Linda Charlene Hebert passed away peacefully on January 27, 2025, with her family at her side. She was born in Pittsfield on December 29, 1934, to Jack and Rovilla Rabiner. She had three sisters, Mona, Irma, and Sandra. In 1952, she graduated from Pittsfield High School.
After high school, Linda decided to be a nurse. She felt it was one of the few occupations open to women at that time. In 1955, she graduated from the Henry W. Bishop Memorial School of Nursing in Pittsfield and became a registered nurse. She studied and worked at Massachusetts General Hospital and Northampton State Hospital. She later provided private-duty nursing care.

In 1958, she married Robert “Bob” Hebert of Monterey. Their daughter Cindy was born in 1959, followed by their son Art in 1961. Bob and Linda restored and expanded their 18th-century former boarding house, “Ledgehurst,” near the center of Monterey. There they raised their family, with Linda continuing her private-duty nursing and Bob running the family construction business.
In the mid-1960s, Linda and Bob built an A-frame home on Lake Garfield. The family spent their summers there swimming, water skiing, and fishing. They were also known to take neighbors for Amphicar rides, driving right off their beach and into the lake!
In the racially charged late 1960s and early 1970s, Linda joined the “Fresh Air Program,” hosting underprivileged and minority kids from New York City at her home for several weeks each summer. She also hosted exchange students from Japan with a similar aim: to expose different races and cultures to each other to foster understanding and create bridges between cultures and communities.
In 1972, Linda decided to embark on a new career path: real estate. She graduated from the Realtor Institute and became a certified specialist in multiple disciplines. What began with a small home office in Monterey would later grow to multiple offices in Lee, Otis, and Great Barrington. In 1985, the Berkshire County Board of Realtors voted Linda Realtor of the Year.
Linda was an active member of, and advocate for, Construct Inc., a non-profit provider of affordable housing. She was also a member of the Southern Berkshire Chamber of Commerce.
Since the 1960s, Linda’s car license plate read “WIFE.” She was proud of that, while at the same time being a strong advocate for women’s rights and equality. She walked the walk, hiring women and quietly helping those in crises. In January 2025, it gave her great pleasure that her granddaughter Lindsey, a sophomore at the University of Oregon, successfully completed auto racing school, a field historically dominated by men.
Linda is predeceased by Bob, her husband of 66 years. She is survived by Cindy and her partner Chris; Art and his wife Heather; and her four grandchildren, Ryan, Matt, Gunnar, and Lindsey.
A celebration of life for Linda and Bob will be planned for later this year. To send remembrances to her family, please visit the website of Finnerty & Stevens Funeral Home.