Linda Sue (Arrowsmith) Free, 74, of Glidden, IA, passed away Friday morning, April 4, 2025 at Iowa Lutheran Hospital in Des Moines after suffering a massive heart attack. She is remembered as a devoted wife, mother, grandmother, sister, teacher and friend. Her legacy lives on in her children and grandchildren who brought her great joy in her life.
Mass of the Christian Burial will be celebrated at 10:30 A.M. on Wednesday, April 9, 2025 at St. Elizabeth Seton Catholic Church in Glidden with Fr. Patrick Behm as Celebrant. Music for the Mass will be by the St. Elizabeth Seton Choir with Mary Ross as organist. Lector for the Mass will be Shawn Bock. Gift bearers will be Arica Bowman, Shandi Kennebeck, and Sherri Steinkamp. Casket bearers will be Nathan Free, Jackson Free, Alexis Free, Samuel Harnish, Jeff Stangl, and Shyler Bock. Honorary casket bearers will be Jeff Lynch and Chris Lynch. Eucharistic minister will be Judy Mayer. Mass servers will be Brileigh and Chason Bock. Burial will be in the Merle Hay Memorial Cemetery in Glidden at a later date.
Friends may call at the Dahn and Woodhouse Funeral Home in Glidden after 5 P.M. on Tuesday where there will be a Rosary at 5:30 P.M. and a Christian Wake Service at 7:00 P.M. The casket will be moved to St. Elizebeth Seton Church at 9:30 A.M. on Wednesday where visitation will resume until 10:15 A.M. prior to the Mass.
Funeral arrangements are under the direction of the Dahn and Woodhouse Funeral Home in Glidden and online condolences may be left for the family at www.dahnandwoodhouse.com
Born October 16, 1950 to John and Shirley (Stangl) Arrowsmith, Linda was a lifelong educator and advocate for children and adults with disabilities. She graduated from Coon Rapids High School in 1969, and attended the University of Northern Iowa, where she received a Bachelor’s degree in Special Education in 1972.
She married her best friend and high school sweetheart, Allen Free, on May 29, 1970, and the two spent nearly fifty five years together creating memories with their family. Together they welcomed to the world three children, Jonathan, Melissa and Rachel and later invited a foster daughter, Kelly Fleming, into their family. After living and teaching in Marshalltown, IA for many years, Linda, Allen and the family moved to Colorado, where Linda loved to spend time in the mountains. After living in Colorado for three years, Linda and Allen moved to Casper, Wyoming, where Linda worked with high school students until she took a job with the State of Wyoming, educating teachers in how to meet the needs of students with autism. In 1996, Allen and Linda settled in Fort Collins, Colorado where Linda continued to work with adults with disabilities by opening her home as a host home provider, so that she could stay at home with her grandchildren. They lived in Fort Collins until they retired and moved home to Glidden in 2015.
More than anything, Linda enjoyed the time she spent with her family. She was a collector of memories, and was known to keep many treasurers that brought her joy when she gazed upon them, even if they were broken. She loved scrapbooking and collecting photographs, especially of her grandchildren who were her pride and joy. They were her greatest treasures in life. She loved music and sharing especially meaningful songs by John Denver or Josh Groban with her loved ones. Most of all, she enjoyed sharing family traditions and holidays filled with laughter, love, Easter egg scavenger hunts, huge Christmas stockings, sugar cookies, relish trays and jello salads.
Linda was a fighter. She was diagnosed with Type 1 Diabetes in 1977, and suffered a great many complications over the years due to this debilitating disease, In the last few years of her life as her kidneys declined, she was well cared for by her husband, her sisters, Joni, Carol and JoAnn, and her granddaughter Lexi, who were able to provide her with loving care as her kidney disease made life more difficult for her. Until her final days, she enjoyed watching crime and court dramas, always being the first to figure out “whodunnit.” She developed a great interest in politics when President Obama was elected, and if she wasn’t talking about her grandchildren, she was talking politics.
She is preceded in death by her parents, John and Shirley Arrowsmith, her father and mother-in-law Barry and Mary (Allen) Free, brothers-in-law Roger O’Tool, Charlie Bock, and Raymond Free, and sister-in-law Sandy Free.
Left to remember her are her beloved husband Allen; her children: Jonathan (Jennifer), Melissa, Rachel, and Kelly; her grandchildren: Nathan (Jordi Halbach) Free, Alexis Free, Jackson Free, Samuel Harnish, Jeffrey Lynch (Kelcey Stone) and Christopher (Jenny) Lynch; one great-grandchild; her sisters: Joni (Tank) Wieland, Carol O’Tool, JoAnn Clausen; a brother-in-law Francis Free; a sister-in-law Florence Free; and many nieces, nephews, cousins, other relatives and friends.
