More About Linda

Linda Carleton grew up in the Virginia suburbs of Washington, DC and graduated from Wellesley College in 1969. She taught high school history and comparative religions in Guilford, CT, for 25 years before retiring to attend Bangor Seminary and graduating from Yale Divinity School.

She became the first person to be ordained in the United Church of Christ to a ministry of refugee settlement.

Through the First Congregational Church, UCC in Guilford, she founded Melita Welcome House, where she and her husband, Peter, served as resident directors.

In 2008, they retired to Chebeague Island, ME, where Linda painted, wrote and grappled with New Age spiritual ideas.

Linda now lives in Portland, ME, with Peter and her cockapoo, Bindu, where she has found a spiritual home in the Episcopal Church.

She is the mother of two children, six step-children and too many grandchildren to count.

She became a founder of the Hope House English Language Program and currently teaches WhatsApp English.

Linda loves to sing and plunk away on the piano.

She is a mandala artist who offers individual and group workshops on mandala journaling.

She is the author of a mandala art book, Transcending Trump, and the historical novel, Elmina’s Fire.