Wednesday May 12th, 2021
The Atlin Whisper “Never doubt that a small group of committed citizens can change the world.” Margaret Mead
HAPPY 70TH BIRTHDAY TO LINDA REED A TRUE ATLINITE Linda’s family is not able to celebrate this milestone birthday with her in person but we wanted to acknowledge the significance of the years she has been living in Atlin and share a brief history of Linda’s arrival in Atlin, her 70 years living there, and give a tribute to the wonderful person she is. Linda was born on May 17, 1951 in Fairview, Alberta. She is the youngest of five children born to Edith and Alfred (Babe) Feldman. Not long after Linda was born, Babe went to Atlin for work and his family followed him there in the winter of 1952. Edith made a harrowing journey up the Alaska Highway by bus that winter with five kids and at the time, Linda was just six months old! Babe worked various jobs over the next few years including as a gold miner on Boulder Creek and as a laborer at a tie mill on the other side of Atlin Lake. Edith and the kids would cross the lake by canoe in the summer and by dog sled in the winter. Sadly, Babe passed away when Linda was seven years old and Edith had a few difficult years raising five children on her own in Atlin, working many different jobs to make ends meet. For a brief time, the family moved to Fort St. John and Taylor but soon returned to Atlin. It was during these years in Atlin that Linda attended school in the one-room school that is now the Atlin Museum. Edith then met and married Bill Nelson and soon moved her kids with Bill to Tulsequah while Bill worked as a watchman there. Bill was an incredible stepfather during Linda’s younger and teen years, and holds a special place in Linda’s heart as “dad”. Linda went to school in Whitehorse for a short time, boarding with Moe Grant’s family there, but was residing back in Atlin in 1968 when her future husband arrived in town. Linda met John Reed in 1968 and they were married in June of 1969. Their kids Debbie and Geoff were born in 1970 and 1973 respectively. Over the next 20 years, Linda and John worked hard to raise their kids. John helped run the Atlin Diesel Station and fixed ski-doos and other small engines at night while Linda was a hard-working wife and mother and held many different jobs to contribute to her family. One might say she single handedly kept the Atlin School functioning properly while she was the secretary there in the late 70’s and 80’s. They also spent many years commercial fishing on the Taku River and then added to their entrepreneurial ways by performing expediting services for mining companies around Atlin for many years. Linda was the bookkeeper for their various businesses, all whilst being a homemaker for her busy household. And let’s not forget the years spent on the trapline cooking on a wood stove, doing laundry with an actual washboard, and schooling Debbie and Geoff through correspondence! In 2019 John and Linda celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary and we were all able to celebrate together with a houseboating trip down Atlin Lake.