Linda Lee Spitze's Obituary
Linda Lee Spitze passed away in her home on November 30, 2021, in Scappoose, Oregon at the age of 67.
Linda was born in Casper, Wyoming to Jack and Elsie Cromwell on June 19, 1954. They moved from Wyoming in 1963, when Linda was nine years old to the Portland area, residing in various parts of Portland and Beaverton during her younger years. She graduated high school in 1972 from John Adams High in Portland, Oregon. Then went on to complete a variety of college courses throughout her life, demonstrating her love for learning and reading on a multitude of subjects. During her life, Linda worked at AT&T for 19 years and then Portland Lines Bureau for 27 years where she served as Chairman of the Board. In 1987, Linda and Paul Sampaulesi purchased their home in Scappoose, Oregon. She has owned this property now for 34 years.
Linda loved to experience new places. In 2011, she traveled to Israel with her husband, Dennis. In 2018, her sister, Kathy, brother-in-law, Ed, and her journeyed to Ireland together. In 2019, mother, Elsie, sister, Jacque, Dennis, and Linda all set out for Alaska. Linda went to Thailand in 2018 for Missions and helped build a church in a local village for two weeks. Most of all, she really loved Hawaii and has been with many of her family members, several times over the years. She also took a road trip in 2019 with her grandson, Dominic, across the country in their corvette and she greatly enjoyed the many recent trips she took to Texas to visit Dominic.
Linda’s desire to learn new things was a constant in her life and she had all types of interests. She deeply enjoyed reading and sharing with others what she learned. She has always appreciated music from many genres. She loved playing the piano and was on the worship team at Peninsula Open Bible Church for many years. Another one of her loved hobbies was photography. She liked taking photos of flowers, animals, landscapes, and architecture. She even recently did a photography forum in Moab, Utah with her grandson, Dominic, where they hiked into canyons and camped out for several days.
Linda loved animals of all kinds, especially horses and birds. She had a passion for farming and raised chickens regularly. She loved growing various dahlias, glads, and lilies. She appreciated a variety of cars and so loved attending car shows with Dominic. Although she was not a pilot, she really liked antique airplanes and was the secretary of the Scappoose Airplane Club for a few years. During this time, she helped organize two fly-ins: one being our local Scappoose Fly-in in 2011 and the other being the Person Air-Fly-in out of Vancouver, Washington in 2009.
Linda had an amazing ability to prepare enormous amounts of food. She managed and organized the soup kitchen at Grace Baptist Church in St. Helens for over ten years. She loved canning and putting up various foods and jams. She recently had purchased a commercial freeze dryer and was freeze drying anything she could get her hands on!
Linda loved and followed Jesus Christ. She shared the love of God wherever she went. For many years, she served as the children’s church teacher at Peninsula Open Bible. She was also part of a women’s bible study group called The Soul Sisters; they met regularly for many many years. Her kind heart and giving spirit easily led her to be of service to others; just to mention a few of her acts of service: she joined in on lots of missions to feed the homeless, offered many in need a place to stay, and helped people get to where they needed to go by offering rides.
Linda is survived by her mother, Elsie Heuerman; husband, Dennis Spitze; sisters, Barbara, Judy Orrell, Jacque Swan, Kathleen Sanders; brother, Casey Cromwell; daughter, Sara Sampaulesi-Carey; grandson, Dominic Sampaulesi; and several nieces, nephews, great nieces and nephews, and many friends.
She is predeceased by her father, Jack Cromwell; stepfather, Lawrance Heuerman; first husband, Paul D. Sampaulesi; and second husband, Rodney Owen.
Linda’s Celebration of Life will be held on January 8th, 2022, at 11:00am at 12420 NE Siskiyou St. Portland, Oregon. Followed by a potluck reception.
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