Just Cremation

Lynda Vine

It’s with a heavy heart that I attempt to encapsulate the life of the sweetest person I know into a few meager paragraphs. I believe, in all candor, that a full length film would fall seriously short of my objective. Forgive me, my beautiful Lynda. You deserve so much more.

On the sixth day of the fourth month in the year 1959, Virginia and Clair DeWitt said hello to their newborn—a petite, red-haired baby girl whom they named Lynda. Because she was such a teensy little thing, her Dad lovingly tagged her “Lynnie-Da-Bug.” Waiting at home were two older brothers, Jeffrey and Greg. Shortly thereafter, the family expanded again when brother Kevin came along, then David—followed by Kimberly and Chris, who became a part of the DeWitt family through adoption.

Lynda had the good fortune of being raised in one of the most incredible towns in America—Butte, Montana. There, she attended Longfellow Elementary School, and later graduated from Butte High School in 1977. I met this spirited, Irish, red-haired “colleen” at a wedding reception in the nearby town of Anaconda in the summer of 1976. The old cliché, “It was love at first sight,” was never so true. We were inseparable during our courtship, later pledging our eternal love to each other before God, family, and friends on October 7th, 1978. I am her husband, Robert Vine, known to my precious Lynda and to my friends as “Rocky.”

Lynda joined me in Missoula, Montana where she worked in retail sales before attending The Big Sky College of Barber Styling, where she graduated with honors in October 1982.  She worked for a brief time as a barber and stylist until God blessed us with our first child, Robert Jeffrey, in April of 1983. At that time, Lynda decided to suspend her stylist career temporarily to become a full-time, stay-at-home Mom. In June of 1986, Lynda gave birth to our second son, Shawn Patrick. In October of 1990, Lynda went into labor with our third son, Kevin Matthew, while we sat in conference with the neurologist who informed me that I had a life-threatening brain tumor.

In January of 1991, Lynda and baby Kevin escorted me to Harbor View Medical Center in Seattle, Washington for the surgical removal of the tumor. As difficult as things were for her, she remained by my side, nursing and caring for our new baby while supporting my lengthy hospital recovery. This ordeal was a bona fide demonstration of Lynda’s love in action.

In 1994, Lynda experienced two miscarriages. Deeply saddened by these losses, she faithfully embraced what she didn’t understand, and prayed for God’s wisdom and direction. We soon learned what His will was for us, revealed in the pages of a magazine exposé of a crisis in China. The article was titled, “Not Enough Hands to Hold Them,” and it disclosed how millions of infant girls had been abandoned or killed due the Chinese government’s notorious one-child policy. This crisis was compounded further by China’s cultural bias for male children. Without delay, we prepared to walk the path God had set before us.

After more than two years of working with an international adoption agency—dealing with social worker home checks, FBI background checks, orphan visa applications through U.S. Immigration, a stack of papers to comply with Chinese adoption mandates, and paying exorbitant fees as we proceeded—we were eventually blessed with one of China’s orphaned girls. On October 5th, 1997 in Zhanjiang, Guangdong Province, Lynda and I finalized the adoption of Guo Xiaosong, later renamed Lexianne Xiaosang Vine.

After our kids were raised, Lynda found employment at Missoula’s Good Food Store, which was a job she loved. Her duties included bussing tables and performing customer service in the store’s deli-seating area. She was a very gregarious woman who loved people, and would happily chat with anyone. As you’d expect, Lynda loved making the store’s customers feel welcomed, and was on a first-name basis with all the regulars. She also loved her co-workers, often leaving fresh-baked cookies and treats on the tables in the store’s break room for them.

Lynda loved making beaded bracelets, earrings, and necklaces to sell at local craft fairs. In all honesty, Lynda gave away far more than she sold, and nearly all of her associates at the Good Food Store were gifted with one or more of these little baubles at one time or another. After more than ten years of service at the store, Lynda’s recurrence of cancer forced her to retire. She stated if her disease went into remission, she would ask to return to the job she loved. Our family would like to extend a sincere “thank-you” to the Good Food Store management for going out of their way in showing their appreciation to Lynda for a job well-done, and for ensuring that her disability and retirement benefits would be promptly administered.

In April of 2025, Lynda was hospitalized. The doctors, nurses and staff were concerned because her cancer had moved from her body into her brain—a very challenging area to treat. While Lynda had difficulty speaking and walking, she never gave up praying to Jesus, and she fought with everything she had. Lynda’s oncologist reminded her then that she was too weak to continue chemotherapy, and would have to get much stronger in order to proceed. Many of us had our doubts, but the tough little Irish girl from Butte proved us wrong.

After being dismissed from the hospital, Lynda pushed herself to walk, exercise, and get her thoughts back into an order where she could converse with us again. By mid-May, she was walking unassisted, and was strong enough to resume her chemo infusions. By late June, her cancer marker numbers had significantly improved when they plummeted from nearly 1300 to somewhere in the 300s. The MRI showed almost no sign of cranial cancer, and the disease in her lung and abdomen lining appeared to be receding as well. “Praise God,” she said. “This shows the power of prayer and God’s limitless grace.” Lynda’s hair even began to grow back.

In November, a scan and MRI revealed that her chemotherapy was no longer effective at fighting back the cancer, so her oncologist prescribed a new treatment that would take over where the other drug had run its course. Unfortunately, the new drug came with a bus-load of strong side effects. Undaunted by this, Lynda went ahead with the treatment. By the second week in December, the MRI indicated cancer had returned to her brain, and it appeared to be more aggressive this time around. Lynda was losing weight daily and mental confusion was returning. In early January, Lynda was too weak to continue treatment, so her doctor regretfully informed her she was out of options. She had only a few weeks or a month to live.

Lynda didn’t cry or shout angrily to the heavens. Rather, she whispered Psalm 46:10 “Be still, and know that I am God…” Lynda found herself back in a hospital bed in our front room, losing strength and mental clarity by the day. On Sunday, January 18th, the last thing she mouthed to me silently was, “I love you.” Lynda left us to be with Jesus at 5:10 AM on Tuesday, January 20th, 2026. God is so good for having blessed our lives with this beautiful soul for these many years.

Lynda was preceded in death by her brother Jeff in 1976, and her father, Clair in 2008.

A Celebration of Life service for Lynda will take place on Saturday, February 14, 11:00 AM at Missoula Alliance Church, 100 East Foss Ct, Missoula, MT.  Pastor Jeff Valentine will officiate.

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Lynda Vine

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