{"id":31934,"date":"2026-03-02T06:20:44","date_gmt":"2026-03-02T12:20:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.thexradio.com\/news\/?p=31934"},"modified":"2026-03-03T06:15:16","modified_gmt":"2026-03-03T12:15:16","slug":"linda-sue-bower-74-of-newton","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.thexradio.com\/news\/obits\/31934-linda-sue-bower-74-of-newton\/","title":{"rendered":"Linda Sue Bower (74) of Newton"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"pdfprnt-buttons pdfprnt-buttons-post pdfprnt-top-right\"><a href=\"javascript: window.print()\" class=\"pdfprnt-button pdfprnt-button-print\" target=\"_self\" ><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.thexradio.com\/news\/wp-content\/plugins\/pdf-print\/images\/print.png\" alt=\"image_print\" title=\"Print Content\" \/><span class=\"pdfprnt-button-title pdfprnt-button-print-title\">Print<\/span><\/a><\/div><p>Linda Sue Bower, age 74, of Newton, Illinois, passed away at 5:17 PM &#8211; Saturday, February 28, 2026, at Carle Foundation Hospital in Urbana, Illinois.<\/p>\n<p>Funeral services celebrating Linda\u2019s life will be held at 11:00AM &#8211; Friday, March 6, 2026, at the Meyer Funeral Home in Newton, Illinois, with Brother Larry Matson, officiating. A visitation for family and friends will be held 1 hour prior to the service. Burial will be in the Bailey Cemetery west of Latona, Illinois. In loving memory of Linda, memorials may be given to the family. The obituary can be viewed and condolences left at www.meyerfh.com.<\/p>\n<p>Linda was born on May 17, 1951, in Effingham, Illinois, the daughter of Charles Neil and Ruby L. (Shamhart) Woods. Linda was a stay-at-home mom, taking great pride in raising her children. A caregiver at heart she cared for the elderly before her own health took a decline. Linda was an avid Cubs Fan, spent time watching Lassie, Westerns, and loved food, especially Mexican and Dr. Pepper. Her greatest joy came when her grandchildren would visit.<\/p>\n<p>Linda is survived by Children: Barbara (Troy) Lingafelter of Newton, Illinois; Brenda (Don) Lee of Green Cove Springs, Florida; Bryan (Cyndi) Bower of Wheeler, Illinois; Brody Bower of Effingham, Illinois and Bethany Ruby Bower who has been missing since July 2021; Grandchildren: Lindsey, Domanic, Kenton, Robby, Ky (Courtney), Henry, Casey, Skylee (Jordan), and Cheyenne (Levi); Great grandchildren: Meeyah, Avyree, Zaden, Garrett, Keegan, Ella, Klark, Quinn, Matty, Jasilyn, Hayden, Eli, Jaxson; Sisters \u2013 Janis Funneman of Wheeler, Illinois; and Jean McWhorter of Muncie, Indiana; Brother-in-law \u2013 Ray Finn of Newton, Illinois; Several nieces and nephews as well as extended family also survive.<\/p>\n<p>Linda was preceded in death by her parents, sisters Brenda Jo Fagan and Sandy Lynn Finn, grandson Garrett Lee Lingafelter and great niece Hailey Elizabeth Funneman.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Linda Sue Bower, age 74, of Newton, Illinois, passed away at 5:17 PM &#8211; Saturday, February 28, 2026, at Carle Foundation Hospital in Urbana, Illinois. Funeral services celebrating Linda\u2019s life [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":32048,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[21],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-31934","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-obits"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.4 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Linda Sue Bower (74) of Newton - Effingham&#039;s News and Sports Leader, 979XFM and KJ Country 102.3<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Effingham&#039;s News and Sports Leader\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.thexradio.com\/news\/obits\/31934-linda-sue-bower-74-of-newton\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Linda Sue Bower (74) of Newton - Effingham&#039;s News and Sports Leader, 979XFM and KJ Country 102.3\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Effingham&#039;s News and Sports Leader\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.thexradio.com\/news\/obits\/31934-linda-sue-bower-74-of-newton\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Effingham&#039;s News and Sports Leader, 979XFM and KJ Country 102.3\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-03-02T12:20:44+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-03-03T12:15:16+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.thexradio.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/Bower-Linda-2.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1184\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1375\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Greg Sapp\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Greg Sapp\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.thexradio.com\\\/news\\\/obits\\\/31934-linda-sue-bower-74-of-newton\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.thexradio.com\\\/news\\\/obits\\\/31934-linda-sue-bower-74-of-newton\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Greg Sapp\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.thexradio.com\\\/news\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/ea4a7a4f3418a551e6319888ef00a8f1\"},\"headline\":\"Linda Sue Bower (74) of