Linda Callender, who as a girl in Atlanta dreamed of racing sled dogs, grew up to be able to do so. She also loved exploring caves and wilderness camping.
But her broadest legacy stems from her years of teaching English and helping write standards to improve state education in the 1990s.
Callender, 62, of Anoka, died recently after a 20-month battle with pancreatic cancer.
"Linda is remembered as a leader in her field who developed and wrote academic standards for Minnesota during the first standards movement of the late 1990s," said a memo from Dennis Carlson, superintendent of the Anoka-Hennepin School District. "Her colleagues from her years in the classroom recall that Linda's students produced outstanding work and writing."
Charles Callender met his wife-to-be about 32 years ago when she showed up for a winter camp-out with the University of Minnesota Rovers group in Anoka County. "She was from Georgia and couldn't figure out how to get tent stakes to work in the snow," he said. It also caught his attention that she owned two sled dogs that she raced.
Callender said the sled dog thing was "a Southerner's childhood fantasy after seeing Sergeant Preston of the Yukon." Later the couple would canoe and hike in the Yukon, he added.
"She had a good sense of humor, was very bright and very curious," she said.
Long canoe and winter sled dog trips in the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness became an escape from her demanding and ultimately frustrating work in the 1990s. She was on a team formed by the Legislature to develop uniform standards and assessment criteria for public schools, her husband said.
