Stepping into Linda McBride’s Butterfield apartment, the first thing you’ll notice is the energy and vibrancy. Bold, vivid colors define the furniture, artwork and other decor. Her favorite color is sparkle, and all her light switch plates are iridescent. Even her tissue box cover shimmers (she says she flies through tissues from shedding frequent tears of happiness). Peace signs are tucked away throughout her space, even jangling on her wrists, adorned with bracelets.
Linda’s love of color extends to how she considers people – those dear to her, as well as new chance encounters. She looks for uniqueness, what makes someone special. “If you see a stranger and something catches your eye…ear plugs, tattoo, how they are dressed, whatever… Tell them!” she said. “People like to hear good things about themselves. Never miss an opportunity to brighten someone’s day.”
Linda doesn’t have a television; her living room is arranged for conversation. She loves music – from Levon Helm, Ronnie Hawkins and The Band to Southern gospel, which she listens to often in her car and at home. A wide array of lyrical metaphors aptly represent Linda’s view-of-life lens, but perhaps none better than words from Francis Magalona’s “Kaleidoscope World.”
“‘Cause every color and every hue
Is represented by me and you
Take a slide in the slope
Take a look in the kaleidoscope
Spinnin’ round, make it twirl
In this kaleidoscope world”
Linda believes in circles and cycles – ranging from the moon, sun and Earth to life’s happenings. She sees these patterns as integral to nature and life and knows there is energy everywhere. She keeps and regularly gives away ancient, pure, energy-loaded crystals from Mount Ida, Arkansas.
“I believe in the circles of life, that what you put out there will come back to you,” she said. “And I don’t believe in coincidences. Everything happens for a reason, and if we’ll just be still, we’ll learn the reason. There’s a quote I love from Albert Einstein, ‘Coincidences are God’s way of remaining anonymous.’”
When she was young, Linda’s mother would tell her to go out and have a good time. She’d say, “When you leave this house, do not take your troubles with you. Go have a good time, because your troubles will still be here when you get home.” Linda has heeded that advice and insists that in life we should all lighten up. “There is humor in everything, everywhere. Laugh, friends! Sharpen that sense of humor and wield it like a machete. It will help you through rough times. Find the funny in everything. It’s there, even in hospitals and at funerals. We were put here to enjoy our lives and to help others enjoy theirs.”
Strong Roots and Foundation in Russellville
Linda Burris Dare McBride was the youngest of five and the only one born in a hospital. She says her life has been defined by a series of moments, and she enjoys recalling these memories now that she can give them fuller perspective.
The family’s Russellville home was the center of life for all her friends, and they’d move the furniture out of the living room for dance parties. Linda was in “The Lucky 13,” a group of teenage girls who spent nearly every Friday and Saturday night together from junior high until they graduated from high school. Some of them still get together. She and her friends would go to the Legion Hut every weekend, where there was a live band and a dance called “The Stomp.” They even danced at noon to jukebox music at a place where they’d walk for lunch. Years later, Linda made sure her children knew how to dance.
Her youthful perspectives weren’t all just girlhood fun, however. Linda recalls being moved to tears while viewing the Declaration of Independence during a trip to Washington, D.C. with her mom and aunt. “I read the words ‘…all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness,’ and started crying because I knew at that moment my role was to work for the good of the whole. It became my life’s trajectory.”
In 1963, Linda graduated high school at 17, turned 18 in October, and married her high school sweetheart, Gerald Dare, in December. She decided to go to work so Gerald could be the one to finish college at Arkansas Tech, opting to take a job as secretary for the school superintendent in the small rural district of Dover. Filling in for a teacher on a leave of absence, Linda suddenly found herself teaching typing and shorthand at age 19. She substitute-taught for 27 years in Russellville while raising their three children, Angela Dare Tilley, Mandy Dare Kelly and Jason Dare. Understanding well the value of education, she worked sweltering summers at a roadside firework stand to put all of her children through college.
With her interest in public service looking for an opportunity, Linda ran for Russellville City Council, becoming the first elected female in Pope County – despite her opponent’s contentious ads, “Vote for a businessman not a housewife.” While on the council, she was sworn in to serve as interim mayor after the elected mayor left town in the middle of the night. Eventually, Linda decided she wanted to run for mayor herself. Times were different, though, and because she had divorced from Gerald in 1987, she was met with what felt like insurmountable opposition. She learned one of the local churches planned to actively challenge her fitness for office simply because she was a divorcee. Even her mother said she’d work and vote against her, which Linda later learned was her mother’s attempt to save her from the pain of working so hard for something that was stacked against her as a woman.
Linda eventually did run for Russellville mayor, after her mother had passed away. It ended in painful defeat. Despite things not working out to her favor, it was clear others were paying attention. Linda’s daughter, Angela Dare Tilley said, “It paved the path for future females to run for political offices. She wasn’t scared to use her voice for change. She fights every day for equality and kindness. She preaches and teaches her grandchildren about diversity and acceptance so they can continue her path of making a difference in the future.”
