Subj: Re: Meeting House
Date: 12/20/2004 5:51:43 PM Eastern Standard Time
From: linda@emeraldcst.com (Linda A. Nilson)
To: RTilden@aol.com

Dear Bob,

I've not got much more news. Life ain't that exciting here...we don't even have Wheelchair races...my competing as a wheelchair athlete for two years back in 1977 did not entice the Center.

You could mention I was a 2 silver, 1 bronze in the '84 Disabled Olympics in New York (International Plaza near Flushing).

I received several "hellos" from Linda through the year. We are all inclined to say that nothing much is new, but it is nice to hear an occasional voice from afar.

August 2003:

A few weeks ago I was surprised with an email from Linda Nilson, and since then we have exchanged a string of messages. You may recall that she was in our class in 1961 thru 1963.

She talked of her years spent overcoming and working around her injury, but hard as I tried, I couldn't remember what had happened to her. I finally had to ask, and once she told me, I remembered. You folks may or may not recall that she had a kite accident... an innocuous sounding thing, unless the kite is something you are riding, behind and high above a speedboat.

Kite riding was a new thing in 1965, and even as they evolved, they never had the stability that the later parasails have. Her kite was upset in an air pocket and descended out of control. The driver was distracted, and didn't know that Linda had fallen into the water, still in her harness. She was dragged for quite a while before a 6- year old in the boat opened the rope release.

She was brought to shore and revived long enough to say "I'm OK" ,and then went into a coma that lasted three months. Initially, She wasn't expected to be much more than a vegetable.

Lots of physical therapy and hard work, especially swimming, brought back her mobility, and still more hard work and determination got her through two courses of study at junior colleges, graduating with honors.

She has taken many other courses through the years, just as she has continued with swimming, biking, and gymnastics at competitive levels. She has worked as a physical therapist, and has spent many hours as a hospital volunteer.

Linda is a very determined individual, and has worked hard to make her way through the forty- year forest that we entered in the mid- '60s.