Linda Yates is a retired ordained United Church minister and a writer, spouse, mother, and grandmother. She has a doctorate in ministry, with a focus on death awareness. Before her life in ministry, she was an infectious disease research laboratory technologist, so things both theological and scientific fascinate her. In her final years of active ministry, Linda was also a volunteer Medical First Responder for the rural area she served. This experience, and surviving cancer, has taught her to embrace life in all its beauty and terror, but not to hold it too tightly.