Linda Winters Malin

Linda Winters Malin , "Lindy" or "Lin", known to many as the Monarch Butterfly Lady , a lifetime educator, musician, and artist, took flight from this life after a sudden illness. Her loving husband of 42 years, Philip Lawrence Malin, and her many friends reluctantly released her to continue her beautiful journey, like the thousands of monarch butterflies she has rescued, raised and released since 1996. She was born in Alaska on May 29, 1954, to Gladys Burkey Winters and Frederick Columbus Winters Jr., both of Lancaster, PA. Linda, her mom and sister moved from base to base during her father's Air Force career. After settling back home in Lancaster upon his retirement, her dad taught fifth grade students at Higby elementary (now Martin Luther King), and Linda, a budding teacher, often assisted in his classroom. The tall pine tree at the left entrance of the school was planted in his honor. Lindy's musical talent developed early, under the eyes of her beloved mother, and accompanied by the tuneful whistling of her father. She studied music at Wesley College and the University of Delaware. After graduation she joined the Lancaster Musical Arts Society, frequently performed on the piano in this area, and also at the famed Ocean Grove. She was very involved in the music program at Highland Presbyterian Church, especially with the youth musicals, and taught guitar and piano.

Her friendship with her husband Philip began through music, when he saw her singing and playing guitar at a friend's house, back when he was attending Franklin & Marshall in 1978! They were engaged on the first day of spring in 1980, and married at Highland Church on May 1 in 1982 , one year after her father passed away. Linda always was a hard worker, starting with the summer job her father got her at Dart Container, molding hairdryer covers on an assembly line! She worked as a dishwasher at the Glass Kitchen restaurant, and waitress at a Lincoln Highway truckstop! Her first "real job" was as a layout and design artist at the Victor F. Weaver company in New Holland , designing their brochures and promotional materials. During this time she also became one of Lancaster's first female EMT's , and ran with the New Holland and then East Lampeter Township ambulance services -back when they used modified Cadillac station wagons! However, this straight-A student started her teaching career working for the Community Action Program and Headstart in Lancaster City, organizing GED classes for mothers, and doing home visits to help parents. She then became a creative arts teacher , taking over the top floor of Saint Anthony's Catholic school (now Resurrection school) and combining all her creativity to enrich her students-a Presbyterian under the watchful eyes of the nuns! During their engagement, however, she supported Philip as he completed his degree at Millersville by working as an assistant to the vice provost and college president Caputo ; then as office manager at the new Historic Preservation Trust in Lancaster, typing at 90 words per minute on those top-of-the-line IBM Selectrics!. From 1983-84, she taught music at the Montessori Learning Center , and then team-taught with Philip, creating an immersive environment for the elementary grades modeled on the Washington Lab School (featured in the Lancaster news)! From 1985 to 1987, she supported Philip as he completed his Masters in Education, by becoming Activity Therapy Director and Volunteer Coordinator for Hamilton Arms nursing home. She started there with seven volunteers, and when she left, there were 436-actually 437, if you include the day she made Philip appear in a hula skirt with a set of coconut shells against his hairy Italian chest! After Philip completed his training at Millersville, L&P started a community counseling partnership called Creative Consultants , applying Lindy's expertise in nursing home resident care and Philip's counseling background by creating special training programs for nursing homes all over Pennsylvania, even presenting at a national conference in Chicago. In 1987 Lindy got back into teaching, becoming the creative arts teacher at Holy Trinity school in Columbia , (now Our Lady of the Angels). There she had the entire basement as her creative workspace, and met lifelong friend, fellow teacher (and Monarch Butterfly lover) Diana Collins. In 1989, Lindy and Philip decided to take the plunge, and quit their jobs on the same day at the same time to start committing themselves to self employment! At that point, they threw all of their creative irons in the fire! Philip started designing greeting cards to sell at bookstores, Lindy started submitting her nature photography to calendar and magazine companies. Shortly after that, their pet photography business, Picture Perfect Pets , was born at the request of one of Lindy's many friends who wanted her Cat and Dog photographed for Christmas. From then until the pandemic, Lindy and Philip could be found crawling around on the floor in local pet stores, and at peoples' homes with dogs, cats, ferrets, guinea pigs, birds, snakes...They provided top quality hand-processed color photographs of furry and feathered companions for thirty years! In 2000, a New York photography agent , Marvin Mitchell, who lived in this area, took Lindy and Philip, under the name Imagination Factory , on as his clients, and marketed their images for ten years at national trade shows. His love of Lindy's pet photography led to several marketing deals, which filled her with excitement and pride. Between 2000 and 2002, Lindy had a series of medical issues, including kidney stones, and a torn meniscus, resulting in multiple surgical procedures. Then in 2002 Lindy's dear mother Gladys passed away . Her and Philip's world was fractured Around the same time, Lindy felt the need to start a new service in the tiny original sanctuary of Highland Presbyterian Church, an intimate early morning worship called MorningSon . She led and accompanied five worship teams with the support of senior pastor Larry Chottiner for 12 years. She helped create a safe and sacred space for those who felt overwhelmed by large formal worship. Some of our deepest friendships to this day were formed in that special space. After the new pastor disbanded that service, Lindy took her talents to Oakleaf Manor nursing home, providing a Sunday morning worship service for the seniors with the support of dear friend and activity director Tina Eshelman (now Kurtz) for a few years. This was also the time when Lindy discovered the beauty of stained glass, and started rescuing shattered pieces of unwanted windows before they ended up in landfills. Cathedral Jewels , her creation of beautiful jewelry from discarded shards, was a healing process for her, which led to selling over 10,000 pieces of her glass, and articles about her in the newspaper and a national jewelry magazine. Early on in their marriage, Lindy and Philip started to realize how different they were. Opposites really did attract! When Philip gave Lindy and himself one of the psychological tests he had studied at Millersville, they discovered they were almost completely opposite in every way, except love! So they started an adventure they called their Anniversary Project: every year on May 1st they would choose a topic to learn about for the entire year. That way, at the end of each year, they would have at least one thing in common to talk about! The first year Lindy selected music. Philip, whose only musical talents were tapping spoons on his knee and whistling, felt like a non-musical nitwit, compared to Lindy's brilliance. However, the following year was Philip's turn to pick pottery, which Lindy hated because she didn't want to get clay under her fingernails. We had to solve this dilemma or go our separate ways! So the new rule was, neither one of us could have any clue about the topic. We tried golf. Bad idea. Other golfers didn't appreciate us amateurs flipping through library books to learn how to swing, while golf carts lined up behind us at the first tee! We learned how to photograph snowflakes! Awesome! We discovered how to make animals out of fruit and vegetables- fun but messy. We learned how to make elaborate paper cuts. The house was littered in tiny snips!

