Linda Dickerson, 66, has devoted 16 years of service and hospitality as employee of the Church Street Inn of Natchitoches, and she’s retiring. Linda has been with the Church Street Inn since January of 2004, shortly after the establishment opened.

Linda was born and raised in Milwaukee, WI. She started working at the age of 15 with a summer work program and has been working ever since.

She moved to Natchitoches for the first time in 1982 with her husband, James Dickerson who’s from the area. Here, she spent the next six years of her life in a hate-love relationship with the southern heat and small town living.

In 1988, Linda moved to Tampa, FL where she had her first brush with hospitality and has been doing this work ever since.

In 1998, she and her husband with love to the town they left behind moved back to Natchitoches where she had several jobs over the next six years until she found herself in an economy with low job opportunities, jobless. So, she started pounding the pavement.

January, 2004, she walked into the newly opened Church Street Inn where she asked for an application. The staff told her there were none available. She left her resume. This resulted in her receiving an interview the following morning and being asked to start on the spot. The rest is history.

Over the past 16 years, Linda has been a part of the Church Street Inn family and a member of the Downtown History District business community. She has seen coworkers come and go and have made and stayed friends with many of them. When asked what she would miss most about her job, she responded, “the people I’ve worked with and the guests that I’ve met and grown to care about over the years.”

Congratulations, Linda Dickerson on your retirement. We thank you for your work and service for over 50 years