Linda Lou Crosby, a resident of the close-knit community of Ingomar, passed away on March 25, 2024, at Forsyth Hospital after suffering a stroke at home three days earlier.
Linda Lou was born October 13, 1943, in Los Angeles, to RKO actress Linda Hayes and radio announcer Lou Crosby. She was raised and went to school in the Los Angeles area and later worked as a news reporter, eventually landing a job with KCET, filming documentaries.
Though she grew up in Hollywood, her family loved spending time in the great outdoors. Linda Lou and her two younger sisters enjoyed camping, fishing, and hunting with their parents. She later settled into the Mojave Desert with husband Hart and was joined by her daughter and family. Together, they enjoyed many holidays, adventures, and trips to local spots in the Sierra Nevada Mountains. Linda Lou’s admiration for the rugged life was rekindled when she met Ingomar resident Owen Badgett while she was filming a BLM Round-up for the Navy near Ridgecrest, California. Badgett was one of the cowboys working with BLM. When Owen returned to his home state of Montana, Linda Lou and Hart went to visit him.
Crosby became intrigued with the way people helped each other and teamed to endure harsh winters under the open Montana skies. Badgett spoke often of his beloved state and the handful of people that made residents of Ingomar more like family than just neighbors. This led to Crosby creating a documentary about Owen’s Life. “The Gypsy Cowman… A Vanished Breed” which aired at the Lone Pine Film Festival in 2009. On one of her visits, Linda Lou rented a Post Office Box in Ingomar, and when asked about her reason for the purchase, she replied that “They might live there some day.” And sure enough, a few years later, Crosby and her husband Hart Broesel became full-time residents of Rosebud County.
Crosby was known locally for her radio podcast “Half Pint Café” and her News from K.M.U.K. featuring Ingomar resident, Alice Cameron, as Reporter Ima Rumpsprung. The program was a satire of local news and weather. In Montana, Linda Lou continued her adventuring lifestyle, supporting local events and fishing when she could. She was an avid supporter of the local Ingomar Rodeo Club, Tri-City Community Enterprises, and the CFNRC-a local agency that supports grants for Northern Rosebud County.
Linda Lou will be missed by her friends and family. She is survived by her beloved husband, Hart Broesel, her sisters Cathy Lee and Lucinda Sue Crosby as well as her daughter Carey Marvin and Carey’s children, Maggie and Wyatt, Hart’s daughter Tery, her husband Scott, Teri’s daughter Brittany, her husband Shawn, their children Leah, and Lacy, Brittan’ys brother Westley, his wife and children, Hart’s son Hart II, his wife Rondi, and their children. She will also be missed by her three dogs, who joined her on many adventures.
Service Schedule
Celebration of Life
1:00 p.m.
Saturday April 20, 2024
Tri-City Rec Center
Ingomar, MT 59039
Service Schedule
Celebration of Life
1:00 p.m.
Saturday April 20, 2024
Tri-City Rec Center
Ingomar, MT 59039
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Joseph Buckalew Sonny says
GOD BE WITH YOU LINDA , HART SO SOORY ,
Connie Brown says
Hart and family,
So sorry for your loss of Linda Lou hold tight to your memories. I always enjoyed our visits and chit chats. My condolences as I keep you in my prayers!
Cathy Partusch says
Unfortunately, this beautifully written obituary did not include 30 years of amazing Navy service that Linda Lou contributed to her country. She was a phenomenal videographer, producer, and editor of countless productions that informed and educated Department of Defense personnel and the public about essential programs within the U.S. Navy. Her talents were recognized many times by Defense Department senior leadership. She will forever be in my heart as dear friend, colleague, and close confidante. Fair Winds and Following Seas my friend.
Darcy J Corbin says
It was a privilege to know you. You will be greatly missed. Till we meet again my friend!
Karen Losing says
To Linda Lou’s Family,
I am so sorry for your loss of Linda Lou. I met her last year at the Bill Seward Day. She was such a delightful lady and so full of vim and vigor. I wish I could have gotten to know her better because she was such an interesting person. Please know you are in my thoughts and prayers at this most difficult time.
Margot & Don wolff says
For all your many friends and family, especially Hart, my thoughts and prayers are with you all on this day of rememberence. I didn’t know her well but was drawn to her from the start by her open heart, her work ethic, and her willingness to embrace life and nature. You will be missed by many and I’m proud to have known you.
Gary Gilson says
I just learned of Linda Lou’s passing. I hired her at the L.A. public TV station to be a reporter/producer for a nightly magazine-format news series, after seeing her video as an auto mechanic on a cable-access station in northern California. She was such a great communicator that it didn’t matter if she hadn’t been trained as a journalist. She was a natural, and she was a dogged investigator. She exposed the oil companies as conspirators in the 1978 gasoline shortage. She also introduced me to her grandmother, who had come to California near the start of the 20th century from the Upper Midwest, and after meeting her I commissioned Linda Lou to do a TV profile of her grandmother. It was wonderful. I am so sad to hear of Linda Lou’s passing. Everything I have heard about her in the past 40 years proves that she was a non-stop entrepreneur of the best kind, connecting people to be and do their best in service of humanity.
Barbara Sharp says
If was with great sadness that we read of the sudden passing of Linda Lou. Even though we had never met, we had the pleasure last year of returning items from Australia that belonged to her father Lou, so that she and her sisters could cherish some of their father’s possessions and look through photos of his life in Australia. Deepest condolences to Linda Lou’s family from Barbara and Liane Sharp, Sydney Australia.
Mike & Jan Hillenbrand says
Hart, I just read of Linda Lou’s passing and we are heartbroken. My tears won’t stop flowing thinking about all the wonderful memories of you two in Randsburg (melodramas & evenings in our living room playing guitar & singing) , your wedding in Goodsprings, and our visits to you in Ingomar. She was such a special friend to us as are you. She touched our lives beyond measure and are so sad for you and all the family. We love you. Mike & Jan
Mary Williams says
Hart I am so sorry for your loss. I just found out about Lynda Lou today. It was so much fun doing all the melodramas and Randsburg and death Valley and Ridgecrest. Very enjoyable times. She will be missed. Sending thoughts prayers and condolences. From Mary Williams.
Griffith Davies says
Shocked to hear of Linda Lou’s passing. I had the great opportunity to work with her and Hart on a few plays in Randsburg (even one in Palm Desert – where I got to spend some time with her mother). She and my father worked together at China Lake NWC. Sadly, my father passed away about a month after Linda Lou.
She was smart, witty, stubborn, funny, loyal, and amazing all at once. A true one of a kind.
My condolences to Hart and the rest of her family and friends whose lives she touched.
Tamra Johnson says
Not only did Linda Lou Crosby work for the navy was also an amazing teacher at the Cerro Coso Community College in Ridgecrest. I will remember her with fond memories. She was a great person!!!