Bartow, Florida

Deceased   

Head, Lynn Jeanette

Last Updated: 2003

INDOMITABLE SPIRIT By Wendy Hoch

Ms. Lynn J. Head was “still touching peoples lives even when she knew her own life was fading,” said her brother, Clark Head of Fort Meade. “She was tutoring children even through her illness.” Ms. Head died of cancer Friday, March 7, 1997 at Lakeland Regional Medical Center. She was 51. “Her question was not ‘why’ but ‘why not,’” he said of her optimistic outlook on life. That is why she fought the cancer so hard, he said—she believed she could defeat it. Clark Head said his sister was always ready to go do things—fishing, golfing or hunting—nothing stopped her. Born in Lakeland on July 19, 1945, she was a lifelong resident of Bartow. She graduated from Bartow High School in 1963. She received her Bachelor of Art Degree and her Master’s Degree in elementary education from the University of South Florida. She had been a Polk County Schoolteacher since 1973, teaching at James E. Stephen’s Elementary, Brigham Elementary, Hillcrest Elementary and Bartow Elementary. She was nominated for the University of Florida Alumni Association Educator of the Year award in 1984. She received the Teacher’s Peer Choice award for participating in the Polk County Economic Expo in 1985, 1987 and 1988. She was a past president of Delta Kappa Gamma Society of Women Educators. She was the first winner of the Miss Bartow pageant in 1963. She was a Cypress Gardens skier in 1964. She received the American Cancer Society Courage Award in 1996. Besides her brother, she is survived by her parents, E.C.”Gene" and Corine Head, Bartow.