(Retired Director Of Swanton Public Library)
Linda Sue Slaninka, 76 years old, of Swanton, Ohio, passed away at home on Monday, September 16, 2024, from metastatic ovarian cancer. She was surrounded by her family and in the care of Kind Hearts Hospice.
Linda was born on April 25, 1948, to Helen Price (d.2013) and Friend W Cain (d.2001) in Steubenville, Ohio.
Linda and her family moved to Swanton, Ohio, as she began her sophomore year in high school. Students together in Latin and band, she and John Slaninka started dating in 1964.
After graduating from Swanton High School in 1966, Linda went on to study English at Taylor University, Indiana. Making promises to their concerned parents to finish college, Linda and John exchanged vows on September 14, 1968, at Swanton’s Trinity United Methodist Church where she was a life-long member.
They graduated together from Toledo University in 1971. Linda not only earned a Bachelor’s degree in Journalism but did so happily married and nine months pregnant.
She was a correspondent to the Toledo Blade and their Sunday Magazine. On February 12, 1975, though, Linda took a part-time clerk position at the Swanton Public Library.
The library was located in a tiny store front on Main Street with a children’s book collection that fit on two small bookcases. On February 29, 2012, when she closed the book on a 37-year career, she held the position of library director.
During her four decades of service to the Swanton community, she helped move the library collection to a new, state of the art building, shepherded two critical levy requests to adoption, and oversaw both the expansion of the library’s collection to e-book technology and the installation of its wireless network.
In her retirement, she continued to serve Swanton as a library board member. It was children’s library services, though, that held Linda’s heart, and she delighted two generations with Story Time, draw-and-tell stories, “Chicken in a Box” and her Amelia Bedelia costume.
She read so much of everything, leaning toward a good mystery, but the title that changed her life was Pilgrim at Tinker Creek by Annie Dillard.
Linda and John raised two daughters and nurtured a family that not only loved each other unconditionally but sincerely liked one another. Linda insisted on annual family vacations to far-beyond-the-backyard destinations.
As the miles slid by she would read chapter books aloud. Three months after the birth of their second child, Linda and John drove their family in a station wagon through the Badlands to Mount Rushmore to celebrate America’s Bicentennial. Linda traveled as far as Norway with her oldest daughter and she and John visited over 25 National Parks, tent camping in several. All in all, Linda visited 38 states, 6 provinces and 6 countries.
Not necessarily known as an animal lover, Linda did take great comfort in caring for four horses in her lifetime. She described Scamper, JimBo, Blue, and Hank as her therapy.
She said goodbye this past spring to her last horse, Hank, a quarter horse that would quicken his step and come for Linda from the back field even as both found their health failing.
Linda was the youngest of four siblings. She was predeceased by her two brothers, F. Robert Cain (d.2006) and his wife Shizuko “Bonnie” (d.2004), and Thomas Cain (d.2017) and his wife Gisela (d.2023).
She is survived by her only sister, Mary Ellen Mason and her husband James of Hart, Michigan; her nieces and nephews: Susan Cain-Victor, Elizabeth (Donald) Duncan, Michael Cain (Jennifer Drain), Michelle Miller (Joseph Steinem), Russell (Charlotte) Mason, Natalie (Robert) Adams and Andrew (Karen) Mason; and many great-nieces and -nephews. She is also survived by her sister-in-law Susanne (Shaffer) Soltvedt and family. John Slaninka, Linda’s adoring dance partner of 56 years, her oldest daughter, Julia Slaninka and wife Angela, and youngest daughter Jill Long and husband Daniel, along with Linda’s grandchildren, Elijah (Kayla) Mundy, Lily Long and Dean Long, are absolutely heartbroken even as they hold onto the memories of all the joy they had the privilege of knowing and sharing with her.
Funeral services will be held at Trinity United Methodist Church, Swanton, on Monday, September 23, 2024. Visitation will begin at 10:00 am with a church service at 12:00 noon. Interment will immediately follow at the Swanton Township Cemetery with a luncheon back at the church.
In lieu of flowers, the family requests donations be made to H.O.O.V.E.S., Swanton, an organization Linda supported and felt strongly about, and/or The Victory Center, Perrysburg, an organization where Linda found supportive care and comfort.
Arrangements by Weigel Funeral Home (419.826.2631).