LINDA STARR, Sandia Grotto in Albuquerque NM

Linda's caving history dates back to 1968 in Washington D.C. when she wrote a trip report in the DC Speleograph about her first grotto trip to the Breathing Cave, WV, and was elected as Recording Secretary for the DC Grotto. Soon she moved to NSS Office in Huntsville AL with her caver husband  and NSS Office Manager Doug Rhodes, then to New Mexico in 1972, all the while gaining experience in caving, climbing, conventions attending, while also working for the Cave Research Foundation and contributing to the NSS. She is the co-developer of Speleobooks. "The first Speleobooks ad appeared in the December 1972 NSS News. " Linda says. "Later, we developed Speleobooks into a second entrepreneurial endeavor, Adobe Press, and began printing the NSS News for the editor Charlie Larson. I did all the typesetting and layout for the NSS Bulletin for several years using primitive graphic arts technology." Speleobooks was signed over and sold to Emily Davis at the Texas Convention in 1978.

As Chairman of the SW Region in 1973, she helped with the planning of the 1st National Cave Management Symposium in Albuquerque in 1973 and helped plan the first Cave Restoration Project at Fort Stanton Cave in 1975. She breathed new life into the inactive Sandia Grotto with monthly meetings and engaged actively with the fledgling grotto and CRF-Guadalupe Mountains/Carlsbad Caverns national parks expeditions as the food and meals coordinator.

In 1983, after her son was born, she returned to Adobe Press to help produce the NSS News under their new editorship. Her experience with the NSS, publishing and printing led her to volunteer as an at-large member of the NSS Awards Committee and later serve as sub-committee chair of the NSS Spelean Arts and Letters Award.
Due to motherhood her caving waned for a few years, "though my son was caving in Three Fingers Cave in the womb".  She resumed active caving with the Sandia Grotto (assisting as officer in every elected position) and SWR, and was on the steering committee for the Gypsum Karst Project (GypKaP), formed soon after Lechuguilla Cave was opened up.  In 1987 she went on a Lechuguilla Cave trip with Dave Bunnell. Years later she also actively participated in survey, exploration and inventory of the El Malpais Monument’s lava tubes.

Currently, Linda's caving is mainly project caving as she participates with the Fort Stanton Cave Study Project. Keeping very active she explored a few Hawaiian caves as a tourist on the Big Island in 2013 and appreciated caving at the recent Brno International Congress of Speleology and a post-congress trip in Slovakia as well as the 16th International Vulcanospeleology Symposium in the Galapagos Islands last March.

After two years of service, this extraordinary woman recently passed on the Secretary of the Grotto position to another active caver. As she explains, "I believe in turning over grotto officer responsibilities, rather than holding onto them. As a wise, experienced old-time caver, I like to think that, perhaps, I serve as a guiding light or advisor to a newer generation of cavers; I attend most grotto and regional meetings/activities, present programs, help with cave cleanups and trips and, of course, take part in the social events too."  Congratulations, Linda, for an impressive on-going caving career !

Oh, but wait, there's more, as Linda continues : "I don’t believe in restricting my interests and energy to caving activities; I am presently co-leader in the Rio Grande Broadband of the Great Old Broads for Wilderness and delight as a Contra dance caller in New Mexico and elsewhere.  As a former elementary teacher, I volunteer tutoring for a local kindergarten literacy program.  I attempt to summit a Colorado Fourteener every year and last summer I succeeded in bagging Mt. Yale, my 16th 14,000 ft peak.  At conventions, I can be found dancing to the Terminal Siphons until the stage closes down." A true inspiration for the younger generations as well as old-timers – you're never too old when driven by passion and enthusiasm for life.

Submitted by Carole Devillers