Linda began selling real estate, but one fateful morning in 1990 she ran into her sister at a dress shop. After their conversation, instead of heading to work, Linda found herself driving her 1987 Oldsmobile to Rogers, where another sister lived. The impromptu drive led her to exactly the right place at precisely the right time (no coincidences), where a man walked out to place a “for sale” sign in front of a condo in a development where units became available next to never. She made an offer on the spot, deciding then and there to move to Rogers. She told the kids it was time for a change, and to pack up whatever really mattered them. Linda loaded her car with little more than the clothes on her back, her iron skillet, telephone and her most important memories. She sold her Russellville home, and neighbors didn’t even know she was gone until they saw everything that was left inside being auctioned off.
Writing a Next Chapter in Northwest Arkansas
Settling in Northwest Arkansas, Linda took a job at the Harris House gift shop and then for Walmart, selling eyeglass frames. She soon met Bob McBride on a blind date, encouraged through an unlikely introduction by Bob’s third wife. Their first couple of dates were fine, but Linda was in no way smitten until the two opted to share a drink one evening at the end of an otherwise lackluster third date. They stopped at the last minute to see a band at the Ramada Inn, and Linda discovered Bob was quite an impressive dancer. Decades of loving music and dancing from her teen years on had finally resulted in finding just the right partner, and they enjoyed many years of hitting the dance floor together.
Tying the knot in 1993, Linda and Bob shared almost 20 wonderful years of marriage. Their collective grandchildren called them Duke and Duchess – Duch for her, for short. They traveled the world and loved making regular visits to the diverse, eclectic community of Eureka Springs. In 1994, Linda bought a small home there on the Spring Street historic loop, which she still owns and cherishes. When the grandchildren were young, two at a time would come stay a week with her at Camp Duchess – always hosted at the Eureka Springs house. Linda coveted this time. With the kids safely relocated away from the vigilant influence of their parents, she would grant them a generous measure of freedom, happily passing on things life had taught her through unique activities and workbooks she made for them.
She also rekindled her passion for public service, accepting a position on the Fayetteville Advertising and Promotion Commission. Later, she joined the Fayetteville Public Library Foundation and served as its chairperson. However, Bob passed away in 2013, and it wasn’t long until Linda decided to move full-time to Eureka Springs – where she could soak up the vibrant energy of the town and the peace of her little Spring Street haven.
Even living in a magical place didn’t prevent Linda from receiving a diagnosis of two kinds of breast cancer. Her oncologist and surgeon said surgery could be limited to removal of one breast – but Linda insisted on a double mastectomy because she’s a Libra, and Libras require balance. She informed her care team she would be taking a trip before treatment because they were about to get an entire year of her life. She set off on a river cruise and saw the tulips in Holland. Linda learned a lot in the chemotherapy infusion room. She loved reading trashy romance novels and anything about the Crusades, but effects of chemo started to diminish her concentration. Even so, she’s fiercely grateful for her life’s experiences – including cancer.
At Home in the Village
Butterfield first called Linda to look at a second-floor two-bedroom apartment, but it just didn’t feel right for her. Standing in the parking lot talking to sales counselor Leann Pacheco, she said she wished for a one-bedroom on the ground floor. Leann told her such an option wouldn’t likely come around until the next year. Two days later (no coincidences) Leann called to say she couldn’t believe it, but a first-floor one-bedroom had just become available. The next morning, as Leann went to open the door to show her, Linda said, “I’ll take it!” Leann expressed surprise at a decision before seeing the place, and Linda said, “I made a wish for a one-bedroom ground-floor place, and it was granted two days later — no way am I messing with the wishing God — I’ll take it!”
Linda enjoys the urban feel of Butterfield apartment living and the close proximity to the dining room, café, library, performance hall and other amenities. “I’m a downtown girl, and right here’s the city,” she said. But what she appreciates most is the staff that makes it a community. “It’s those who do the labor, the ones behind the scenes who deserve the huge thanks – they don’t get nearly enough credit for all of the great things they do. The dining staff, maintenance staff, housekeeping staff, healthcare staff, everyone who keeps things running on a daily basis. Like the African proverb, ‘It takes a village to raise a child,’ we residents benefit so much from communal living in a village of people who care for us.”
Linda cherishes dancing to her own beat and the kaleidoscopic nature of life – the idea that diverse people and experiences come together to create something beautiful, colorful and unified, interconnected yet ever-shifting. “I have lived my life knowing every second will change, maybe to something better — or not — but nothing lasts forever. Embrace it! I face every person I meet with kindness, accepting each person I am blessed to meet or know as just who they are. If you can be anything in this world, you can be kind, right? Peace out.”
Words by Michelle Parks | Photos by Stephen Ironside
