- Feb 3, 2021
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Linda McNamara passed away Sunday. You may remember Linda’s screen names, such as LindaMac, StillLindaMac, IRISH, and OliveOyl. Linda was, in a sense, one of the founders of Gymnaverse: she co-founded our WWGym incarnation back in 2006 along with Robin Taylor (@RedBirdie) and Sue Borschel (@PhoenixRising).
Here’s some things you may know about her, or maybe some things you didn’t, put together by Robin, Sue, and me:
Here’s some things you may know about her, or maybe some things you didn’t, put together by Robin, Sue, and me:
- She was an avid poster and had a wonderful way of drawing on her extensive memory and background in the US gymnastics world to help others gain context for things happening.
- She also had lots of pictures that she gladly shared with the gymnastics community.
- Her daughter Kris Bagiu was also an admin during the first year or two of WWGym. She was also very proud of her son-in-law, Mihai, a '96 Olympian.
- She knew a lot about managing a gym and was the former assistant director of a major California gym club, SCATS, starting in the 1980s.
- She felt a deep sense of responsibility to the athletes, their well-being, their rights, and justice. She also took seriously the responsibility of reporting abuse. Here’s an a news article from 2011 with some background.
- As Robin put it last night, "she was a strong, smart, fearless woman”, was very engaged with the community, and she had a fun, spicy posting style that so many people enjoyed for years.