Linda Lea Francis (nee Shipman), a long-time resident of Minot, North Dakota, died Thursday, January 25 ^th , 2018 at her winter home in Yuma, Arizona after a short battle with lung cancer.

Linda was born September 15 ^th , 1946 in Ainsworth, Nebraska.  Her father was in the United States Air Force, and she spent her childhood in Newport News, VA; Fort Walton Beach, FL; and two cities in England. Linda graduated from Irving High School in El Paso, Texas in 1964.

Linda started working for the United States Air Force in Minot, North Dakota in 1969. She met her future husband, Richard Francis, in Minot and was married February 8, 1969. Linda moved to Goldsboro, North Carolina with her husband, where she had two daughters, Lisa and Anna. She moved back to Minot, North Dakota in 1975, where she worked for the Air Force Civil Engineering Division until her retirement in 2001.

Family was everything to Linda. She spent her free time visiting her grandchildren in Bismarck, ND; St. Paul, MN and Albany, NY. She is survived by her husband, Richard Francis; daughter, Lisa Weber (John) and their children Noah and Abigail; daughter Anna Dimka and her children Payton Francis, Addyson Dimka and Dimitri Dimka; brother Thomas Shipman; sister Patricia Flint; sister Janet "Susie" Schollmeyer; in addition to numerous extended family members and close friends.

Her loving and generous presence in her family's lives will be forever missed.

Linda was preceded in death by her parents, Floyd and Shirley Shipman and her brother, Jim.

Memorials: Preferred to the American Cancer Society at www.cancer.org

Services: A celebration of Linda's life will be held in Yuma, Arizona Tuesday, February 6 ^th . A second celebration will be held in the spring in North Dakota. Details will follow.

Burial: North Dakota Veterans Cemetery, Mandan North Dakota