Accessmilton's June Person Of The Month

Linda Blow

To see Milton Projects & Events Coordinator Linda Blow in action is to witness a person truly happy in their work. She is always planning well in advance for the five city sponsored events she leads; from the Milton Round Up each Fall to the July 4th citizen parade and everything in between - all with a smile on her face and a go get 'em attitude.We recently sat down with this busy lady to find out a little more about her history, how she came to Milton, and where all that passion comes from.


Linda was raised in a small town of 5,000 in Pennsylvania. When college time arrived, she attended Corning Community College in Corning, New York. Her first job out in the world was with the French's Mustard Company out of Rochester. "I started working on a switch board as a switch board operator," she recently shared.


Linda would eventually make the move to Atlanta. Then about twenty years ago she attended night classes to become a paralegal. After graduation, she worked with various law offices and plaintiff firms. Due to the demands of the job, she would end up mastering the art of multitasking and how to make every hour of each day count. “When we worked on different cases we have to learn different areas of things. We have to learn parts of a car…medical things, we had to become well rounded.” Such experience would end up benefiting her as she made the transition from law to working in government.


About four years ago, she had an itch to try something different. Recent press had come to light about the incorporation of Sandy Springs; an area in which Mrs. Blow was currently living. “I heard that they were looking for an executive assistant to the manager and city manager,” Linda shared. Recent Milton City Manager Aaron Bovos was working at Sandy Springs at the time as the Deputy City Manager and would end up interviewing Linda. Things went better than expected, “Aaron and I hit it off and he hired me and I loved it.”About a year later when Bovos made the move to Milton as the City Manager, Linda was right behind. “When he came up here to Milton I said ‘Aaron I want to come and work for you’ and he said that if I did, I could work with the volunteers. That was it for me. If I could work with people, that is what I wanted. I have met the most wonderful people here in Milton.”


Since her arrival two years ago, Linda has helped bring a lot of happiness and memories to Milton Citizens. From the hot air balloons at the “Milton Round Up” to live reindeer and tasty s’mores around a cozy fire at the “Christmas In Crabapple” event, she harbors a keen sense of what the average family will enjoy and readily promotes it to reality.


She is also a regular fixture at the many city hall meetings; even when her attendance isn’t required, “I go and have had people ask me why do you go to these meetings (when it isn’t required)? Well, because I want to be a part of things and want to know what is going on. I just feel that I would miss something if I didn't go. I try to go to as many as I can.” Linda is also an active member of MDAC (Milton Disability Awareness Committee) and attends every meeting. Talk about being committed to your work!


Experiences have been a plenty when you are as busy as Linda Blow. When pressed for a unique event based story, Linda smiled for a moment and then offered up the following. “I had this very nice man who came in and filled out his application to be part of the memorial day event. God bless him he called me a couple of days before the event and he said 'Linda, I drove by city hall - my name is not out there on those markers.' I said 'Mr. Wall, you don't want your name on there any time soon. I said you have to passover.’ He said "what?’ I said ‘You have to die!’ And he laughed - he said "oh, your right - I guess I don't!’"


As the interview came to a close, she made sure to touch upon some additions to the upcoming Milton Round Up. “We just added the Milton Mayor's Race - a 5k, a 10k a fun run, walk, whatever you want to do. It will start at 9 o’clock that day.” For inquiring minds, the Milton Round Up is scheduled for Saturday, October 17 and will be held at the public schools in Crabapple. Any final words, Projects & Events Coordinator? "I have the best job at Milton City Hall…I just love what I do!" We don’t doubt it, Linda, and thanks for the memories!