When Linda Ott Gimbel walks through the double doors of Russell Elementary School, she becomes “Gramma” Linda.

Ott Gimbel, 72, is a grandmother of seven grandchildren and four great-grandchildren of her own, but she has adopted Russell students, too, as part of the Foster Grandparent Program.

As a foster grandparent, Ott Gimbel fills her days with one-on-one activities with students depending on where the needs are. Lately, she has been helping kindergartners and second-graders with reading.

“One of the big reasons I do this is you get free hugs,” Ott Gimbel said, taking in the sunny day from a shaded park bench outside the school.

“A really sweet story when I first started a little girl in the hallway stopped and said ‘Well, you know everybody has their own grandma or grandpa, but Gramma Linda is our gramma for the whole school.’”

Learning is something people shouldn’t stop doing, according to Ott Gimbel. She herself went to school for medical billing and coding at age 60.

The Foster Grandparent Program, administered through the Western Montana Area VI Agency on Aging, is one way Ott Gimbel fills her time since moving from Colorado back to Montana. She is a 1961 Columbia Falls High School graduate.

“My teenage years were here, so my heart stayed here. After being gone after 53 years, I was able to join my body with my heart and I moved back last July,” Ott Gimbel said. “I’ve been enjoying the peace and the quiet. I tell my children that this is my version of Mayberry.”

She decided in 2014 it was time for a fresh start. Her husband, Frank, had died in 2007; they had been married 50 years.

“He had a beautiful death. He died while he was fishing out on the river — doing what he loved,” she said.

The two had been high school sweethearts.

“I picked out my husband when I was 14 and married him when I was not yet a month 18. This is the area where we fell in love. We met as neighbors the summer of 1957. We were an ‘us’ for 50 years,” Ott Gimbel said.

The couple moved to Colorado after her husband, who was in the Air Force, was transferred to the Air Force Academy.

“He went into the Air Force to be closer to planes and he ended up in a dental clinic,” she said chuckling.

She helped him study for dental exams with great results.

“He had this enormous dental manual. The next time he came up for promotion he got the highest grade,” Ott Gimbel said noting he was in the top 10 percent, which helped land them at the Air Force Academy.

When she arrived in Kalispell she began using her maiden name along with her married name in hopes relatives and friends would reconnect recognizing the name. In a way it represents her transformation into a new life.

“I have two lives. I have my youth and my life north of Reserve, that’s where all of those memories lie, and then south of reserve is Linda’s new normal life,” Ott Gimbel said. “So when I go up Whitefish Stage Road or [U.S.] 93 up to Whitefish I look over and I see Columbia Mountain and Teakettle and the Canyon and I go, ‘Oh yeah, I really am here.’”

Ott Gimbel had to drum up the courage to move back on her own and it has been an adjustment.

“The Lord helped get me up here because when I went home last June after I decided I wanted to move back up here, he had my mobile home sold in 24 hours. I was back in 30 days,” she said. “The whole way up here my husband was saying in my ear, ‘Piece of cake.’”

Reconnecting with former classmates has been a ball for Ott Gimbel. She gets together with some of them once a month for lunch.

“It is awesome to be old together because you share the same memories of your youth,” Ott Gimbel exclaimed.

Ott Gimbel’s other interests besides volunteering are long walks, movies and attending Canvas Church. Her biggest goal is to travel around Montana and into British Columbia.

“That’s yet to come,” Ott Gimbel said.

Reporter Hilary Matheson may be reached at 758-4431 or by email at [email protected].