17 YEARS WITHOUT LINDA - THE LAST DAYS - LAST PHOTOS

17,APRIL1998-At 5:04 am (Pacific Time),Linda McCartney dies in Paul’s arms at their Tucson, Arizona ranch.For two years, she and her family had thought she was winning her fight against breast cancer,but it was not to be.The news of her death is kept secret until Sunday,and the location is not announced until Wednesday,in order to give the family their needed privacy. Shortly after her death,Paul arranges to have her cremated, and he will later bring her ashes back to England.

Paul, Linda and Brian Clarke (right). Paul and Linda traveled immediately after Stella´s Paris fashion show to Romont Switzerland -in mid March 1998 to attend an exhibition of stained glass that Linda and Clarke had collaborated on. Only three weeks after this photo, Linda would be gone.This is the last photo of Paul and Linda together.

Linda McCartney's last public appearance was at her daughter Stella's fashion show in Paris
Paul was at her bedside when she died on Friday 17 in Santa Barbara, California. Linda's breast cancer spread to her liver in March, after appearing to have responded positively to treatment.

 

 

OK Magazine March 6, 1998 Issue #100

In 1996,Linda said she was fighting breast cancer
A statement from Paul's office asked people to "go veggie" as a tribute to the vegetarian cause she held so dear rather than sending flowers.
He also requested that people who wanted to contribute could donate money to cancer research or animal welfare charities.
Linda's ashes were scattered on the farm where she spent many happy years with her husband, and England.
Tributes to her were led by the British Prime Minister, Tony Blair, who knows Paul although he never met Lady McCartney.
Mr Blair said from Jerusalem: "Cherie and I are very saddened for Paul and all his family. Linda showed extraordinary courage throughout her illness. She was someone who made a tremendous contribution across a whole range of British life."

One of the former members of Wings,has said he found the news of her death "very saddening".Former Wings guitarist Laurence Juber described Linda McCartney as a "strong, warm and compassionate woman".
John Lennon's wife, Yoko Ono, also expressed her deeply sadness at hearing of Linda McCartney's death. "She's in a state of shock," her New York-based publicist Elliott Mintz said.

In 1998, the statement issued by the McCartney family said: "Because Linda was a private person, many people did not know the many sides of her. 

"Not only was she a great and natural photographer and a brave campaigner for animal rights who single-handedly made vegetarianism a mainstream diet, she was also an incredible mother and a very loving friend to all who were privileged to know this unique lady. Linda was not only kind and loving, she was also a courageous and pioneering woman who made stand after stand for those not as strong as herself. For us, her friends, the brightest light has left our lives but she has left us a shining inspiration."

 

 

LINDA's LAST PUBLIC APPEARANCE was at her daughter Stella's Fashion Show in Paris

 

 LINDA WITH THE FAMILY: James, Paul and Mary at her daughter Stella's fashion show in Paris

 

 

March, 1998

March, 1998

On Monday morning the family's publicist, Geoff Baker, was forced to issue a sternly-worded warning to three newspapers and a press agency to observe Sir Paul's plea for privacy.
He said Sir Paul would not be making any public statement before Thursday at the earliest.
The McCartneys had three children: Mary, Stella and James. Linda also had a daughter Heather from a previous marriage.
Only two days before her death, Linda and Paul had been enjoying one of their main passions, horse-riding.

A family spokesman said in 1998: "The blessing was that the end came quickly and she didn't suffer."
The couple married in 1969 and for a time sang together in the band Wings after the world's most famous pop group, The Beatles, broke up.