Ron and Jean Linder met in 1981 at USF’s College of Education. Both were single parents and dedicated educators with a love of travel, camping, national parks and cultivating community. Once they married and joined their families in 1982, the pair spent their lives doing all the things that they loved together, until they passed away this summer.
Ron joined the College of Education in 1969 after teaching elementary school in Florida and on Army bases in Japan and Germany, where he was also a principal. Jean came on board in 1978. A year later, Ron initiated the Creative Arts Festival for Children, which was based on his belief that children learned better through play, not rote lessons. At the annual event, local kids, from toddlers to teens, could explore dozens of hands-on stations that offered fun and interactive activities ranging from the arts to math and science to literature and writing.
“Dad strongly believed that children learn through active engagement with their surroundings and that exploration is the core of development,” said his daughter, Barbara Linder Prinssen. “I was raised to explore, learn and document. My childhood toys were boxes of shells or buttons to be sorted, dolls for pretend play, blank paper for coloring what was in my imagination, and books and empty journals for writing about our travels.”
The festival was a family affair for the Linders, with Jean working as an organizer, and the children not only enjoying the festival as participants, but also coordinating volunteers, supervising play and running errands.
“I have many wonderful memories of the Children's Festival,” Prinssen said. “When I was a kid, I loved doing the obstacle courses that the PE Department set up and getting dirty with the crafts. As a college student, it was great to continue participating on the other side, watching the kids dive into new activities and see their faces light up when they walked on stilts for the first time or played instruments.”
The exposure to education inspired two of their children, Prinssen and her stepsister, Jennifer Bell, to follow their parents into education careers, with Prinssen teaching elementary school before becoming a librarian, and Bell teaching high school English for 30 years.
“I was sure I wasn’t going to become a teacher. I thought I wanted to study sharks, but it’s like being part of a mafia family – they always pull you back in,” Bell laughed.
The couple also had a love of bringing people together and often hosted departmental parties at their home. College of Education Dean Jenifer Jasinski Schneider says their events were nothing less than elegant.
“They opened their home with extraordinary warmth and hospitality,” Schneider said. “The first faculty gathering I attended at their home was a department potluck, but we were served on a patio that sparkled with lights around the pool, and we were served with tableware and flatware, not because they were trying to impress, but because they believed people deserved to be treated with care. There was an unmistakable sense that being together mattered, that conversation mattered, and that building a scholarly community was something to celebrate.”
The couple believed that travel was also an important learning tool.
“They had a lot of values in common, but they bonded over travel,” Bell said. “They were both so passionate about the National Parks, and so we went on massive camping trips and went to Europe one summer. They were so interested in new places.”
Jean and Ron Linder
Ron and Jean embarked on their final journeys this summer, with Ron’s passing in May and Jean following him in July.
Together, Jean and Ron helped establish nationally recognized programs that integrated teacher preparation, research, and service to children and families. The couple’s lasting legacies at USF include Ron’s work to establish the Educational Research Center for Child Development, which provides learning opportunities for College of Education students as well as creative and experiential learning opportunities for preschool students who attend, and Jean’s work to implement a Teacher’s Aide program that helped classroom aides earn degrees in elementary education, as well as her work with the SunCoast Area Teacher Training Program (SCATT).
According to Schneider, the Linders’ work laid the foundation for the research practice partnerships of today.
“The College of Education we know today stands on foundations that Jean and Ron helped build,” Schneider said. “Their vision of integrating research, teaching and community engagement continues to influence how we prepare educators and serve learners across Florida and beyond. Their legacy is visible not only in our programs and our preschool, but in the generations of educators, faculty and leaders they inspired.”