Linda Sonnichsen Gossett

Garden City, Idaho

1946 – 2023

Linda Gossett, 77, passed away at home on 30 August 2023, with her children by her side, following a short battle with cancer.

Linda was born in Albany, California, to David Eugene Sonnichsen and Mary Barbara Oswill Sonnichsen. She and her younger sister, Mary Ann, grew up in California’s Castro Valley. Trips to Yosemite and the Sierra Nevada mountains kindled an early love of the outdoors. Linda was active in 4-H, where she was involved with leadership and teaching textile skills, forming lifelong friendships in the process. After graduating from Hayward High School, she attended the University of California at Davis and ultimately graduated from San Jose State University in 1968, earning a BA degree in home economics, and a secondary teaching credential.

Linda married Bill Gossett in 1967, and worked as a teacher in the San Francisco Bay area for two years before the couple moved to Boise in 1970. Two children followed: Lori in 1971 and Jeff in 1975. For a young woman who loved nature, Idaho was paradise. Linda kept busy raising her children, sewing, growing vegetables in her garden, backpacking, camping, and skiing. She continued her teaching career, first at Fairmont and West junior high schools, and later at Capital High School, teaching home economics and world geography. Linda was an active member of the community: she worked with the Boise Recycling Committee to introduce curbside recycling, volunteered at her children’s schools, and taught adult education sewing classes.

In the 1980s, Linda took a part-time job with Litton Home Appliances as a Home Economist, giving in-store microwave oven classes and demonstrations at a time when the devices were still a fairly novel item. She said that she “taught most of southern Idaho how to cook meals in the microwave.”

Following a divorce, Linda started working full-time: first with property management at the Alaska Center, and then working in the containerboard division at Boise Cascade Corp, before finally beginning her long career at the University of Idaho in 1989 as an administrative Home Economist. Supervising the university’s Expanded Food and Nutrition Education Program (EFNEP) in Ada, Canyon, and Owyhee counties, Linda taught low-income homemakers how to improve their families’ nutrition, access commodity foods and food stamps, and stretch their food dollars, while also organizing child care, transportation and bilingual outreach to program participants. She earned a Master of Public Administration from Boise State University in 1997, and eventually rose to Full Professor for the University of Idaho’s EFNEP program and served as president of the Idaho Extension Educators. She retired in 2013 with Emeritus status after 24 years with the university.

Several of Linda’s projects drew national attention: she was interviewed about her EFNEP efforts by CBS Radio’s “Osgood File” program, and taped a series for National Public Radio on cost-saving strategies for families. As a member of the Junior League of Boise, she helped develop two cookbooks: “Bound to Please” and “Beyond Burlap.” When Boise hosted the National Governors’ Association’s summer conference in 1985, she made sure every governor received a copy of “Bound to Please”. One of her microwave cooking tips was even cited on Oprah’s “O” website.

An enthusiastic advocate of volunteerism, Linda was active in Beaux Arts Society, the Idaho Women’s Charitable Foundation, PTO, the Junior League of Boise, Habitat for Humanity, her church, the Boy Scouts, and the Sunrise Rotary club. On behalf of Rotary, she traveled to a village near Colima, Mexico, for “Project Amigo,” distributing clothing and Spanish-language books to children in migrant schools or orphanages. With her son’s Boy Scout troop, she was often the only mother to go on campouts – even in the snow. She traveled extensively within the U.S., and internationally to Israel, Denmark, Jordan, Germany, Italy, Turkey, Mexico, and the Galapagos Islands.

Linda said about her life, “I’ve always been blessed by friends.” It was a mutual feeling: her friends felt blessed and supported by Linda. She was often the first person they turned to for event planning, projects, cooking ideas, networking, and for fixing sewing, knitting, or home repair mistakes. She took great pride in her teaching and volunteer activities.

Linda was preceded in death by her parents; by two fondly-remembered stepfathers, Stan Rosevear and Harold Faria; and by her sister, Mary Ann Sonnichsen. She is survived by her children, Lori Gossett and Jeffrey Gossett. Her funeral will be held at Collister United Methodist Church on 14 October 2023 at 1:30 p.m. Linda asked that any donations in her memory be made to the 4-H or the Idaho Youth Ranch. Or volunteer your time anywhere your community needs it – that would be a fitting tribute to Linda’s life.