LINDA SANDERS ALGER
April 13, 2008
Linda Sanders Alger met her husband early in 1959 while she was a junior at Wellesley College and he was a first year student at Harvard Divinity School. In a pre-engagement discussion, Linda expressed a point of view that would prove prophetic. Much as she wanted to marry Earl and share parenting responsibility for any children, Linda shared her desire to utilize her love for mathematics as well. In an era when few women sought professional careers, especially in engineering, Linda wanted to open doors of opportunity for herself and other women. For many years she lived out her dream. Linda wrote in her bio for her 45th Wellesley College Re-union: “I’ve been blessed with a wonderful marriage, three healthy and loving children along with five grandchildren and a very satisfying career. I am so grateful to be among those able to say I truly enjoyed my career work. Still, I also enjoyed being a wife and mother and in supporting my husband in his career as a pastor.” Union Congregational Church of Braintree and Weymouth recognized her commitment by naming her its “Church Woman of the Year” in 2000.
Ms Alger was raised in Stamford, CT but spent many memorable summers in a rural area near Augusta, GA with her maternal grandmother and other relatives. She graduated from Wellesley College in 1960. The family moved to Hingham in 1969 and to Norwell in 2004.
Her professional career began in 1973 as a scientific programmer at Lincoln Laboratory in Lexington. In 1978, she joined the technical staff at Draper Laboratory in Cambridge, where she sensed opportunities for women in engineering were developing rapidly. There she found a challenging work environment and many talented and deeply committed colleagues, an environment that would be mutually enriching and professionally creative for more than twenty five years. Initially, Ms Alger joined a team that was developing the Back-up Flight System (BFS) for the Space Shuttle. This experience led to her career-long interest and expertise in Fault Tolerant (life critical) Computer applications. In 1985, she was appointed Group Leader in the Fault Tolerant Systems Division. In 1991 she moved from space projects into the under-sea world, where she was responsible for the system software design, hardware/software integration and testing of the Seawolf Submarine Control Fault Tolerant Processor. In 1993 Ms Alger became Leader of Draper’s Software Engineering Division with supervisory responsibility for all software projects at the Laboratory, a position she held until her retirement. Also in that year, she was appointed to a Federal Commission charged with analyzing the nation’s air traffic control system and make appropriate recommendations to Congress. Eventually Ms Alger was named Director of Software Engineering, becoming one of seven Directors of Draper Laboratory and the second woman to be so honored. Meanwhile, Linda authored and co-authored many technical publications, primarily related to Fault Tolerant Computers. She traveled extensively nationally and inter-nationally to speak at conferences and symposiums. She was especially proud to be asked to be a high-tech panelist at a symposium marking the 125th Anniversary of the founding of Wellesley College. Ms Alger had a passionate and abiding interest in encouraging young women to become engineers, a field still largely dominated by men, and mentored many during her tenure at Draper.
In 2001, while participating in an international aeronautical conference in Sweden, Linda noticed some physical discomfort which was later diagnosed as a neurological disease known as Cerebellar Ataxia. Debilitating physical effects of the disease forced her to retire in 2003 to confront her next challenge—dealing with the steadily increasing health issues caused by the illness. She treasured the frequent visits and email messages of her children, grandchildren, other relatives and friends. Her home computer provided Linda with a window to the world until her hands became compromised by the disease. Cradled in the consummate love of her family, Linda’s death came with peaceful suddenness on Sunday evening, April 13.
Ms Alger is survived by her husband, Earl, and their three children—Kimberly, and her companion, Mark Lynch; Todd and his wife, Sandra; and Tracy and her husband, Mark Coffman. She is also survived by five grand children—Christina and Wade Stanley, Katharine Alger and Nico and Sidney Coffman. In addition, she is survived by Earl’s brother and his wife, Nancy and John Alger.
A family graveside Service of Committal was held in the Hingham Cemetery on Thursday, April 17. A public Memorial Service will be held in Union Congregational Church of Weymouth and Braintree on Saturday, May 3, at 2 p.m. In lieu of flowers, donations can be made to The Linda S. Alger Memorial Scholarship Fund, c/o Wellesley College, 106 Central Street, Wellesley, MA 02481. Arrangements are being handled by the Downing Cottage Funeral Chapel of Hingham.