Linda Hayne

My mom, Linda Mae (McKinnon) Hayne, 75, died at her home in Centennial, Colo. on May, 10, 2023, after a long battle with colon cancer. She fought hard, stayed strong and remained positive until the end. She battled the disease, like she lived her life, on her own terms.

This strength permeated her entire life, which started on the farm where she grew up near New London, Iowa. Her family raised both crops and livestock, and she especially enjoyed riding her cow, Snowball, by coaxing her to walk with a carrot tied on the end of a string. Linda also loved horses, and she had quite a collection of horse figurines that I often played with as a child. When my mom finally got a Shetland pony of her own, she would ride all over the farm and to friends’ houses.  She was close to her younger sister, Betty, and they spent their childhoods playing with dolls and the farm animals, but often my mom was leading the way into making mischief.

That mischievous nature didn’t stop in high school. She liked to drive her red 1963 GTO  fast; so fast that she often ended up in a ditch where her dad, Frank Mckinnon, would have to pull her out. When she wasn’t driving her car fast, she was playing her trombone in the band, playing six-person basketball and serving as the baton majorette for the marching band.

My mom graduated from the New London school system in 1966, and after high school, she worked for a grocery wholesaler in Burlington, Iowa, and at Iowa State University.

She moved to Denver in 1970, where she married David Onsgard, and then I was born in 1972.

She continued to show her strength and tenacity, because even though my mom and dad didn’t have a lot of money, she dedicated her life to raising me. She immensely enjoyed being a stay at home mom, and I loved having her join my classes as a volunteer on field trips and at parties. When my parents divorced, my mom again demonstrated strength in adversity. She went back to work as a collections agent for JC Penny Bank Card, and although collecting on past due accounts was difficult, her compassion and kindness made people feel valued.

My mom always loved being outside. She loved mowing her yard and tending to flowers, and after marrying Lance Hayne in 1992, she began spending time in the mountains backpacking and fishing and camping. It was around this time, that she and I discovered thrift shopping; for the next 30 years, my mom and I went thrifting at least once a week, scouring for treasures and scoring sweet deals. We were always giddy when finding pricey home goods for thrift store prices.

In 2003, she once again demonstrated her strength had not wavered as she beat her first battle with cancer. Just a year later, she was there with me in the hospital to welcome her grandson, Andy. As a nana, she slowed her own driving and instead preferred to watch Nascar on Sunday afternoons– she could tell you about all of the drivers, but Carl Edwards was her absolute favorite.

She was a model of strength, of loyalty and of kindness for me – and I admired her for that. I know now, even though her loss is so very difficult – she would want me – she would want everyone who loved her – to be strong and to stay positive.