Retired chief of Nevada Welfare Division, Ryan, dies

Monday, Dec. 20, 1999 | 11:54 a.m.

Linda Ryan, retired director of the Nevada State Welfare Division, died over the weekend while en route to France where she planned to celebrate the new year.

Ryan, who retired from her state post in September 1992, was married to Las Vegas Sun legislative reporter Cy Ryan.

She died while en route to Paris, where she visited about twice a year, her husband said.

Her flight out of Northern Nevada left Saturday, and she called her husband from the Chicago airport before boarding her flight to France, a family friend said.

Cy Ryan said she experienced a cerebral hemorrhage during flight, and the airplane was diverted to the Shannon Airport in southern Ireland. She died later at the hospital there.

Friends say Ryan is survived by a son, two sisters and a brother. Members of the family were too stunned and distraught to talk about her passing early today.

"It's just so unbelievable," said Maggie Tracey, a close friend who lives in Carson City.

"She was doing something she loved doing. She loved it there (in Paris). She'd really wanted to spend the millennium there, and she was so excited," Tracey said.

The trip almost didn't happen because Ryan had trouble getting in touch with the landlord of the apartment where she usually stayed. Tracey said Ryan sent her a gleeful e-mail when the accommodations were confirmed.

Those who knew Ryan spoke of the kindness and deep concern she brought with her as head of the state Community Services Division and later as director of the state's welfare office.

She had a good head for finances and for the complicated government systems under her guidance.

"Linda was a pleasure to know, and she was extremely bright," Sun Executive Editor Mike O'Callaghan said. "Not only was she a fine public servant, she also understood people and their needs. Everything she did in life was on the basis of being fair and helpful to others." Word of Ryan's sudden passing spread rapidly among friends and colleagues across the state.

"She was such a lovely person," U.S. Sen. Richard Bryan, D-Nev., said early today. "Linda Ryan was a key figure in my administration as (Nevada) governor. She was extraordinarily talented and effective and a great advocate of the programs she was involved in."

Myram Borders, of the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority's news bureau, said she first met Ryan more than 20 years ago while working for United Press International.

She described Ryan as a woman who "was busy constantly," thriving on her work and the people she enjoyed in her personal life.

"Linda was the kind of person who loved to have a good time," Borders said. "She appreciated the finer things in life."

Faith Greaves, a semi-retired public relations worker who lives in Carson City, also met Ryan during the 1970s.

Greaves was an aide for then-Gov. O'Callaghan. It was the height of the women's liberation movement, and Greaves, Ryan and two other women started a small sideline business marketing posters with feminist slogans.

The business lasted about two years, and they never made any money to speak of, Greaves said. But they learned a lot.

"It was all part of that great liberation," Greaves recalled. "Linda was really strong and very sincere about (women's liberation). She was a Republican with the heart of a Democrat."

Those who knew Ryan said she was a very private person, whose life as a public servant didn't spill over into her personal life.

"The world didn't necessarily know Linda," Borders said.

She carried herself with a calm confidence that sometimes belied the sharp wit underneath.

"She was an incredibly witty person. A lot of people probably didn't know that," Greaves said. "She was really, really funny."

And she was really ethical and honest, Greaves added.

"Linda had this highly evolved sense of fairness that's really rare. Her self-integrity was a quality an earthquake couldn't shake," she said. "She was extremely unusual in that sense, and she did not waver."

Ryan's age was a well-kept secret, longtime friend and former Nevada Appeal editor Sue Marrow said. Most friends estimated it to be around 60.

She was involved in so many public service projects and endeavors it was hard to keep track of all the dates and places. Ryan wasn't one to blow her own horn.

But state records show she was appointed director of the state Department of Employment, Training and Rehabilitation in January 1983. From January 1985 until her retirement, she was administrator of the state's Welfare Division.

Mike Willden, state welfare division deputy administrator, said the agency conducted a brief staff meeting this morning to announce of Ryan's death. Workers spent most of the morning reminiscing about a woman they remembered as a demanding but caring boss, he said.

"She was known by most of the staff as a very tough administrator, and she was also very fair," Willden said. "But what a lot of people probably didn't know was that she had a heart of gold -- especially when it came to the welfare kids and the foster kids. She didn't like a lot of publicity about that."

Ryan's death came as a total shock because she was the picture of health, friends said. She was an avid runner who was almost always training for the next event.

"Linda was a total health freak. She ate right. She ran marathons," Greaves said. "Everybody is just so shocked."

"You hate to lose a person like that in this world of turmoil that we live in," Borders said.