Obituary of Linda Gail Middleton

A creative and beautiful soul has been lost with the passing of Linda Gail Middleton (nee Moss) of Harcourt, Ontario on September 11, 2023. After an exceptional and lengthy battle with cancer Linda slipped away peacefully from a related illness, with family by her side.

Linda is survived by her husband of 42 years, Donald Middleton; her mother Joyce Moss; her sisters Bev (Peter) Hewitt, and Shelley (Joe) Nadeau; her sister-in-law Nancy Lou (John) St. Pierre, and her brother-in-law Jay Middleton. Linda was an adoring and special aunt to several nieces, nephews, and grand nieces and nephews. She will be missed by many cousins, friends, and business clients. Linda was predeceased by her father Carl Moss, and her father and mother-in-law Louis and Lillian Middleton.

Linda immediately entered the design and print industry after graduating from St. Lawrence College in 1980 with a Creative and Visual Arts Diploma (specialization in graphic design). Since that time, she had worked for printing companies in Smiths Falls, Belleville, and Trenton before launching her own full service graphic design and print company in Haliburton County over 20 years ago—Crystal Image Studio.

Linda’s early days in the industry did not involve computers or advanced design software but rather, painstakingly laying Letraset and using the camera to create special effects. She mastered the business from beginning to end, including marketing, sales, design, and running the printing presses. She advanced her skills throughout the years from green screens and early versions of Pagemaker, that took hours to place shadows behind text, to the latest software and technology that helped her continue to serve clients in the Haliburton and Lanark County areas, Toronto, and Ottawa right up until her illness would no longer allow. To this day, Linda’s work is recognizable on various signs, business communications, branded apparel, and websites and notably her donation of time and talent to redesign the Cubs logo for the Smiths Falls Girls Hockey Association. 

Linda’s passion for creativity was reflected in the work she did for clients and for her own self-fulfillment as a painter, photographer, carver, genealogist, and jewelry-maker. For many years Linda was very involved in her local community serving as a committee and board member on the Haliburton County Development Corporation to help advance rural economic development, Dysart Environmental Committee, Haliburton Highlands Arts Council, Marketing Director for the Algonquin Gateway Business Association, and member of the East Central Ontario Art Association. Linda was instrumental in getting the Brushstrokes Painting Group and the Creative Kids Program for youth’s ages 4 to 12 started in her community. She also participated in Point in Time as a puppet player and in the Plein Air Festival and Highlands East Art Tour. Perhaps one of her proudest accomplishments was as the self-published author of “Over the Rocks of Bathurst - A Genealogical Portrait of the Echlin Family” (May 1, 2010). 

Linda enjoyed sharing experiences with family and friends in everything she did including camping, kayaking, and travelling around the world. She was also an accomplished angler and hunter. 

Family and friends may pay their respects at Blair and Son Funeral Home, Smiths Falls (112 Beckwith St. N) on Sunday, September 17, 2023 from 1:00 to 4:00 p.m. A service to celebrate her life will take place in the Chapel on Monday, September 18 at 11:00 a.m. with a reception to follow. 

Donations in memory of Linda Middleton can be made to Point In Time, an organization that provides much needed support for children, youth and families in the Haliburton Community, to be used for a special collaborative and artful project in honour of Linda. 
 

Linda will be laid to rest in Elmwood Cemetery in Perth, Ontario in a private ceremony at a later date.

“There is no good or bad or wrong or right with art. Just do it.”