Butter tarts, baseball and Fall Fair fun: the sweet side of Linda Rosbottom

Every week, I will be profiling an extraordinary human being who lives in our community. If you know someone who is doing something interesting with their life, I want to hear about it. Send me an email at [email protected].

It’s in her kitchen, with her hands submerged in warm, soapy water, that Linda Rosbottom finds her centre.

“It’s my place to be,” she says. “My place of solace. It always has been.”

Linda is the kind of person who doesn’t mind baking ten dozen butter tarts for a fundraiser. Or maybe she has a friend stopping by in the afternoon so she’ll quickly whip up something she knows they love. If you visit Linda, one thing is certain: you won’t be leaving empty-handed. When I went to her beautiful home to snap some candid shots of her in her element, I left with half a dozen best butter tarts – the best I’ve ever had in my life – and a giant bag of fresh green beans from her garden. What a score! And what a giving lady!

Linda was a good friend of my mother’s. And when my mom was in the final stage of her battle with cancer, I remember she unexpectedly popped over with some sweet treats and a tray of homemade lasagna. She might have even brought some garlic bread, but I can’t exactly remember. I do recall the feeling of gratitude toward Linda for making it easier on my family. I know Linda does things like that a lot.

You do what you can for others. If it helps someone out, I have no problem doing it. Why would I? Why would anyone?

A dedicated volunteer

Linda’s love of being in the kitchen has landed her a volunteer job helping out at The Table Soup Kitchen’s weekly community dinners. As a non-wasteful person who is able to come up with delicious ideas on the spot, especially soups and baked goods like cookies and cakes, Linda is the perfect volunteer for the dinners.

With an organized, well-stocked pantry like this, everything Linda needs to make something delicious is right at her fingertips.

Lending a helping hand is just something Linda does because she wants to and because she can

“It started with me calling up a lady and asking her if I could take some ingredients home and turn them into something,” explains Linda. She knew the kitchen received bulk ingredients like 100-pound bags of flour and sugar. “But the lady said, ‘Wait, I have a better idea.’ So I came in and started cooking there. I was really excited and I really enjoy it.”

Hearing Linda say she got excited about being recruited as a volunteer to cook says so much about her. For her, getting the chance to turn basic food items, like a box of bananas or a giant ham bone into something delicious “is the fun part.”

It depends on what we get, but there’s absolutely no waste and that’s what I love about it.

Fall Fair memories

She’s also been involved in the Huntsville Fall Fair since she was just 12 years old. She remembers making trays of brownies, week after week, for an entire summer, preparing to enter them in hopes of winning first place. The fair means so much to her; her mother was part of it and now both of Linda’s daughters sit on the board of directors. She helps organize the western horse show, and having a love of horses makes it extra special to her.

When Linda was a little girl, the fair was the town event of the year. Everyone in the community looked forward to it. There was a parade to kick it off and kids from all of the local schools carried banners and marched downtown to the Community Centre (now the Summit Centre). Teachers would even make the students practice marching for months leading up to the big event.

Even today, Linda says, all of the board members share the same vision. It’s not just about maintaining the public’s interest in the fair and having a good midway year after year. There’s more to it than that. A lot of effort goes into ensuring there are plenty of entries for the exhibits. Since the inception of the fair 135 years ago, it has always been about highlighting agriculture and where food comes from.

“We try to bring more awareness to kids and to adults as well,” says Linda, adding that for a while, fair participation declined quite a bit. However, it’s made a comeback in the last few years. “Our junior fair has really taken off. There’s been a lot of participation from kids and that makes me happy. That’s what’s going to keep the fair alive. It’s been alive for 135 years and it’s Huntsville’s oldest annual event and it’s still going fairly strong.”

A love of baseball

Her baseball uniform, well, that’s her next greatest love, aside from cooking (and of course, her husband, Pete). Something that’s sort of weighing on her right now is the fact that having her gall bladder removed recently forced her to miss her first baseball game in 40 years. She plays with both of her daughters so it’s more than just baseball. Playing ball with her girls brings her a lot of joy and it’s become a real bonding experience for the three of them.

“How can life get any better than that?” she asks.

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