Newton\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-03-02T12:20:44+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-03-03T12:15:16+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.thexradio.com\\\/news\\\/obits\\\/31934-linda-sue-bower-74-of-newton\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":300,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.thexradio.com\\\/news\\\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.thexradio.com\\\/news\\\/obits\\\/31934-linda-sue-bower-74-of-newton\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.thexradio.com\\\/news\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/03\\\/Bower-Linda-2.jpg\",\"articleSection\":[\"Obituaries\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.thexradio.com\\\/news\\\/obits\\\/31934-linda-sue-bower-74-of-newton\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.thexradio.com\\\/news\\\/obits\\\/31934-linda-sue-bower-74-of-newton\\\/\",\"name\":\"Linda Sue Bower (74) of Newton - Effingham&#039;s News and Sports Leader, 979XFM and KJ Country 102.3\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.thexradio.com\\\/news\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.thexradio.com\\\/news\\\/obits\\\/31934-linda-sue-bower-74-of-newton\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.thexradio.com\\\/news\\\/obits\\\/31934-linda-sue-bower-74-of-newton\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.thexradio.com\\\/news\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/03\\\/Bower-Linda-2.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-03-02T12:20:44+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-03-03T12:15:16+00:00\",\"description\":\"Effingham's News and Sports Leader\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.thexradio.com\\\/news\\\/obits\\\/31934-linda-sue-bower-74-of-newton\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.thexradio.com\\\/news\\\/obits\\\/31934-linda-sue-bower-74-of-newton\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.thexradio.com\\\/news\\\/obits\\\/31934-linda-sue-bower-74-of-newton\\\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.thexradio.com\\\/news\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/03\\\/Bower-Linda-2.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.thexradio.com\\\/news\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/03\\\/Bower-Linda-2.jpg\",\"width\":1184,\"height\":1375},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.thexradio.com\\\/news\\\/obits\\\/31934-linda-sue-bower-74-of-newton\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.thexradio.com\\\/news\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Linda Sue Bower (74) of Newton\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.thexradio.com\\\/news\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.thexradio.com\\\/news\\\/\",\"name\":\"Effingham&#039;s News and Sports Leader, 979XFM and KJ Country 102.3\",\"description\":\"\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.thexradio.com\\\/news\\\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.thexradio.com\\\/news\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.thexradio.com\\\/news\\\/#organization\",\"name\":\"Effingham&#039;s News and Sports Leader, 979XFM and KJ Country 102.3\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.thexradio.com\\\/news\\\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.thexradio.com\\\/news\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.thexradio.com\\\/news\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2025\\\/02\\\/premier-logo-v1.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.thexradio.com\\\/news\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2025\\\/02\\\/premier-logo-v1.png\",\"width\":272,\"height\":69,\"caption\":\"Effingham&#039;s News and Sports Leader, 979XFM and KJ Country 102.3\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.thexradio.com\\\/news\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\"}},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.thexradio.com\\\/news\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/ea4a7a4f3418a551e6319888ef00a8f1\",\"name\":\"Greg Sapp\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.thexradio.com\\\/news\\\/author\\\/greg_sapp\\\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Linda Sue Bower (74) of Newton - Effingham&#039;s News and Sports Leader, 979XFM and KJ Country 102.3","description":"Effingham's News and Sports Leader","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.thexradio.com\/news\/obits\/31934-linda-sue-bower-74-of-newton\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Linda Sue Bower (74) of Newton - Effingham&#039;s News and Sports Leader, 979XFM and KJ Country 102.3","og_description":"Effingham's News and Sports Leader","og_url":"https:\/\/www.thexradio.com\/news\/obits\/31934-linda-sue-bower-74-of-newton\/","og_site_name":"Effingham&#039;s News and Sports Leader, 979XFM and KJ Country 102.3","article_published_time":"2026-03-02T12:20:44+00:00","article_modified_time":"2026-03-03T12:15:16+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1184,"height":1375,"url":"https:\/\/www.thexradio.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/Bower-Linda-2.