Linda Spalding, 88, of Bastrop, Texas, passed away 17 October 2022. She was a retired missionary who served in Bolivia, Mexico, and Panama for 21 years alongside her husband, Tom Spalding.

Linda Eve Sibert was born September 1, 1934 in Richmond, Indiana, to Raymond and Vergil Bell Plessinger Sibert. She was the fifth of 11 children. Shortly after committing her life to Christ, she felt a call to the missions field.

After high school, she attended Indiana State Teacher’s College for a year before entering nurses’ training at Methodist Hospital in Indianapolis, Indiana. She graduated in 1956.

Later that summer, she married Tom Spalding. She was the nurse at Trevecca Nazarene College while Tom finished his schooling. Before she and Tom began their missionary career, he pastored in Kentucky. In 1962, they entered language study before arriving in Bolivia in 1963.

Their assignment in Bolivia was to build a clinic and parsonage, creating a missions station on the shores of Lake Titicaca. Linda helped build the clinic, which was part of a network of clinics built within Bolivia. That network treated more than 4,000 people through 1972.

In 1979, the Spaldings were transferred to Panama and Mexico to help stabilize the Church of the Nazarene. They closed their career in Panama in 1984, bringing over 20 years of missions service to a close.

Tom pastored churches across Texas until retirement from full-time ministry in 1996.

Linda was preceded in death by her husband, Tom, who passed away in May. She is survived by her sisters, Jenny Lovelace, Roberta Hignight, Athalie Bymaster; brother, Joseph Sibert; daughters, Kathy Runyon and Laura Wolf; son, David Spalding; grandchildren, and great grandchildren.