The Mission Trails Regional Park (MTRP) community is deeply saddened by the passing of Linda Kramer, on Aug. 10. A longtime MTRP volunteer, Linda served as secretary of the park’s Trail Guide program since its inception in 1995; her husband, Fred Kramer, has been the group’s president since April 2000. Linda and Fred could be seen at the park several times a week, often on Father Junipero Serra Trail. Linda would routinely pick up trash along the way, leaving no cigarette butt or gum wrapper in her path.

Linda Lorraine Sawyer was born in Quincy, Massachusetts, and her family later relocated to Glendale, California. There, she met the love of her life, Fred Kramer. They married in 1968 and shared the next 51 years as best friends, proud parents of a son, Greg, and daughter, Amy, and grandparents of two granddaughters — Meredith and Makenna).

Before volunteering at Mission Trails, Linda was very active in her children’s youth sports programs, coaching soccer and Bobby Sox. She worked in the offices of Dailard and Penn Elementary Schools, and began volunteering at the MTRP Visitor Center front desk when the facility opened in 1995. She was also a graduate of the first Trail Guide training that year, and went on to lead more than 140 walks in the park, including many for school groups, which she thoroughly enjoyed.

In 2005, Linda received a special award for her dedicated volunteer service at Mission Trails, and in 2009, she received the much-deserved Volunteer of the Year award.

Linda Kramer will be remembered fondly and sorely missed. One of Linda’s favorite things to see at Mission Trails was the beautiful wildflower, canchalagua. The flower’s springtime bloom will forever remind us of Linda and her kind spirit.