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Greg Sapp","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Greg Sapp","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.thexradio.com\/news\/obits\/31934-linda-sue-bower-74-of-newton\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.thexradio.com\/news\/obits\/31934-linda-sue-bower-74-of-newton\/"},"author":{"name":"Greg Sapp","@id":"https:\/\/www.thexradio.com\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/ea4a7a4f3418a551e6319888ef00a8f1"},"headline":"Linda Sue Bower (74) of Newton","datePublished":"2026-03-02T12:20:44+00:00","dateModified":"2026-03-03T12:15:16+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.thexradio.com\/news\/obits\/31934-linda-sue-bower-74-of-newton\/"},"wordCount":300,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.thexradio.com\/news\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.thexradio.com\/news\/obits\/31934-linda-sue-bower-74-of-newton\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.thexradio.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/Bower-Linda-2.jpg","articleSection":["Obituaries"],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.thexradio.com\/news\/obits\/31934-linda-sue-bower-74-of-newton\/","url":"https:\/\/www.thexradio.com\/news\/obits\/31934-linda-sue-bower-74-of-newton\/","name":"Linda Sue Bower (74) of Newton - Effingham&#039;s News and Sports Leader, 979XFM and KJ Country 102.3","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.thexradio.com\/news\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.thexradio.com\/news\/obits\/31934-linda-sue-bower-74-of-newton\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.thexradio.com\/news\/obits\/31934-linda-sue-bower-74-of-newton\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.thexradio.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/Bower-Linda-2.jpg","datePublished":"2026-03-02T12:20:44+00:00","dateModified":"2026-03-03T12:15:16+00:00","description":"Effingham's News and Sports Leader","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.thexradio.com\/news\/obits\/31934-linda-sue-bower-74-of-newton\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.thexradio.com\/news\/obits\/31934-linda-sue-bower-74-of-newton\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.thexradio.com\/news\/obits\/31934-linda-sue-bower-74-of-newton\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.thexradio.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/Bower-Linda-2.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.thexradio.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/Bower-Linda-2.jpg","width":1184,"height":1375},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.thexradio.com\/news\/obits\/31934-linda-sue-bower-74-of-newton\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.thexradio.com\/news\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Linda Sue Bower (74) of Newton"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.thexradio.com\/news\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.thexradio.com\/news\/","name":"Effingham&#039;s News and Sports Leader, 979XFM and KJ Country 102.3","description":"","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.thexradio.com\/news\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.thexradio.com\/news\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/www.thexradio.com\/news\/#organization","name":"Effingham&#039;s News and Sports Leader, 979XFM and KJ Country 102.3","url":"https:\/\/www.thexradio.com\/news\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.thexradio.com\/news\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/www.thexradio.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/premier-logo-v1.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.thexradio.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/premier-logo-v1.png","width":272,"height":69,"caption":"Effingham&#039;s News and Sports Leader, 979XFM and KJ Country 102.3"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.thexradio.com\/news\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"}},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.thexradio.com\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/ea4a7a4f3418a551e6319888ef00a8f1","name":"Greg Sapp","url":"https:\/\/www.thexradio.com\/news\/author\/greg_sapp\/"}]}},"modified_by":"Greg Sapp","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thexradio.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31934","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thexradio.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thexradio.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thexradio.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thexradio.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=31934"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.thexradio.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31934\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":32049,"href":"https:\/\/www.thexradio.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31934\/revisions\/32049"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thexradio.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/32048"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thexradio.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=31934"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thexradio.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=31934"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thexradio.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=31934"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}