Linda Sue Swander McMullen

Linda Sue Swander McMullen died peacefully on the morning of May 27, 2026 at Maggie’s Place Memory Care in Overland Park, Kansas.

She lived a life devoted to family, friends, traveling, competitive bridge, reading and writing. She had a bold personality and left a lasting impression on everybody who knew her.

Linda was born October 24, 1940 in Winfield, Kansas to Ira and Velma (Marks) Swander, and then moved to Wichita when she was very young. She was in the first graduating class of Wichita Southeast High School. After spending one year at Wichita State, she lived her dream of attending Kansas University’s William Allen White School of Journalism. While at KU, she was an enthusiastic member of the Gamma Phi Beta sorority, where she made many lifelong friends.

After graduating from KU in 1962, she moved to Kansas City and became a reporter for the Olathe Daily News. She was one of the first and only female journalists at the newspaper.

In 1967 she married David McMullen, and they were blessed by God with three children. They built an engaging and warm home. They encouraged their children to read and write, work hard, and develop friendships. They joined Country Club Christian Church, where they were active for many years as a family, and Linda continued to attend the rest of her life.

Once her children were in school full-time, she returned to her love of writing as a free lance journalist, especially focused on her passion for travel, which culminated in the publication of a book on the history of Kansas in 1990.

After her father died in 1983, she took over his travel agency and built a nice clientele whom she helped plan wonderful international excursions. Her own wanderlust took her to see many places that few Americans had traveled to in those years, including extensively through Eastern Europe before the fall of the Berlin Wall and China soon after the end of the Cultural Revolution. She also made sure that she inspired her children with a deep yearning to see and experience the world beyond.

After the passing of her husband in 1992, she embraced widowhood, continuing to work as a travel agent, playing competitive bridge, engaging in an active lifestyle, traveling the world, and spending time with friends and family.

She and Dave joined a book club of friends in the early 1980s, which has met monthly for over 40 years. She remained active in it until recent years. She was also an integral part of an ornament group of friends who exchanged gifts every Christmas and celebrated life’s most important milestones together.

Linda achieved the rank of life master in bridge by traveling and playing with friends around the country — everywhere from South Carolina to Atlanta to La Jolla.

She also loved water aerobics, working out at Carriage Club, having the grandkids come to Carriage Club to swim at the pool ice skate in the winter.

Over the past 30+ years she continued to live independently and embraced her role as grandmother to eight and great-grandmother to three. Her wish was to be able to live out her years in her own home, which she decorated beautifully with unique artwork collected from her many travels. She had the privilege to host her 85th birthday party in her home last October. Even as her memory faded in recent years, she kept her same feisty spirit. She spent the last few months under the wonderful care of Maggie’s Place in Overland Park.

Linda is survived by:

her three children Ashley Shaw (and husband Brent Shaw) of Norman, Oklahoma, Jim McMullen (and wife Leyla McMullen) of Overland Park, and Maggie McMullen (and husband Jon Crocitto) of Washington, D.C.;

her eight grandchildren Katelyn Shaw, Josh Shaw, Abby Shaw, Ana McMullen, David McMullen, Daniel McMullen (and wife Camryn McMullen), Andrew McMullen, and Jacob McMullen;

her three great grandchildren Augustus McMullen, Esther McMullen, and Benedict McMullen; and

her sister Carol Clark (and husband Larry Clark) of Windsor, Colorado.

The family wishes to express its deep gratitude to her caregivers Precious and Carlotta who helped her daily for the last few years of her life and the caregivers at Maggie’s Place.

There will be a funeral service at Country Club Christian Church in Kansas City at 10:00am on Thursday, June 4, 2026 in the main sanctuary, followed by a time to visit with the family immediately thereafter in the parlor outside the sanctuary. Private burial with family will occur separately. The family suggests donations to the The Mission Project, Inc. (https://themissionproject.org/), which empowers individuals with Down Syndrome and other Intellectual Development Disabilities, and the Alzheimer's Association .