, and her grandparents, Alfred Raymond and Emma Jane Bingham Wilson, and Lawrence Alfred and Leila Cutler Doney Young.

There is a quote that typifies Lynda: “People will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.”

From her cheery, loving disposition, to her beautiful smile and infectious laugh, she was, through and through, one of God’s sweetest angels sent from heaven. We are all blessed to have known her and loved her. To have known Lynda was to have loved Lynda. We know there are many beyond the veil that are grateful to have her return home. Sweetheart, you will be sorely missed but, never forgotten.

One thing that stands out to me is that we, as a people, are able to see the beauty and wonder of God and life in someone’s passing. Not that it makes it any easier. But maybe more worthwhile? There doesn’t usually seem to be much gnashing of teeth at our funerals. My father, for example, has repeatedly (and seriously, I believe) requested that we play Tchaikovsky’s 1812 Overture at his services. With cannons. He feels that it would properly reflect his feelings of, “I’m outta here, baby!” We’ll see if Mom let’s him have it his way . . .

Yes, Bruce and I are both smart. (So what?) We have a facility for words which we have often used well and sometimes used very badly. We are capable of insulting each other through literary analogy. (I recall accusing him of being like Uriah Heep early in our marriage, which cut him deeply. “Uriah Heep is despicable!” he said.)

I love Mary Robison’s story “Yours” which depicts a woman dying of cancer, and her contemplative, much older husband. Robison’s narrator says, “He wanted to tell her, from the greater perspective he had, that to own only a little talent, like his, was an awful, plaguing thing; that being only a little special meant you expected too much, most of the time, and liked yourself too little. He wanted to assure her that she had missed nothing.”

If I could return to that Thanksgiving, I would tell Lynda to not envy Bruce his remarkable mind. His greatest joys have been the same ones she has known–from relationships. He loves libraries, but Lynda spent her life with children and pretty things. There is no hierarchy of good/better/best in their choices. He would probably quote C.S. Lewis in places she might quote Edgar A. Guest, but the most sacred spaces in his life are the same as in hers–where hand touches hand (whether the hand of a sibling, spouse, or the hand of God). He has known the great philosophers of this world, but his faith in God is the one thing which will carry him through these next few days.