Linda Summerford spent a lifetime in the legal field before her retirement in 2020, including serving on the Lexington County Foster Care Review Board at the appointment of the governor of South Carolina.

Adopted at age five with her sister, Summerford found out at age 21 the surprising truth that they also had an older sister and brother who lived on the other side of the state. From the moment the four siblings reunited, they determined they would research what happened to cause their separation. 

With a passion to help prevent atrocities like the ones she and her siblings experienced, Summerford often brings wisdom and insight about foster care and adoption reform in speaking engagements. 

An excerpt of her memoir, The Glider, was published in Living Real Magazine in 2019. In 2020, the book was recognized as a semifinalist in Serious Writer’s Writer of the Year contest, won first place in the nonfiction category at the 2019 Carolina’s Christian Writers Conference, and placed second at the Asheville Christian Writer’s Conference in February 2021. In August 2023, The Glider was officially published by Abundance Books. Since then, Linda’s book has won two awards. The Glider won 1st Place for Memoir of the Year by AWSA and 3rd Place for AWSA Christian Market Book Award.

Summerford now lives with her husband in the mountains of Western North Carolina.