It is with profound sadness that we announce the passing of Linda Lucille Anesi
Radman at the age of 99. Her life began on February 5, 1925 at the Anesi Ranch in
Dead Man’s Gulch 6 miles south of Lander. She was the 5 th of 6 children of Remo and
Rose Anesi. She grew up on the Ranch, rode the range, worked the cattle, and loved
living in the most beautiful place on earth. She loved her life, which she says was a
series of miracles. Linda graduated from high school at 16, and never had the
opportunity to go to college, but that didn’t stop her from having a remarkable life.
Linda was misdiagnosed with MS when she was 18. Her doctors told her not to plan on
getting married, or having children. She was expected to live only into her 30s. She
wasn’t going to have any of that, and after being sent home from the Mayo Clinic in a
wheelchair, she taught herself how to walk, got married to a man she loved to dance
with, had 3 children, 8 grandchildren, and 10 great grandchildren. All were her pride and
joy.
She met the love of her life, Tony at a community dance, and married him in June of 1948. They had three children, Catherine, Tony Jr., and Mary. She always said the
greatest accomplishment of her life were her children.
She was both an accomplished mother and business owner/partner with her husband,
Tony. They built a beautiful home on the hill overlooking the City Park with an irrigation
ditch to play in. Theirs was the most enjoyable house to spend any holiday, especially
Christmas and the 4 th of July. She was the hostess with the mostest. There was always
room at the table, just as long as you were willing to get up and help with the dishes.
She and Tony were determined to give their children a good life, and to be productive in
their little town of Lander. Besides building a business, they were instrumental in
developing the Sinks Canyon Ski Area, and active board members of the Lander Golf
and Country Club. Linda wasn’t able to ski, but she and many other women made sure
there were ample amounts of sloppy joes, hot dogs, and hamburgers as well as hot
chocolate and coffee. They kept the place warm with their smiles, and everyone else
fed the fire in the fireplace.
Linda started the Lander Youth Center in the late 60s, and wrote articles for the
Wyoming State Journal on behalf of all the organizations she belonged to, including
neighborhood news. She was also the high school study hall teacher that everyone was
afraid of (not really) with her half glasses that let her watch the goings on from over the
lenses. Later in life, it was she who imagined and designed the financing and building of
the Lander Senior Center. She, together with other Center directors in the county
traveled from town to town, meeting to meeting, selling the idea of a penny capital
construction tax to realize a new dream. Linda refused to finance the county’s senior
center building and maintenance projects with a mill levy saying it should be a tax so
everyone who spends money in the county pays for it. The results are obvious in the
county’s communities, including the establishment of a perpetual funding mechanism in
the form of an endowment.
She has been a formidable foe during many games of scrabble (having won her last
one 2 weeks before her death), dominoes, bridge, rummy, and any card game you want
to put in front of her. Her favorite place on earth became her beloved deck on the banks
of the Popo Agie River. If she couldn’t round up a good game, she’d just sit and watch
her kids and grandkids play in the river.
Linda touched so many. Her family remembers her as a loving, caring, and strong
woman who instilled in them the importance of family, community, a desire to learn, to
explore and seek their greatest potential and dreams. One of her favorite sayings was
“Reach for the moon, because even if you miss it, you’ll be among the stars.”
For her beloved community, she left a legacy-from seeing that the hill to Capital Hill was
not the steep and dangerous hill it had originally been by insisting the city regrade it to a
gentle and safe incline; to making certain that everyone knows how the wonderful
community park came to be through encouraging the creation of the intrepetive sign
located at the park’s entrance; to the continuing advocacy for the senior population of
Fremont County.
She will be missed but her memory lives on through these advances, and the many
friends and family members who loved and cherished her.
She is suvived by Catherine and Eric Hollins of Oxford, OH, Mary and Mark Sanderson
of Lander, WY and Renee Radman of Casper, WY; grandchildren and their spouses
Erin (Sean) Stokes of Tremonton, Utah, Steven (Rene) Foley of Corpus Christi, TX,
Catherine (Stephen) Fields of Brookville, IN, Joshua Hollins of Nassau, Bahamas, Kathy
(Bryan) Shockley of Dallas TX, Serene (Will) Robinson of Riverton, WY, Shawn
(Maddie) Radman of Santa Barbara, CA, and AJ Radman of Bristow, VA; and10 great
grandchildren. She is preceeded in death by her beloved husband Tony and son Tony,
Jr., her parents, and her brothers and sisters. A family celebration of life will be held at a
later date.
Contributions can be made in her memory to the Lander Senior Center, 206 S Tenth St,
Lander, Wy 82520.