Linda Johnson

SOUTH PORTLAND — Linda Louise Borden Johnson died at age 83 on 1 April 2023, at Legacy Memory Care at Oceanview in Falmouth, Maine.

She was a longtime resident of South Portland prior to moving to the memory care facility in 2015.

Linda was born to Geraldine Fifield Austin Borden and Chester Ellsworth Borden on 16 December 1939 in Cambridge, Massachusetts. She was a 1957 graduate of Newton High School in Newton, Massachusetts. In 1961, she received a Bachelor of Arts degree from Wilson College in Chambersburg, Pennsylvania. She received a master’s degree in Religious Education in 1967 from Andover Newton Theological School, commuting from Maine to Massachusetts, often with her two young children in tow.

After moving to Maine in the early 1960s, Linda directed the Sunday school and other youth activities at Woodfords Congregational Church in Portland and began her lifelong commitment to civil rights, social justice, and humane mental health support programs. In 1972, Linda and her husband and two children spent a year in Rhodesia (Zimbabwe), where she taught third and fourth graders at the Big Tree School in Chikore. On returning to Maine, she started her own business: the Discovery Center preschool, which she ran for many years.

She became increasingly involved in local committees and politics in South Portland and was elected as the city’s first woman city councilor in 1980 and as the first woman mayor in 1985. Following her years on the city council, she was involved in many organizations and committees as a volunteer, such as the maritime museum at Spring Point and various arts organizations. She was a dedicated poll worker in the Sunset Park neighborhood of South Portland, and she enjoyed having a variety of jobs in the community, including working at the old LaVerdiere’s Drug Store on Main Street and in the literacy program at what was then called the Maine Youth Center (now Long Creek Center). In recognition of her many years of dedication, she was awarded the Key to the City of South Portland in 2013.

Linda loved being with people and had many friends of all ages. She loved reading, talking about books, and spending time at the South Portland Public Library. She combined socializing with playing cards, including playing bridge with neighbors and friends and approximately a million other card games with her grandchildren.

She loved being near the ocean, especially sailing in Casco Bay, summers in Ogunquit, and trips to Culebra Island, Puerto Rico. She was fierce about doing the Sunday New York Times crossword puzzle and having a beautiful garden at her house on Rhode Island Avenue. She loved Red Sox baseball and usually listened to games on the radio in the kitchen (with her cat) so that she could be doing 15 other things at the same time. Linda also loved art — she often went to galleries and museums, and she filled her house with paintings and other works of art by contemporary Maine artists.

Linda was preceded in death by her parents, husband Birger T. Johnson, and former husband Richard P. Whitney. She is survived by her two children, Rear Admiral Mark R. Whitney, USN (Ret.) and his wife Lisa, and Professor Donna L. Whitney and her husband Professor Marc Hirschmann; two stepsons, Kenton Johnson and Matthew Johnson; three grandchildren, Naomi Linda Whitney-Hirschmann and twins John T. and Austin G. Whitney; sisters Joanne Moore and husband David, and Cynthia McKenney and husband Richard; and many cousins, nieces, and nephews.

In lieu of flowers, please consider donating to the Friends of the South Portland Public Library: https://southportlandlibrary.com/friends/.

A memorial service will be held June 22, 2023, with details to be published at www.hobbsfuneralhome.com.