Linda Ellis

Linda Susan Ellis, 68, passed away peacefully on March 3, 2020 at her home in Springfield. She was born June 27, 1951 in Kansas City, Missouri and graduated from Southwest High School. Following high school, she attended the University of Tulsa and subsequently graduated from the University of Missouri-Kansas City. Linda was an active member of the Springfield Plateau Master Naturalists since 2011, as well as The Idalia Society of Mid-American Lepidopterists, the Ozark Native Plant Society, the Arkansas Native Plant Society, and the Missouri Archeological Society. An amazing and knowledgeable botanical and natural science illustrator, she drew many of the illustrations for Steyermark's three-volume "Flora of Missouri", as well as the early American projectiles for Jack Ray's "Projectile Point Types in Missouri and Portions of Adjacent States". In addition, she drew for many other organizations and publications, including the Arkansas National Heritage Society, designed t-shirts for the Ozark Native Plant Society, and participated in natural history and botanical field studies throughout the Ozark regions of Missouri and Arkansas where she had the uncanny ability to connect the wildlife, botany and natural elements of the locale. Her spirit, sense of humor, knowledge, and wit will be missed by all who knew her. Linda is survived by her partner, Tom Berger, of the home. No services will be held, but those wishing to remember Linda in a special way may make gifts in her memory to the Butterfly Bistro Garden at the Bill Rosten Native Butterfly House at the Springfield Botanical Garden.