Linda Dolores Long

Linda Dolores (Hochberger) Long (Captain, USN, Ret.) passed away in Great Falls at Hospice from a long-term illness on June 25, 2026. She was born to Harold and Dolores (Sweeney) Hochberger in Chicago, Illinois on April 13, 1952. She lived in Chicago and in California as a child, graduating from Dwight D. Eisenhower Higher School, Blue Island, Illinois in 1970. She graduated with a degree in Biology from St. Xavier College, Chicago four years later and entered the U.S. Navy in September 1974. She attended OCS in Newport, Rhode Island, and later attended Oceanic Research Watch Officer training at Key West, Florida. During her 26-year Navy career she spent 18 years in various Navy jobs in San Diego, before being posted to the Panama Canal Zone for two years. Her final two service years were spent in Washington, DC at the Pentagon.

She was married for 12 years to James Long, a retired Navy technician; they divorced in 1991. Linda chose Great Falls as her desired retirement location after visiting a friend in Great Falls, and in her 20 plus years here enjoyed the Great Falls Symphony, DAR, Audubon, the Great Falls Genealogy Society and Library, her cats, and watching the food channel. In her later years, Linda was a real foodie! Her father (deceased) lived with her for about 12 years, and they took many genealogy research trips together across the United States, exploring her Hochberger and Sweeney family lines. She volunteered at the GFGS Library until her health failed; there, she worked with another volunteer to scan records at the Ursuline Center (2014-2019).

She is survived by her sister Diane Evans (Arkansas) and two nephews, also in Arkansas. In addition, by Great Falls friends and neighbors. She has been cremated and joins her parents in a crypt at the Mausoleum in Great Falls. Friends desiring to contribute to her memory are directed to the Great Falls Genealogy Society at 301 2nd Ave N, Great Falls, MT 59401, the Great Falls Pet Paw See at P.O. Box 6491 Great Falls, MT 59406, or the Great Falls Symphony at 11 3rd St N, Great Falls, MT 59401. There are no funeral services planned. As Linda would say, “One thing at a time. One thing at a time”.