The Morrison County Sheriff’s Office is mourning the loss of a longtime dispatcher who died while whitewater rafting in western Canada last week.

Her coworkers explained it’s very somber without their beloved coworker Linda Day. 

“I’m sad for the ones that are going to come in and then don’t get to know Linda Day and don’t get to experience her compassion and calm mind,” Ashley Shackle, Linda’s former work partner, said.

In a high-stress environment fielding calls in crisis, Linda brought peace.

“She was fun. She was very funny, adventurous and very kind,” Shackle said. “She is so very loved and she’s so very, very missed. She was an incredible person.”

At the Morrison County Sheriff’s Office, Shackle and Linda worked as partners in dispatch for years.

Linda got her start in county law enforcement in 2008. Her career ended unexpectedly this month.

Coworkers explained she left for vacation, traveling to western Canada with family.

On June 12, Canadian authorities said she was whitewater rafting in British Colombia when she fell out of the raft and drowned.

“It was shocking. I don’t know another word to describe it,” Shackle said.

In the past, Linda worked as an EMT/Paramedic for Gold Cross Ambulance.

That’s where she met Jane Holman, a coworker, for the first time.

“It’s shocking. I’m still in very much disbelief,” Holman said.

Holman explained Linda trained her with grace and left her with teachings she passes on to others.

“She was never in a bad mood ever. She’s so giving of not only her time but her talent,”
Holman said. “We were very good friends. There was always a smile on her face.”

Coworkers call Linda irreplaceable and Morrison County dispatch won’t be the same.

“What helps me get through it is she passed doing what she loved, being the adventurous person that she was,” Holman said.

Linda also worked at Camp Lebanon, a Christian bible camp, for years as their program director.

The group wrote on Facebook she touched the lives of thousands of campers and staff and she’ll be missed.