Linda Giese

Giese, Linda

Artist and Administrator: Linda Giese, 67 passed away quietly at her Binghamton home on September 11, 2014. The oldest of four children, Linda grew up outside Washington, DC, graduating from Bethesda-Chevy Chase High School where she was a National Merit Scholar. Her childhood home was always filled with music and art. While growing up, she came to love ballet and was so avant garde in her sense of fashion, she had to make her own clothes to have the styles she wanted. Linda earned a Bachelor's Degree in fine arts from University of Utah and a Master's Degree from Yale, becoming adept in theater costume and set design. She came to New York as costume designer for the Theatre Dept at SUNY-Binghamton, but soon joined Starry Night Puppet theater, 1976 to1983. Hired as administrative director and then managing director, one puppeteer remembers first seeing Linda creating stage pieces with "fabric and foam rubber all over the place." Founder Jan Hacha recalls, "Her graphics work for Starry Night was universally admired and instrumental in the company's growth. Her costumes and set designs were lauded nationally, especially for our production of The Griffin and the Minor Canon, which toured extensively in North America from 1980 through 1983. As a member of the Starry Night Puppet Theatre in 1982, she shared with all of the members of the company the top international award for puppetry that year, the UNIMA Award from the Union Internationale de la Marionette." During this period, Linda also designed posters and promotional pieces for the Cider Mill Playhouse. After the heady and sometimes chaotic world of performance art, Linda joined Broome County Legal Aid (now The Legal Aid Society of Mid-New York, Inc.). She served as administrator of Pro Bono projects, then worked alongside the executive director in writing grants and budgets. She was a steady and reliable presence there for 30 years until she retired. Linda never lost contact with the performing arts; not only attending plays and ballets, but volunteering with various theater groups in Binghamton. An active citizen, Linda campaigned against pollution and in favor of human rights, staying in steady contact with her state legislators. She served on the board of the Southern Tier Independence Center and served as board president. She was an active member of the Christian Science church. When not making a difference in the wider world, she was feeding and caring for the stray cats that came to her porch. Linda Giese will be remembered as being highly artistically talented, intellectually brilliant, sometimes head strong, sensible, and fiercely independent. She is survived by her brothers, Alan and Stephen and his wife Marti of Virginia and her sister, Elizabeth of Maine; as well as her aunt, Elizabeth of Virginia. The family is extremely grateful to the care aides, care coordinator, medicaid coordinator, nurse, and doctor who looked after Linda with unwavering dedication and affection.

A Memorial Service will be at the First Congregational Church, 30 Main Street, Binghamton, in the Meditation Room on Tuesday, September 16 at 4:00. In lieu of flowers, please consider thinking of Linda when you make a contribution to any organization that makes the world a more just and beautiful place.