Linda Lockhart’s Loving Legacy
Contributed by Randi Perlman, with help from John Erskine
Our dear friend and beloved community member, Linda Lockhart, lost her long and brave battle with cancer on Tuesday, April 9, 2024. Linda lived in the Big Lake community and has had an astounding impact there, and throughout the entire Valley.
Linda did not know how to do things small – everything she produced was HUGE and OVER-the-TOP! She was a skilled master gardener, creating magnificent gardens from barren land at her home on Dollar Lake. She formed the North Root Big Lake Gardeners, producing gardening classes, workshops and symposiums at Houston Middle School, greenhouse gallops, local garden tours, dahlia bulb parties, seed swaps, hypertufa trough/steppingstone pours, and helped beautify the Big Lake Library and Big Lake Elementary gardens, the East Lake Mall planters, and other local community gardens.
She held several benefits for the Big Lake Lions, combining some of those with her penchant for pirates. In October of 2006 she created Pirates of Dollar Lake, a take-off on the Pirates of The Caribbean. This ambitious production was originally staged in her amazing gardens and later moved to the new Lions Recreation Center, filling that cavernous facility with an enormous and energetic cast of larger-than-life pirates, maidens, ships & treasures. For six years, including a 4-day run in mid-September 2011, visitors were awed & enthralled by the pageantry of it all! She did the same sort of thing at Halloween, once again originally amongst her nighttime gardens and later moved to the Lions’ Den, delighting (and scaring!) kids of all ages as giant creatures jumped out from behind bushes, decapitated heads careened down invisible lines, and costumed goblins appeared out of nowhere.
Linda met her longtime partner John Erskine in the early 1980s. When she received her first diagnosis of cancer in 2011, they decided that was a good time to tie the knot, so a lovely wedding was quickly planned and held at her hospital bedside on October 14, complete with flowers, champagne and a few close friends. Linda’s strong will and determination allowed her to combat her cancer demons and continue helping others for thirteen years before losing the battle.
Linda was extraordinarily generous to both nonprofits and individuals. She held events at, and raised funds for, the Big Lake Lions Club, Mid-Valley Seniors and several other deserving nonprofits and was involved in the early days of the Garden & Art Faire when it was held on the Alaska State Fairgrounds. In 2010, Linda was presented with the Bob Gross Award for her community Service in Big Lake. She served as Alaska Magazine’s Art Director for five years and as Art Director for Fish Alaska Magazine for twelve years. In May 2014, Linda & John held the Grand Opening of their incredible thrift store Top Drawer on Big Lake Road, selling everything you could ever need and then some… Word about Top Drawer spread quickly, and folks traveled from throughout the Valley and well beyond to peruse the large inventory, make donations or purchases, or attend the many unique events held there. Top Drawer was a benefit to the entire community, where prices were quite reasonable, and the large back area was available for community use. When the store closed in June 2019, it was missed by many.
Linda was also well known and admired for her extraordinary above-board creativity, and she designed multiple entries each year for the Valley Arts Alliance Wearable Arts Show. Visit the VAA archives to view these eye-catching ensembles. Her last contribution was helping design the costumes for the mascot of the recent Arctic Winter Games, the adorable chickadee. She was an integral part of the design team but had to withdraw from the actual handiwork of the costumes when her hands and fingers refused to obey her and carry out the tasks.
Linda was a force of nature, and her strong, vibrant personality, creative mind, and enthusiastically generous presence will be sorely missed by the community and all who knew and loved her. Donations in her name can be made to Valley Arts Alliance, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization bringing the community together through the arts.