Intermediate:

Mrs. Linda Johnson

Linda Johnson is a former swimming pool director, volleyball coach, lifeguard and athletic director so one might make the mistake of classifying Walther Lutheran Academy’s intermediate level teacher as a jock. And one would be wrong! There is artistic streak that runs deep in this lifelong Lutheran educator. She has played oboe in The Symphony of Oak Park & River Forest for 35 seasons, enjoys old musical movies, admires quilts and spends time making them and listens to a range of music that encompasses everything from Eric Clapton to Mahler’s Symphony No. 1, her particular favorite. Linda holds a Master of Arts in Curriculum (her BA is in Physical Education and Music) from Concordia University Chicago in River Forest. She would like to see the Academy continue to grow as a leader for centralized Lutheran Education in the Northern Illinois District. Linda is enjoying the Academy’s growth process, emphasizing that there are always new things to learn. The Academy’s multiage learning environment has become a transgenerational one for Linda. “I’ve already had children of former student in class – three of them,” she shared. “And my fifth grade teacher, Mrs. Audrey Roberts, was the mother of Mrs. Kathy Craven, the primary teacher here at the Academy.” Linda and her husband Joseph have three grown children, Gerianne, Ted and Lauren, all graduates of Walther Lutheran High School. She finds inspiration in words from Isaiah 43:1, “Fear not, for I have redeemed you; I have summoned you by name; you are mine.” She also appreciates the passages from Proverbs in The Message version of the Bible that address “Common Sense.” “Ed Grube used that in a workshop and it really grabbed my attention,” said Linda, as one veteran Lutheran educator quoting and giving credit to another. It is quite possible that someday Linda Johnson’s current students will be veteran Lutheran teachers quoting Linda Johnson to their class.