Linda Jo Scott

With deepest sorrow, we regretfully share the passing of Linda Jo Scott (Samuels), Friday, November 20, 2020. Linda was born in Chicago, Ill. on December 3, 1939. She lived in Chicago through high school, received her bachelor’s degree from Yankton College S.D., in 1961, and earned her master’s degree, and PHD in literature from Emory University, Ga. in 1964.
Linda Jo was a lover of the arts and education. She studied and taught literature, poetry, and writing most of her life. She taught English in a prison, taught language in foreign countries, and dedicated her life to helping others learn.  She travelled the world, extensively in Europe and parts of Asia, and even lived in France and South Korea. She was fluent in French, wrote hundreds of poems and published many articles.
Linda Jo was a member of the Battle Creek Symphony Orchestra for 31 years as second violin. She taught at Olivet College in Olivet Mich. for 20 years, before retiring in 1998. Countless students reflect that she was their favorite teacher and that she touched and changed their lives. She played countless weddings, birthdays, anniversaries, funerals, and more as a strolling violinist, often for just a meal.
She is survived by her sons John Randall Banks, Bellevue, Mich., Alan Banks, his wife Dana, and  their children Carter, Rylie, and Emery, Akron, Ohio; her sister Marjorie Buchbinder, Miami Fla.; and brother, Thomas Samuels, Enterprise Ala. Her sweetheart, Andrew Francis Vincent Leat, preceded her in death in 2015. They traveled the world and the states in their 13 years together.
As we remember mom’s life and all the lives she touched, we are thankful that she was ours in flesh and blood, but everyone’s in spirit and friendship. She was kind and caring, warm and inviting, thoughtful yet uncomplicated. Fond memories, poetry, writings and art are what we will always have to remember mom.
We ask that gifts be dedicated to the Battle Creek Symphony Orchestra in Battle Creek Michigan.