Honor Maren Blacketer - Paul Revere of Laguna Canyon

Maren Dell Blacketer Lincks, born January 13, 1956, passed away peacefully on April 25, 2025 after a short battle with lung cancer. Maren, the beloved sister of Belinda, Howdy, and Jared Blacketer, was known as the Paul Revere of Laguna Canyon. Laguna Canyon neighbors gave her that name November 1993, following the Laguna Beach Firestorm. As rains started to fall on the barren canyon hillsides, Maren drove through the canyon neighborhoods warning her neighbors of potential mudslides which devastated canyon neighborhoods later that evening.

Maren cared deeply for our Laguna Canyon, helping the late Carolyn Wood on the successful “Save the Canyon Campaign” which stopped development of over 2,000 housing units in the canyon. She served as the first Chair of the Laguna Canyon Conservancy. She was involved in the beautification of the Sawdust Festival grounds and drove the Sawdust float in the annual Patriot’s Parade. During a devastating drought, she organized Laguna Canyon Residents to convert bathtubs into large watering troughs for the canyon deer and other thirsty animals. Her love of the canyon flora and fauna was illustrated in her artwork, both pen and ink sketches and acrylic paintings.

She lived in Laguna Canyon until 1995, when construction of the toll road, bisecting her beloved Laguna Canyon, broke her heart. Maren moved to Arkansas where she later met the love of her life, Gerald Lincks. They married in 2007, enjoying 13 years of very happy marriage, until Gerald passed unexpectedly in 2020.

Maren is survived by siblings, Belinda and Jared as well as nieces and nephews Bethany Maxwell, Katelyn Ciscineros, and Taylor Blacketer. She will be missed by so many, her family, friends, and the Laguna Beach community.

Belinda needs your help providing for the honorable interment of Maren’s remains. Your contributions are greatly appreciated.