Linda Nell Richmond Norton died on August 24, 2022 in the care of the Androscoggin Hospice House in Auburn, Me. after a long illness. She was 77.

She was born on August 27, 1944 in Kerr County, Tex. She grew up in Hamilton, Tex. and graduated from Hamilton High School before going on to attend Texas Woman’s University, where she received her bachelor of arts degree in 1965.

While working as a librarian in Pensacola, Fla., she met Martha’s Vineyard native Dennis Norton, who was serving in the U.S. Navy aboard the USS Lexington. They married in Pensacola on June 1, 1967. They later returned to Dennis’s home town of Vineyard Haven and built a home where they would live together until his death in 2020. They were married for 53 years.

Linda received her certificate of librarianship from the Commonwealth of Massachusetts in June of 1977. She went on to have a long, distinguished career, most notably as the longtime head librarian at the Edgartown Public Library. She embraced new technologies and strove to make sure the library kept pace with the changing needs of its patrons. She received an outstanding achievement award from the State Senate of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts on May 4, 1992.

During a hiatus from being a librarian in the mid-1990s, she ran an appliance repair business. She received several certifications in air conditioning, refrigeration code, electrical code and appliance repair.

Linda was a lifelong learner. She loved to experience new things and to travel. Her trip of a lifetime was to Brazil in 2005. She had made dear friends in the Island’s Brazilian immigrant community through her dedication to the Edgartown Library’s English as a Second Language program.

She dabbled in many hobby crafts and, along with Dennis, was an avid gardener. They loved their greenhouse, where they could grow exotic plants in the cold New England climate.

She and Dennis did not have children but they had many fur-babies. It was not uncommon for them to have six cats at a time, all well cared for and loved. At various times they also had ducks, dogs and multiple aquariums. Towards the end of their lives, they enjoyed sitting together and watching birds at the feeders on their porch.

In 2020, after Dennis’s death, Linda was brought to live near their niece at the Woodlands Memory Care Unit in Hallowell, Me.

Linda is survived by her sister Myra Reinert and her husband Roy, her brother Ward Richmond, her brother in law Don Crum, and numerous nieces and nephews. She was predeceased by her parents, Robert and Ruby Richmond, her niece Jennifer Easterling, her sister Ginger Crum and her sister in law Linda Richmond.

Dennis and Linda’s ashes will be buried together in the Norton family plot at Oak Grove Cemetery in Vineyard Haven. A brief graveside service will be held on Saturday, Oct. 7 at 12:30 p.m.