- Date Of Birth: February 20, 1961
- Date Of Death: October 1, 2022
- State: Idaho
After enjoying a day on horseback with her friend Juli Eggleston, Linda Symms was thrown from her horse and suffered a brain injury. Linda passed away because of her injury October 1, 2022.
Linda was born in Reno, Nevada on February 20, 1961, the fifth of five children born to Lois and Stephen Phalen. Linda grew up in Reno where she rode her horse in the spring, summer and fall and skied every day she could in the winter. Linda was very talented in both horseback riding and skiing with both becoming lifelong passions.
Linda Graduated from College of Idaho with a degree in chemistry. She was among the top national collegiate ski racers representing the College of Idaho. During her time there, she met the love of her life and eventually married Daniel Symms in 1983. Together they raised three children, John, Sally, and Lois. As a family of five, they enjoyed a variety of outdoor adventures together, including skiing and hiking in and around southern Idaho and beyond. But most of all Linda and Dan spent time inspiring their children to become thoughtful, intelligent adults. Dan preceded her in death, after a valiant battle with cancer, on October 7, 2014.
Linda loved skiing and became a ski instructor at Bogus Basin and taught there since the early 1990s, and she was preparing for the upcoming season. She raised her children on the ski slopes and enjoyed watching them be exceptional skiers, racers, and freeriding skiers. “I love skiing. I love the sliding, the wind blowing against me as I speed down the hill, and the confidence I have in my ability to go as fast or slow as I want.” She once wrote.
In recent years, Linda found true happiness in a group of women who loved riding and caring for horses. Her friend Juli Eggleston who was with her when she fell said, “Together we groomed, picked hooves, bathed, doctored, schooled, fed, and picked up lots of manure. But most of all we rode. We rode in the arena, through the orchard, down the ditch road and around the neighborhood and in clinics.” When Katie Weitz joined them, they became the Sunny Slope Ladies’ Riding Club, but the neighbors called them The Three Musketeers.
Gardening was a favorite pastime, and Linda loved to spend time in her garden. She devoted time and energy into understanding all there was to know about every plant in her garden. Linda enjoyed studying native plants and trying to bring out the natural beauty in any environment.
From the time she was a child she loved to read encyclopedia articles. This interest continued into her adult life, and she loved researching a variety of topics from plant life to human life. She entertained her children when they were young by letting them select a topic to read. Linda was a curious researcher to the end, always selecting books for the sisters’ book club that were nonfiction and focused on science or philosophy.
Linda was involved in numerous organizations. She was a long-time member of P.E.O. Chapter AU. With her good friend Amy Bower, she joined a pool league and a line dancing social club in recent years.
Linda is survived by her children Dr. John Symms and his wife Annie and their children Lavender, Shane, Roland, Magnus, Tyson and Goldie; Sally Gottschall and her husband John and their children Michael and Daniel; and Lois Symms; by her siblings Mary Olin and her husband Mark; Margi Robberson and her husband Jeff; Stephen Phalen and his wife Janice; and Susan Quilici and her husband Mike; her in laws Susan Stauffer and her husband Darris, Amy Symms Crabtree and her husband Charlie; and Katy Senkus and her husband Steve; as well as nieces and nephews Emily Langdon, Sarah Aiazzi, Stephen and Joseph Quilici, Andrew, Tyler, Benjamin, and Dustin Stauffer, William, Zach, and Nick Senkus. She is also survived by her large and close Symms family and her special second cousin McCleod.
