lit a candle 19d agoNever knew her, just read the obituary my aunt shared from Mount Pleasant. That tea ring detail got me, the small things are the whole life really.
Their story
Linda Lou Hunsaker was not a celebrity or a public figure in the usual sense. She was a longtime resident of Mount Pleasant, Iowa, known within her community for decades of steady work, church involvement and devotion to her family, and her death has drawn attention mainly from relatives, friends…
Linda Lou Hunsaker was not a celebrity or a public figure in the usual sense. She was a longtime resident of Mount Pleasant, Iowa, known within her community for decades of steady work, church involvement and devotion to her family, and her death has drawn attention mainly from relatives, friends and neighbors through her published obituary rather than from national news coverage.
She was born on April 8, 1941, at Burlington Hospital in Iowa, the daughter of Victor Russell Swanson and Ida Charlotte (Kuenzler) Swanson. She graduated from Denmark Academy. On May 22, 1959, in Denmark, Iowa, she married Clyde "Neil" Hunsaker, who died before her on November 18, 2021. Over the following decades Linda worked a series of jobs typical of her generation in southeast Iowa, including seasonal work at Cargill Seed alongside her close friend Garnet McChesney, and positions at Goodyear and at Motorola in Mount Pleasant, from which she eventually retired.
After retiring, she became a full time caregiver for her husband, and was remembered for bringing homemade tea rings to the doctor's offices the couple visited together. She was active in her community in small, consistent ways: she helped with parking at the annual Old Threshers Reunion from the late 1960s onward, spent summers baking for family and for the Old Threshers friends she considered family, and hosted a potluck and Saturday lunch each year during Old Threshers week. She also volunteered at the VFW veteran breakfasts, took part in Wednesday morning donut days with residents at Woodland Heights, and was a member of Lincoln Street Fellowship in Mount Pleasant. Friends recalled her love of looking through recipes, baking, garage sales and her many coffee clubs, including a group known as the Motorola Group.
Linda Lou Hunsaker died on Sunday, September 27, 2026, at Woodland Heights Care Center in Mount Pleasant, surrounded by her family, at the age of 85. Her death was announced through an obituary released by Murphy Funeral Home and Monuments of Mount Pleasant and published by the Southeast Iowa Union and local outlet KILJ. No cause of death has been made public in the available reports.
She is survived by her two sons, Cliff Hunsaker of Mount Pleasant and Will Hunsaker of Ottumwa, her grandchildren Travis Hunsaker and Jodi Campbell, several great grandchildren, and her sister Victoria Beach. She was preceded in death by her husband, her parents, a daughter in law and a granddaughter. A funeral service is scheduled for 10:30 a.m. on Saturday, October 10, 2026, at Lincoln Street Fellowship in Mount Pleasant, with her son Pastor Will Hunsaker officiating, followed by burial at Pleasant Hill Cemetery.
Biography adapted from News reports and the sources cited on this page; death reported by Legacy obituary.
My gran used to make tea rings too, different time, same comfort I think.