Linda McRae Noe Laine

Linda McRae Noe Laine, an ardent supporter of Ancient Near Eastern archaeology, Biblical studies, and the study of modern Chinese government, died at home on August 14, 2019, in Washington, D.C. She was born in Monroe on August 7, 1938, the youngest child of James Albert Noe, Sr. and Anna Gray Sweeney Noe. Laine was an owner, along with her siblings, of the family broadcasting business which included television and radio properties in Monroe and New Orleans until she left the industry.

Enthusiastically self-taught, she pursued her interests with dedicated intensity; and sought to find a deep connection among people from different faith traditions and cultures throughout the world. For many years, Laine was a member of Calvary Presbyterian Church in San Francisco. She also championed the Anna Gray Noe Sunday School at First United Methodist Church of Monroe, Louisiana, to honor its eight decades of young adult bible study.

With the heritage of her parents in mind, Laine participated in the renovation of Westminster Abbey in London, England, by contributing a stained glass window to the Henry VII Chapel honoring her parents, her country and the many immigrants from Great Britain who settled in northern Louisiana. She established the “Governor James Albert Noe and Anna Gray Noe Memorial Lecture in The Religious Traditions of the Middle East,” an annual lecture at The British Museum. Her effort to understand human expression through art and faith, led Laine to sponsor such diverse learning events as a Metropolitan Museum of Art exhibition titled “Royal City of Susa” and a lecture series dedicated to Dietrich Bonhoeffer’s Christian activism.

Her exploration of spiritual traditions prompted her travels in Iraq, Sri Lanka, China, Israel, India and Japan among other parts of the world. Very meaningful to her were her visits with Tenzin Gyatso, the Dalai Lama. Also, influential on her outlook was her time spent at St. Catherine’s Monastery at Mount Sinai. She was dedicated to finding the most valuable and uplifting aspects of seemingly dissimilar cultures and using that understanding to bring people together.

Her charitable giving literally saved lives through The Shriner’s Burn Institute in Boston. And, she positively changed many more through scholarships for students in financial need at ULM, LSU and Barea College. She also had a Professorship for the Agriculture Program with ULM. She worked with the Save the Whales Program and the Thomas Jefferson Foundation. She was a member of the Daughters of the American Revolution.

Realizing the need for increased scholarship of modern China, in 1989, Laine endowed a professorship to the Government Department at Harvard University, titled the “Governor James Albert Noe and Linda Noe Laine Professor of China in World Affairs.” She developed her admiration for China’s millennia of accomplishments through her youthful friendship with Maj. General Claire Lee Chennault and his Monroe family and, later, through her friendship with his wife, Anna, and their daughters.

She will be missed more than she could realize by those who truly and deeply loved her. She was grateful for the care and attention of Balem Gebeyehu and her friends. She leaves behind her daughter, Christel McRae Noe Laine Kelley and her grandchildren, Charles McRae Noe Kelley and Camille Palmer Kelley. Relatives and friends of the family are invited to attend the funeral service at First United Methodist Church, 3900 Loop Road, Monroe, LA Saturday, August 24, 2019, at 2:00 PM. She will be interred with her parents at the Emma Lee Short Memorial Chapel Mausoleum of Mulhearn Memorial Park Cemetery in Monroe, LA, under the direction of Mulhearn Funeral Home in Monroe.

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Mulhearn Funeral Home
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Monroe, LA