Rev. Linda S. Siddall

Rev. Linda S. Siddall Born on March 8,1948, in Springfield, IL, to Florence G. Jones Siddall and Kelcy J. Siddall, Jr. Rev. Linda passed away on March 29, 2022 in Champaign, IL, after a six-year experience of pancreatic cancer. Rev. Linda did not lose a battle with cancer; her faith did not fail her. True to her strong spirit and deeply held beliefs, she lived with cancer as well as she could for as long as she could, knowing that a cure was not yet possible. Rev. Linda was the Director of Spiritual Care at Mission Hospice & Home Care (San Mateo, CA), retiring in May 2016 after twenty years of supporting the terminally ill facing issues arising from loss and grief. Ordained in 2004 as Religious Science minister, as a hospice chaplain she was also the assistant minister at The Emerson Center for Spiritual Awakening in Redwood City, CA, and the assistant minister and board president of Recalling Spirit Ministries in San Carlos, CA. A “late bloomer” to the ministry, Rev. Linda continued a long tradition of clergy in her family, which had produced Methodist and Baptist ministers since 1784. She was the second Rev. Siddall in her family, following the example of her paternal grandfather, Rev. Kelcy J. Siddall, Sr., who pastored St. John’s AME Church in Springfield, IL, for twelve years. Early in her adulthood, she was a vice president of Crocker Bank (San Francisco), managing support services for the bank’s 16,000 employees in California and Hawaii. In May 1986, she left the bank as a vice president of commercial lending following its takeover by Wells Fargo Bank. Later, as an entrepreneur, she founded and for 10 years operated Simply Stated Business Communications, consulting with Fortune 500 companies, start-up companies, and small businesses in California, Florida, Illinois, and Michigan. Articles about her appeared in Working Woman, PROFIT, and Home Office Computing magazines. Always a strong believer in community service, she was a Big Sister in Champaign, Illinois and East Palo Alto, CA, a mentor at the Florence Crittenton Home for Pregnant and Parenting Teens in San Francisco, and a volunteer at the Family Service Agency of San Mateo County, where she supervised visits of children with their non-custodial parent. She was the first woman president of the San Mateo Host Lions Club, a director of the Professional & Business Women’s Conference, and a director of the National Association of Women’s Business Owners - San Francisco Chapter. In addition, Rev. Linda was the spiritual advisor and a board member of the Northern California Transplant Donor Network (now called Donor Network West); a member of the Belmont Interfaith Clergy Group and the Peninsula Clergy Network, two interfaith groups building knowledge, understanding, and working relationships in the communities they jointly served; and a member of Women in Ministry. For fourteen years, she served as a community educator for the African American Community Health Advisory Committee (AACHAC – San Mateo, CA), teaching San Mateo County’s underserved populations about the physical, emotional, spiritual, and financial benefits of quality hospice and palliative care. As a result, the AACHAC honored her with the 2015 Heroes for Health Award for her outstanding service to the African American community. The awards ceremony also recognized Tony Cornelius, founder of the Don Cornelius Foundation, and Jay Harris, ESPN sportscaster, for their vital service to healthcare. A native of Champaign, Illinois, Rev. Linda majored in English at Southern Illinois University, Carbondale Campus. Later, she graduated with distinction from the Emerson Theological Institute, where she received a bachelor’s degree in Religious Studies and a ministerial credential in Religious Science. In addition, she received her credentials as an End-of-Life Care Practitioner through the Metta Institute’s (Sausalito, CA) ten-month training program (2006); credentials in Spiritual Direction through The Mercy Center’s (Burlingame, CA) three-year Spiritual Direction Formation Program (2012); and credentials in The Sacred Art of Living Center’s (Bend, OR) two-year The Art of Living & Dying Program (2014). In June 2016, Rev. Linda returned to Champaign, IL, before she had received the cancer diagnosis and after buying her retirement home and began exploring ways of serving her new community and overseeing the care of her ailing mother. Although retired from end-of-life care, she spoke at the Unity Church and Spiritual Center (Urbana, IL) and maintained her spiritual direction practice for those seeking a closer relationship with God, including her membership in Spiritual Directors International. In February 2017, she co-founded Sisters in Faith Leadership as a support group for East Central Illinois women whose primary vocation is ministering to others through religion or spirituality. She was also a proud board member of the Banks Bridgewater Lewis (BBL) Fine Arts Academy in Champaign and a member of the Ministerial Alliance of Champaign-Urbana and Vicinity. Rev. Linda is survived by her mother, Florence G. Ransom of Champaign; her sisters, Shahidah Sanchez of El Cajon, CA, Cheris Metts of St. Louis, MO, and Martha (George) Graves of Peoria, IL; her stepbrother James Terrence (Rosemary) Ransom of Springfield, IL; several nieces and nephews; several great-nieces and great-nephews; her Sister-Friends Nancy Cheatham and Cassandra Woolfolk of Champaign, Gloria Hendricks of Urbana, Rev. Marlyn Bussey of San Francisco, CA, and Acquanetta Williams of Collegeville, PA; honorary granddaughters Saji and Mikayla Kelly of Chicago and their parents, Patrick and Djenaba; “dozens of cousins”; a host of loving and supportive friends throughout the United States, Australia, Canada, and Great Britain; and her beloved miniature Schnauzer and soulmate, Murphy. She was predeceased by her paternal grandparents, the Rev. Kelcy J. and Vernealure Siddall; her father, Kelcy Siddall, Jr.; her stepfather, James Ransom, Jr., her maternal grandmother, Mabel M. Jones, her maternal aunt, Jacqueline Burns, and her great-nephew, Zachary Robinson. Being a descendent of William Florville, Abraham Lincoln’s barber and friend in Springfield, IL, was one of Rev. Linda’s proudest moments. This lineage revealed that she and the Bridgewater children were distant cousins, as their father and her mother were related through Florville, as well. One of her most humbling experiences was having the Paragon Academy in Ghana name its school library in her honor. In lieu of flowers, Rev. Linda suggests donations in her memory to any of the following organizations: the Champaign County Humane Society (Urbana), the Unity Church & Spiritual Center (Urbana), the Banks Bridgewater Lewis Fine Arts Academy (Champaign), Merry Maids of Champaign-Urbana, or the Lustgarden Foundation/for Pancreatic Cancer Research (Woodbury, NY). A Celebration of Life will commence at 11AM, Saturday, April 30, 2022 at Bethel AME Church. Eulogist, Pastor Terrance Thomas.

A Celebration of Life will commence at 11AM, Saturday, April 30, 2022 at Bethel AME Church, Champaign. Pastor Terrance Thomas, Eulogist.
 

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