Willie Smith Linberg

Willie S. Linberg, 80 of Naples, Florida died Sunday, January 31, 2010 at home surrounded by loving family.

Willie was born October 1, 1929 in Lasker, North Carolina. After high school she attended nursing school in Raleigh, North Carolina, graduated, and was a nurse at Duke Hospital in Durham where she met her future husband, Eugene J. Linberg, M.D.

Willie moved to Naples in 1971, and changed her career to Real Estate. In her spare time she was a thirty year member of the Collier County Medical Society Alliance, and served as its President for a year. Willie worked as a volunteer sharing her experience, strength, and hope with many self-help groups locally, statewide, and nationally. She also spent several years in the recent past moderating the nurse’s intervention project. Recently, Willie derived great satisfaction as a volunteer at the Naples Community Hospital Open Heart Unit.

Willie was told by some whom she volunteered with, that ‘Willie was a funny name for an Angel.’ Nothing could be more true. She was kind and good, gentle and full of joy. She offered peace and comfort. Above all she knew the importance of unconditional love. She believed, as is written in 1 Corinthians, ‘Love is patient, Love is kind. Love always trusts, always hopes, Love always perserversÖ Love never fails.’

Willie is survived by her devoted husband of 56 yrs, Dr. Eugene Linberg and their four children: Dr. Thomas Linberg and his wife Diane of Holden, Maryland; Catherine Smith and her husband Greg of Birmingham, Alabama; Robert Linberg of Birmingham, Alabama; and Michael Linberg of St. Paul, Minnesota. Willie is also survived by 5 grandchildren, Mallory Smith of Birmingham, Alabama, Kristin Smith Hicks of Birmingham, Alabama, Renu Linberg of Holden, Maryland, Jamie and Jodie Linberg of St. Paul, Minnesota.

She was preceded in death by her father William Clinton Smith and her mother Arline Smith Vaughan, both of Lasker, North Carolina, and sister Dorothy Ray Warmack of Cove City, North Carolina.

A Poem to Nana

You have heard the laughs, you have seen the tears,

You have been an inspiration throughout the years.

You have helped people out through thick and through thin,

You would stand beside them throughout day-out and day-in.

You are more than a friend, a Nana, a Mother,

more than a chef, a role-model, a dog-lover.

No words can describe the things you have done,

the people you’ve touched,

the obstacles you’ve overcome.

Thank you Nana for the things you have taught me,

having you as a Grandmother is truly a Blessing.

I Love You, Renu