Linda Francisco Bets is an Associate in Ministry of the ELCA. She graduated from Drake University with a MA in religious leadership and from Creighton University with a certificate in spiritual direction.

  

For twenty-five years, Linda served as a chaplain with the Iowa Health System, working at Iowa Methodist, Iowa Lutheran and Blank Children’s hospitals. During that time, she worked in every specialty, but concentrated on maternity, Intensive Care Nursery and leading grief groups for people who lost babies, people in substance abuse treatment and both in and out patients of the mental health units. She retired in 2009 and now is a spiritual director out of her home.

  

Linda and her husband, Juris, will celebrate 45 years of marriage this March. They have a son, a daughter, and three grandchildren. She enjoys quilt-making, reading and travel. She has been a life-long member of St. John’s Lutheran Church of Des Moines.