Linda was born Aug. 28, 1956, in Park Rapids, Minn., to Fred and ElVeda (Carlson) Bliss. She grew up on the Hubbard prairie and was part of the Stony Lake Beavers 4-H club. She graduated from Park Rapids High School in 1974 and received the “Betty Crocker Homemaker of Tomorrow” scholarship.

In 1976 she graduated from the University of Minnesota Crookston with a degree in meat/poultry science. She then went on to the University of Wisconsin-River Falls with a degree in Agriculture Education in 1978.

After college, she moved to Martin County where she became Fairmont High School’s first female FFA advisor and vocational Ag instructor in 1978.

In 1988, she became Martin County’s Ag Inspector, Water Planner and Wetland Administrator until 1997. She also was named Minnesota’s water planner of the year in 1996.

After that is when she became executive director of BERBI (Blue Earth River Basin Initiative) focusing on water quality in the Blue Earth river watershed. She was able to secure grant funding for water quality projects to treat the river basin as a whole and not per county, which eventually reduced pollution going into the Minnesota River by 10 percent.

When the projects with BERBI was complete in 2006 she created Rural Advantage. A non-profit that focused on initiatives that leverage and enhance the interconnections of agriculture, the environment, and rural communities. One of the projects she led was the community gardens in Fairmont at Heritage Acres allowing people to have plot to grow their own food.

Linda had a lifelong passion for agriculture and environmental stewardship. She once said “being outdoors farming was better than inside doing dishes” and was deeply involved with many organizations including SWCD (Soil water conservation district ) where she was elected supervisor in 2007, Master Gardener, and various rural water quality boards in the state. As her children grew, she enjoyed teaching them to catch a crappie, helping them show cows and pigs at the fair, or pointing out every rogue patch of thistles. She dearly loved all her grandchildren. She would always light up with joy seeing them and loved to read them a book.

Linda is survived by her sons, Jonathan Meschke of Welcome, Minn., Michael (Jackie) Meschke of Geneseo, Ill.; grandchildren, Wyatt, Everett and Addison; siblings, Larry (Barb) Bliss of Huachuca City, Ariz., Kathy (John) Thompson of Park Rapids, Terry (Sharon) Bliss of Park Rapids, Kevin (Jennifer) Bliss of Nevis, and Karen Pagnac (Dan) of Brainerd.

She was preceded in death by her parents, Fred and ElVeda Bliss.

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