“I tell every woman I meet, ‘I paved the way for you.’”

As a 1965 graduate, Linda (Lustenberger) Cajka's journey from Marian High School to retiring from a forty-year career in government is a story she enjoys telling.

For Linda, trailblazing wasn’t a conscious goal but the natural outcome of her refusal to be sidelined.

Growing up as the oldest of four in a working-class family in Madison Place, Linda was encouraged by her mother from a young age to develop her artistic skills. Her mother, Helen (Brunck) Lustenberger, attended St. Mary High School until her junior year in 1932, but, like many during this time, was unable to finish her education. She went to work to help support her family. Though she had no formal education in art and design, Helen had a natural eye for color.

Noticing her daughter’s early skill, Linda’s first artistic successes came in the form of local coloring contests, winning many.

“My mom was good with colors, putting colors together and concepts of design. My mom did it without even knowing what it was, and she saw that in me when I was young, and it really stuck with me” says Linda, fondly recalling her mother’s encouragement.

In high school, Linda recalled drawing in the St.Mary’s courtyard, sketching houses and scenery of Hyde Park. As graduation approached, she was set on applying to and attending the University of Cincinnati, in what is now known as the Design, Art and Architecture (DAAP) program with the addition of planning in 1979.

Linda recalls a conversation with a classmate whom she remembers as more talented in art than she was. She asked her classmate if she was also applying to the art program at UC, “I want to go to college. I said, I want to make a mark in the world. And, she kind of snickered. I said, well, aren't you going to apply? She said, ‘I don't think I'd be good enough.’”

This conversation struck a nerve with Linda, momentarily sowing doubts about her own abilities, that maybe she also wasn’t good enough. However, she applied to the University of Cincinnati with her portfolio of work anyway, and was accepted. As she began her studies, Linda knew that she was more than qualified to be in the program, and often, had more talent than many of her male classmates, even if that was questioned by professors.

“I remember one professor saying, ‘I don't care how good you girls are, you should be married, and having kids and cooking dinner and doing laundry for your husband, not taking up space for boys that could be breadwinners’ … Even then we were saying, ‘what the heck?’ I saw guys worse than me, get A's or B's.It infuriated us.”

A number of her female classmates quit the program, unwilling to continue to face the condescending comments from professors and classmates alike. Linda however, was resolved to continue her studies. “Don't let ‘em see you cry,” she quipped.

While her male peers had no trouble finding project assistance on campus, Linda, as a commuting student, relied on her own resourcefulness, and support at home. She recalls long nights in her father’s workshop, working to master tools and techniques on her own. At home, she would work with whatever was available—even if it meant using a hand drill in place of a modern one. “My dad didn’t have any modern tools,” she remembers, but the hands-on approach suited Linda, having previously learned basic car mechanics in order to be able to drive her father’s car to and from school.

“I wanted to learn to drive and my dad said, well, if you're going to drive my car, you have to learn how to do this, know how to change a tire, know how to change all the fluids. I did and I became a taxi, picking up my brother and sisters, and taking mom and my grandmother to bingo at St. Margaret of Cortona. My dad loved it,” Linda recalls, laughing.

Her persistence to do something, and ability to learn new skills would lay the groundwork for a successful forty-year career in government. She recalls her early years in government, where she was often the only woman in the room, supervising male teams. “They just didn’t want you in their area,” she notes. “They were threatened.”

Gradually, as Linda continued in her career, she noticed a shift in attitudes. Younger male colleagues were more accustomed to seeing women in authority, which brought a measure of respect to her later career. But for Linda, those early years required grit, resilience, and a commitment to hard work to prove herself in spite of bias and others’ negative attitudes towards her.

Linda’s work in art and designing maps for the U.S. government was precise and meticulous. She became known for her hands-on approach, often relying on her own resourcefulness to get the job done. Unimpressed with a design sample for the cover of a book about the unknown servicemen of the Vietnam War, Linda shut down a men’s restroom to photograph the marble in the bathroom stalls.

“I wanted a marble look because the unknown servicemen of the Vietnam memorial was marble. It was an old building, and the women's restrooms had marble in the stalls. But, I didn't like that marble. I looked at each one, I said, ‘I got to get in the men's bathroom and look at the marble in those stalls.’”Her colleagues were shocked. “They said ‘You got to take pictures of the men’s bathroom?!’ And that’s what they used. My design using that photograph of that marble.”

Linda’s bookshelf at home is lined with dozens of books and pamphlets on military history, battles, and wars. Each is a testament to her expertise and impressive career spanning four decades. In each, her meticulous designs, maps, layouts, and artwork adorn the pages, though many are uncredited for her contributions.

As a supporter of Purcell Marian’s Giving in Faith Society, Linda has chosen to include Purcell Marian in her estate plans. Her generous planned gift will continue to open doors for young women, just as her trailblazing career did during her life.

Linda will tell you that she knows she broke barriers, earning the respect of her peers and paving the way for future generations of women in the field, carving a path in government work that was anything but welcoming to women at the time.