At 0650 hours on 17 June 2019, Major Linae S. Brush embarked on her final deployment from Iowa River Hospice into another dimension. After nearly twenty years of service to this country, she lost her final battle to Endometrial Cancer.

Linae was the daughter of Bob and Agnes Brush, of Marshalltown, and sister to Janet Brush Busch, of Toledo, IA. Both girls were adopted through the efforts of Catholic Charities. Linae should be remembered as an extremely intelligent, compassionate, loving individual whose only children were her dogs. She was intrigued by Play Mobile toys, books and the study of space. Linae attended St. Mary’s Elementary, Junior High and Lenihan High School until it closed. She graduated from Marshalltown High School in 1972. After graduation, Linae enlisted in the U.S. Army as a regular “grunt.” Upon completion of basic training, she was ordered to attend language school at the Presidio of Monterey. After completing her schooling at Monterey, the Army decided Linae was qualified to become a candidate for officer training. As a result of testing, the Army sent her to UCLA and the University ROTC program. Linae completed four years of college in two years, earning her Bachelor’s Degree in Mid-Eastern Studies and Arabic the language. After college graduation, her Army career took her to Ft. Stewart, GA, and Airborne School at Ft. Bragg, NC. Linae’s career included deployments to South Korea, Saudi Arabia, Syria, Israel, Tunisia and Germany. Her job description was that as an Intelligence Officer or Analyst. After returning from the Mid-East, Linae was planning on becoming an instructor at Ft. Huachuca, AZ. However, after a three-month stay, the Army sent her back to school to Georgetown University where she earned a Master’s Degree Cum Laude in Foreign Science (one of her professors was Madeleine Albright). Her final bivouac was Ft. Belvoir, VA. During her career, Linae was part of the planning for the rescue of the Iran hostages, psychological warfare during Desert Storm and conducting on the street information gathering in the Mid-East. She also provided Army dependents informational meetings at many Army bases that explained Arab culture and life in general.

After retiring, Linae moved back to Marshalltown and continued to provide her expertise on the Mid-East to the Wall Street Journal and other news agencies. She was also a participant in several programs at different services organizations in the area and for Marshalltown Community College. She was a lifetime member of the Kiwanis. Although always a wonderful free-hand artist, Linae developed into a very fine watercolor artist, attending several classes in northern Wisconsin. Because she was an adopted child, she became dedicated in finding her birth mother and any living relatives. Although her birth mother had passed away, Linae was successful in developing a true family relationship with her half-sister and half-brothers and their family members. She also developed a second family of friends at the Marshalltown Dog Park. They became lifelong friends. Those individuals and their dogs spent many happy days together in all kinds of weather, celebrating their relationship and their love of their canine family members.

Linae is survived by her sister, Janet (Ron) Busch; nieces Jennifer (Todd) Brown, Jamie (Lonnie) Upah and their children, Mylie and Kai; half-brothers Wayne (Nancy) Doney and their children, Brian, Mike (Alex) and children Miles, Ray, and Edwin, Robert (Nancy Feltz) Doney; half-sister Helen (David) Shebesta and their children, Chrissy, Justin and Jason; close friends Rosario and Imelda Reyes and their children, Martine, Oscar and Maggie; her dog, Sophia; her special friends at the dog park from Riverview Park and many other lifelong friends.