Obituary of Linda Anne Buehler

Linda Anne McLaughlin Buehler, age 70, of Seagrove Beach, Florida passed away Wednesday, March 27, 2024 in Miramar Beach, Florida.

She was born September 26, 1953 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin to James A. McLaughlin and Rosemary Rowe Hennings.

Linda is survived by her husband, Fred Buehler; sisters, Kate McLaughlin Lyon (Doug) and Mary McLaughlin Prather (Hal); brothers, Patrick McLaughlin (Jana) and John Hennings (Julie); nieces, Mariah McLaughlin Lentz (Nick), Janie McLaughlin Warrington (Cody), Megan McLaughlin Gould (Jadon), Erin McLaughlin, Nicole Hennings, and Anna Prather; nephews, Brandon Ellingson (Meg), Jon Buehler, Alex Buehler, John Lyon (Samantha), Will McLaughlin, Ryan Hennings, and Grant Prather. 

She is preceded in death by her father, James A. McLaughlin and mother, Rosemary Rowe Hennings.
 

Linda grew up in the suburbs of Milwaukee, Wisconsin with her mother, brother and stepfather.  She loved to visit her father and her “Florida family” in Naples, Florida during holidays.  She always said she was the product of an amicable divorce.  Mom was in charge and Dad happily lived by her rules.  

She was always an excellent student and received honors in both high school and college.  She started her college studies at the University of Wisconsin Eau Claire but transferred to SUNY Brockport in upstate NY to get into the College Peace Corps program.  She received her bachelor’s degree from Brockport in Mathematics with a minor in French.

After college graduation in 1974 she spent two years in the Peace Corps teaching high school mathematics in French in Zaire Africa.  That adventure allowed her to travel to many parts of Africa and Europe as a idealistic young woman looking to make a difference in the world.  She always talked about those travels fondly.  

After returning home in 1976 she got her first professional job as a computer tape librarian at Woolworth corporate offices in Milwaukee.  In 1977 she relocated to New York City with a friend and shortly after got her dream job as a computer programmer.  That is where she met her future husband Fred and they would work together their whole 30-year careers in business.  

They both worked as software developers at a large bank’s processing center in Valley Stream, NY.  Fred helped her move out of Manhattan and into an apartment a short distance from his house in Franklin Square, NY.  It was at that point they became inseparable in both work and life. 

In 1979 they moved to upstate NY and worked as computer consultants providing services to clients in several large companies in Albany and Amsterdam NY.  They married in 1980 at a backyard wedding ceremony at Fred's parent’s home in Garden City, NY.  They briefly settled down and bought a townhouse in Clifton Park, NY.  

In 1982 Fred and Linda were offered a job by one of their clients who was moving their data center to Atlanta.  They both worked as software developers in the corporate offices of a carpet company Mohawk Carpet in suburban Atlanta.  After a few years they started attending night classes in downtown Atlanta at Georgia State working toward our MBAs.  After a very busy three years of working long hours and doing a lot of driving to classes they completed their degrees and finally had time for some other things.  

When the company they worked for in Atlanta decided to relocate the data center to a small town in South Carolina in 1987, they decided to stay in Atlanta and start their own computer consulting business.  Linda and Fred changed from being employees to being consultants at Mohawk Carpet and stayed a few more years to help them switch data centers.   After that contract ended they got several contracts to help develop computer systems for the State of Florida in Tallahassee, Florida, a bank processing center in Birmingham, Alabama and in 1995 at the corporate headquarters for a major grocery distributor Supervalu in Eden Prairie Minnesota.   The contract with Supervalu would turn out to be one they kept until they retired 17 years later.  In 1997 the cold weather of Minnesota made them decide to go back home to Atlanta, working remotely from home for Supervalu.    

Working from home gave Linda and Fred the time to travel.  No Pets, No Plants and No Kids, was the motto for these years.  During this time they became bigger Atlanta Braves fans and attended many games both away and at home.  When going to games at Turner Field in Atlanta they had a group of friends who would tailgate before every game.  Linda loved scorekeeping during the games even while drinking beer and talking with others all around her.  Visiting over 20 baseball parks around the country during those years to see Braves games and exploring microbreweries everywhere they went, growing thier love for craft beer. 

Linda and Fred had properties in Seaside Florida, Kaanapali, Maui and Princeville, Kauai. They were able to enjoy these vacation homes and also work from them.  Hawaii was always an extra challenge because of the time difference but they were always able to figure it out and keep the clients happy. 

In 2003, Linda got her dream house in Seagrove Beach, Florida which became their full time home.  Spending several weeks a year in Hawaii but also traveling to Europe, Mexico and the Caribbean.  After retirement in 2014, spending three months in Hawaii every winter.  Making Maui and Kauai their second homes full of many good friends.  

Back home in Atlanta, Linda did volunteer work for the local charity Food For Thought distributing food to children in need at local school public system.  Even before retirement Linda spent a good deal of her time pursuing her passion for stitching and the needle arts. But after retirement all restraints on her hobby were taken off.  She attended classes and seminars all over the country with her friend Cheri and a group of other stitching friends.  She was a member of the local EGA chapter but because of zoom she also joined several other chapters around the country and attended their zoom meetings and classes.   She couldn’t get enough stitching.   She held several positions in the Embroiders Guild of America.  She was the local EGA chapter President.  But in earlier years she was the Chapter and Regional EGA Newsletter Manager.  She’s also been the local Chapter Representative to the Regional EGA, the Dean of Faculty for the Regional EGA seminar several times and the Registrar for the EGA National Seminar and the Assistant to the National Education Chairman.  She and her friends were dedicated stitchers.  

She also discovered paddle boarding in Hawaii.  She even carried an inflatable paddle board there as checked baggage on the plane so she could paddle every day on her own board.  

After her retirement she discovered that she loved ballroom dancing very much.  She began with ballroom dancing at the Fred Astaire Dance Studio in Panama City.  Over the years that she danced there she had two wonderful instructors who nurtured her love for dance.  Her Russian instructor/partner Konstantin and her Ukrainian instructor/partner Yaroslav continued to build her confidence and strength during the many competitions they entered.

Then after that studio she found another at Luna Ballroom in Destin and met her professional dance instructor/partner Eric Luna.  It was with immense pleasure that I watched Eric transform this shy midwestern woman into a very good ballroom dance preformer.  She enjoyed dancing very much and she would spend as much time as she could dancing every week.  

Linda was busier than ever and loving life to its fullest.  

She just had her 50th reunion of her Peace Corps graduating class last summer in Madison, Wisconsin.  Celebrating her 70th birthday this past September with her husband and friends in Los Cabos, Mexico.  Fred and Linda would have celebrated their 44th wedding anniversary this August.  

  

Linda loved dancing more than just about anything else in this world.  She was lucky enough to find a great family of friends and dancers at Luna Ballroom in Destin Florida. The money in this fund will be used to support ballroom dancing in the community.  The best thing about this fund is that it will allow Linda to continue to participate in the activities of her favorite dance studio and help them to bring the joy of ballroom dancing to others after she is no longer with us.  Thank you.

Instead of gifts, please consider donating to Linda's memorial fund that has been setup at her dance studio.

 

Linda Buehler Memorial Fund 

Luna Ballroom 

4674 Amhurst Cir 

Destin FL 32541

 

"We are planning a Celebration of Life for Linda near her home in Seagrove Beach on May 11, 2024.  It would be a time for us to get together to remember Linda with her family and friends.  If you want more information about it please email her husband a request at: seagrovefred@gmail.com

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