NEW PARIS – The late Linda Samuels, former President of Blue Star Mothers of Ohio 11 Echo 1, will be remembered with the organization’s Fishing with a Hero being named after Samuels.
“Our former president passed away, and we are renaming it next year in her honor,” said Blue Star Mothers President Julain Jones. “It will be called the Linda Samuels Memorial Fishing with a Hero. We are planning on continuing every year to have this event.”
“We want to keep her name current because she did a lot for the veterans and the military,” Jones added. “She made sure that the chapter met on time, she made sure that all of our events were done, she was a workhouse for this organization, and we’re going to miss her deeply.”
Samuels’ husband, Mark Samuels, was in attendance to hand down an American Flag that flew over the Ohio State Capitol building on 911. Years earlier, it had been presented to the Blue Start Mothers.
“It is a great honor to receive the American flag,” said Jones. “I never expected it, and I didn’t know it existed.”
“The flag was in the chapter before she was president,” said Mark Samuels, the Late Linda Samuels’ husband. “I wanted to pass it along to the Blue Star Mothers.”
Mark was at a loss for words when told Fishing with a Hero would be named after his late wife.
“I have no words; that was quite eye-opening, and they would do that,” he stated. “The organization is wonderful, and Linda, my wife – that is what she loved to do. She loved veterans. I’m a veteran, and her father is a veteran – way back in both her families, and they go way back in serving our country.”
Jones took over as president at the end of September 2023 following Linda’s open heart surgery. Linda passed away in May of this year, 2024.”
Blue Star Mothers of American Ohio 11 Echo 1 includes Darke and Preble counties in Ohio and Indiana’s Wayne and Randolph counties.
