Linda Juanita Lopez, 56, of Durango, Colorado, passed peacefully from this life on April 1, 2026, at Mercy Hospital, after facing illness with quiet courage and characteristic grace.

Linda was born on June 24, 1969, in Durango. She was the daughter of John “Sam” Lopez and Delia Jaramillo Lopez, and grew up as one of five siblings. She is preceded in death by her parents and by her brothers Ernest and Michael. She is survived by her brothers Larry Arnold (Denise) Lopez and Gerald (Pat) Lopez, and by her son Diego, the greatest joy she ever knew, who continues to make his home where she made hers.

Linda graduated from Durango High School in 1988 and attended college for one year. For the past twenty years, she served the community as a teller at the Bank of Colorado — a role that suited her perfectly, as she was someone people trusted instinctively. Before that, she brought the same reliability and warmth to the Gaslight Theater and Rite Aid Pharmacy. She showed up, she worked hard, and she made the people around her feel at ease.

Those who knew Linda understood that she was a woman of few unnecessary words. She did not gossip. She did not judge. She listened — truly listened — in a way that made people feel genuinely heard, a gift rarer than most realize. She loved her animals, she loved the color purple, and she loved setting off on trips with friends, collecting memories in places far from home. But nothing brought her greater joy than her son. She will not be there in person when Diego walks across the stage at Fort Lewis College this May, but those who knew her have no doubt she will be present in every meaningful sense.

Linda has been cremated, honoring her own wishes. A memorial service will be held this summer, where family and friends will gather to celebrate a woman who made the world quieter, kinder, and a little more worth listening to.