Linda Kram was born and reared in St. Louis and currently lives in University City. She attended Ladue Schools and married at the young age of 19. She said that was too young, but she is still happily married (to the same man) and has two wonderful children, Karin and Daniel, both living in California.
Karin is married and has a 6-month-old son. Karin has her doctorate in microbiology and teaches at California State. Daniel, a computer software engineer, is married with a 2-year-old son. Because his wife is from China, their son is being raised to be bilingual. Grandma Linda is learning Mandarin, too!
Linda works with Springboard, as well as with schools in the city of St. Louis
and some districts in St. Louis County. She fits perfectly into teaching children in Pre-K through first grade, using storytelling in the program “We Are the World.” The children love this multi-cultural project. Recently they “went to Sweden” as Linda brought in trolls, told stories from that culture and brought a special Swedish snack. Sounds fun! She also teaches preschool science and outdoor education and uses stories as jumping points for STEAM projects.
Always interested in folk tales and stories, Linda wanted to tell family stories when her kids were born. She was lucky to learn the art from Annette Harrison and January Kiefer. Marian Cohen influenced her to tell stories through Springboard.
Two of Linda’s favorite tellers gave her some important pointers that have influenced her storytelling. Pleasant De Spain told her to keep the focus of the story on the beginning, middle, and end. He told her the flow of the story was crucial. Jackie Torrence told her how caffeine was bad for the throat and that if you are a storyteller—even if you’re just a beginner-- say you’re a STORYTELLER!
Linda has served as president of Gateway Storytellers, and has followed the virtual storytelling events lately. Her connection to MO-TELL began as co-founders David Schlamb and Perrin Stifel taught and worked in the school that her children attended. Linda likes MO-TELL because it is statewide, and she appreciates the history and stories of Mark Twain and Hannibal, tales from the Ozarks, and the varied culture
of Missouri.
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