In 1996, we focused on learning how to raise monarch butterflies! We found six caterpillars on Milkweed, raised and released King, Queen, Emperor, Empress, Prince, and Princess, and so Malin's Monarchy was hatched and we ended up releasing up to 1000 butterflies each summer, and offering programs all over Lancaster with Lindy dressed up in full size, butterfly wings! Our last program was a three day insect weekend at the North Museum of Science on College Avenue in September. We released our last butterfly on October 18 of this year, the day Lindy returned from the hospital after her totally successful colon cancer surgery. In 2006 Lindy had been invited to be guest artist in residence at the Pennsylvania Governors School for Excellence in Teaching at Millersville University, and she and Philip were chosen as mentors for the program in 2007 and 2008. In 2008, Linda was selected to receive one of the prestigious CCERP awards for community engagement because of her work on protecting the monarch migration path to Mexico and back. Famed actor and activist Richard Dreyfuss presented the awards . After the Governor's Schools were shut down due to budget restrictions, Lindy and Philip started teaching Saturday morning science enrichment for Lancaster city middle school kids, together at Project Forward Leap , and led science and technology camps at Thaddeus Stevens college and the Crispus Attucks center in Lancaster. Up until the pandemic, Lindy and Philip kept holding on to the strings for all these balloons, and never had a dull moment! In 2018, Lindy slipped and fell at Thaddeus Stevens college during one of the summer camps, crushing several bones in her right wrist, depriving her of the ability to play any of her instruments. Then in March 2019, the pandemic shut down the nation. Philip started working for Thaddeus Stevens College from home. On September 11th, Lindy suffered a right side stroke while looking for caterpillars in her milkweed patch at home. God was working then, since Philip was already assigned to work from home so he could be with her. This went on for another two semesters, until finally, the college demanded that Philip return to campus. This was impossible, so Philip left the college and started tutoring elementary school kids in reading from their home, which he continues to this day. Lindy and Philip had adjusted to their new lifestyle, traveling to Lindy's physical therapy, water therapy at the YMCA in Lampeter, doctors appointments, Walmart, Costco, Roots market, craft shows, church, outdoor music concerts, and of course Burger King, on the Red Rose Access wheelchair van. Up until four weeks ago, she and Philip were on the go all day every day, with Lindy pushing our shopping cart full of supplies, and Philip pushing Lindy. We've been a comical, gypsy caravan, making our unique presence felt wherever Lindy would decide we were going. Thank you for loving us, despite our quirks, limitations, and handicaps. Thanks for including us in your story, and letting us have you each as a wonderful chapter in the Book of Lindy and Philip. You all always welcomed Lindy and I with open arms. Love You All, Lindy & Philip

PS Speaking of quirks -any of you who have visited us over the years, and especially recently, have noticed we're a bit squirrelly! In fact, all the nutkins in our yard are so tame they will run up onto your shoulder and sit patiently waiting for an almond or walnut, or they will at least stand at your feet on their hind legs, with their little paws folded politely against their chests. Sorry-we've been feeding (and rescuing) squirrels ever since our neighbor, Piet Hegeman, a professional landscaper and arborist, quietly dropped off four orphaned babies in their nest, inside a five gallon bucket on our porch. (He called us a couple days later, after we had already fallen in love with the critters!) So this current crop includes the great-great grandchildren (at least) of ones we nursed to adulthood over the years. ~~ L&P

Family and friends are invited to a viewing from 3PM to 5PM, Friday, March 13, 2026, at Charles F. Snyder III Funeral Home & Crematory, 2421 Willow Street Pike, Willow Street, PA 17584. A Funeral Service will follow at 5PM. Interment will be private and at the convenience of the family. In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions may be made to Monarch Watch by visiting: https://monarchwatch.org/donate/