Linda Sue Thornton was born July 24, 1953, one of six children born to Thomas and Esther Marie (Tackett) Thornton and grew up in Cape Girardeau Missouri, California, and New York where her father was stationed at Air Force bases. Her mother was a nurse and flew airplanes as well. Linda always loved art and would draw portraits in high school. She helped take care of her baby brother Jeff as well, helping her mom while she was at work.

Linda liked to move around the country and travel. She graduated college with an associate degree in Art at Berkshire Art College. She then painted murals and did interior decorating in restaurants, other businesses, and homes in Miami, Florida and Boston, Massachusetts as well as sold concessions and balloons at parades. She was also a hotel manager in Miami, Florida with her husband Joseph Arena and they would sell concessions at parades and worked and lived at a KOA together in Georgia. When she moved to California, she worked at an advertising company in Bakersfield, California. After becoming disabled, she focused on raising her only daughter, Alaequah, but did continue with her art. She had a small art lesson business for youth. Then worked as a volunteer teacher's aide in Baltimore, Maryland because of her love for children and classrooms that needed teacher's aides.

When she became older, Linda worked as a foster grandparent in the Foster Grandparent Program on Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota. She also moved in with her daughter Alaequah and son-in-law Ta Cangliska Nonpa to help babysit so Alaequah could finish getting her college degree without having to worry about a babysitter. Even after Alaequah got her bachelor’s degree and a career as an elementary teacher, she decided to stay and live with them.

Linda always encouraged others, was always uplifting, and never put others down. She was someone you could talk to about everything and anything. What gave her joy is doing things she could to try to make others happy. She liked to give people gifts. Linda would always make sure her daughter and grandsons knew how proud of them she was. When the world was bringing you down, she would always try to help and make you feel better. She would worry because she cared and would do things such as if the roads were bad she would call her best friend Cindy to pray with her that family would make it home safe. Linda was protective of her grandchildren and daughter when she felt someone was taking advantage of them.

Linda would make cookies for no reason just to surprise everyone with some goodies. She liked to make pies from scratch like pumpkin pie and apple crisp. Her favorite color was blue and she enjoyed listening to the Beatles. She also loved Indian Tacos and enjoyed reading, drawing, and oil painting. She had lots of books on bookshelves in her room, but she had trouble with her eyes only to find out she had cataracts. She had a little service dog named Prince and had cataract surgery not too long before she died. Linda was so happy to see out of that eye and showed her daughter and grandchildren how she could finally read without glasses. She was excited to work on her art again now that she could see clearly. Linda was also thinking of learning more languages the day before she passed away. Her Native name was ᎴᎵ (w) ᎵᎵ (e) ᎤᏬᏚᎯ (Beautiful Lilly-her tribe was ᏣᎳᎩ ᎠᏍᏕᎵᏍᎩ). There were letters on her bed to people when she died talking about how she was excited Biden had won, hoping things would get better, and that she did not like how Trump had handled the pandemic.

Survivors include her daughter Alaequah Moves Camp of Wanblee; five grandchildren Pejuta , RuMuYan Okiyan, Sepuoia Tiwakan, Tate Mani and Mni Iyoyamiyela Moves Camp; her husband Joseph Arena; two sisters Rose and Jane Thornton; one brother Jeff Thornton; and a son-in-law TaCangliska Nonpa Moves Camp.

Linda was preceded in death by her parents and two brothers Thomas “Butch” Thornton and David Thornton.

A four night wake will begin on Thursday, November 26 and continue through Sunday, November 29, at the TNT Building in Wanblee. Funeral services will be held at 11 a.m. on Monday, November 30 at the TNT Building with burial to follow at St. Ignatius Catholic Cemetery in Wanblee.