Beacon Journal tribute to Linda Golz

By Katie Byard
Beacon Journal staff writer
Linda Golz, a Beacon Journal reporter who also reviewed letters to the editor, died Saturday afternoon.

Mrs. Golz, 61, suffered a brain hemorrhage while driving from the Beacon Journal to her Wadsworth home late Friday and died Saturday at Akron General Medical Center.

Mrs. Golz hit another car and when police arrived, she reported that she thought she had suffered a stroke, according to her husband, Mike Golz. There were no other injuries, Golz said.

Beacon Journal Metro Editor Rich Desrosiers said Mrs. Golz had moved from the newspaper's library, where she was a library researcher, to her current job in 2007.

She worked at night, splitting her time between the editorial section and the newsroom.

She enjoyed her new role, which included going out on assignments and making nightly calls to area police and fire departments.

Mrs. Golz, ''knew many of the dispatchers by name,'' Desrosiers said.

''She just loved to meet people.''

Mike Golz agreed.

''She just really enjoyed people . . . telling people's stories,'' he said.

He said his wife ''was one of the rare people who has had a lot of truly good friends. She had a whole bunch of best friends.''

Mrs. Golz's daughter, Carrie Frederick, said her mother ''was very giving, not only to her family and friends, but to strangers and other people in her community.''

Mrs. Golz began working for the Beacon as a correspondent in the late 1980s, covering various government meetings. Previously, she was a freelancer for area weekly and other local newspapers.

She became a Beacon employee in the early 1990s, working as a part-time library researcher. She was hired full time in 2001 before becoming a Beacon staff writer in 2007.

Mrs. Golz, a native of Pontiac, Mich., graduated from high school in Waterford, Mich., before moving to Northeast Ohio in the early 1970s.

Mike Golz said his wife was proud to be working as a professional journalist, even though she had no college degree. ''She did it on her own with no formal education,'' he said.

Mrs. Golz's only son, Jeff Little, died in a car accident in 1991. In addition to her husband and daughter Carrie Frederick, she is survived by daughter Alyson Brickey of Wadsworth and stepdaughter Laurie (Erik) Eberhardt of Massillon.

Funeral arrangements are pending.

[Beacon Journal, Akron, OH, Monday, June 13, 2011, page B4, col. 4]