Obituaries

Linda Leary

Published 1 year ago1y ago • Bookmarks: 1031

January 6, 2024

Born and raised in Bay Ridge, Brooklyn, Linda attended the Berkeley Carroll School in Park Slope before attending C.W. Post College on Long Island. It was there that she met Arthur Leary, also from Bay Ridge, whom she would marry. In the late 1960s they moved to Westchester, New York – first to Hastings-on-Hudson, and settling in Irvington in 1974 – where they would raise their children.

Linda was a very proud and dedicated mother and always eager to be involved in her community. She was an active parent at the Hackley School in Tarrytown, where her sons Brian and Damon attended. She was a longtime member of the Junior League, where she volunteered at the Nearly New Shop in Tarrytown, creatively designing the store windows and updating them seasonally. In a true 50/50 partnership, Linda and Art coached both Brian and Damon’s little league baseball teams to Bad News Bears type success. They ran a tight ship: Linda was in charge of discipline, Art was the tactician. In the 1990s Linda became a real estate agent for Ye Village Realty selling real estate across her beloved River Towns. In 2012, she worked as campaign manager for a good friend’s successful run for the Irvington School board. And as a longtime member of Ardsley Country Club, she served on numerous committees including Junior Activities, where she overhauled the day camp into the multi-sport experience it is today.

Linda was a very creative illustrator and writer. Her house is adorned with her various paintings and illustrations done over the years. For more than 20 years, she designed and illustrated her own Christmas cards featuring Santa in comical situations topical for the given year. This involved months of drafting and redrafting while working with professional printers. In addition, Linda meticulously hand-decorated dozens of Christmas ornaments which she sold in Neiman Marcus and gave as gifts to friends and family. Her penmanship was legendary, whether in letters to her sons at summer camp, her Christmas Cards, or her multi-page letters of complaints to the Ardsley Club President and Board.

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Linda was known for her phenomenal sense of humor and fighting spirit, which she brought to every endeavor she faced — including her various health challenges. She never let her Rheumatoid Arthritis, which she had since age 50, prevent her from enjoying life; and she fought Cancer with that same energy. She will be greatly missed by her sons Brian and Damon; her daughter-in-law, Wendy; her grandson, Christian; her brother, John Salomone; and her friends.

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