Linda D. Marinel was born in 1928. A lifelong resident of Chelmsford, she attended Chelmsford High School, graduating with the Class of 1946. She attended Lowell State Teachers’ College for her undergraduate work and received her Master’s degree from Fitchburg State College.

Miss Marinel taught second grade at both the McFarlin and Center Schools in Chelmsford for 12 years. She went to Jamaica as a teacher with the Peace Corps soon after its establishment, having trained very hard to live and work in conditions unimaginable to someone who had grown up in New England. Upon her return to the United States, she re-entered the public classroom. She taught (mostly) second grade in Wilmington at the Woburn Street School. Miss Marinel retired after having taught for 30 years.

This amazing woman based her life on a foundation of strong faith and lived it out in every action she took. She was a source of inspiration to members of the community at large and to members of her family in particular. Even though she never married, she built an extended family around herself, consisting of students, former students, and many loving friends. In later life, sometimes in spite of her own advancing illness, she took care of friends who were in need of “family” but didn’t have any of their own. The word “unselfish” does not even come close to describing her many good deeds.

As a teacher she always chose to see the value of individual students, striving to develop the abilities she found evident in each one. Many students can be found who thought of her as the best teacher they had ever had, and she received letters from many of these young people later in life.

Her love for creation literally bloomed in her garden, in which she worked very long and hard. One of her last contributions to the beauty of the world was a rose bush she lovingly ordered and planted in the garden beside her house, even though it was becoming evident that other people would be enjoying it much longer than she would. This was one of the final acts of the life of faith and joy that she lived to the fullest.

Her family has established this scholarship to encourage and support other young people who will enter lives of classroom teaching, living out the same commitment to helping children to develop their gifts.