Linda Weissbluth

Linda Weissbluth passed away at her home on January 23, 2019 surrounded by her family.Linda was born in Chicago and graduated from North Shore Country Day School in Winnetka in 1959. When young, she loved reading, studying Latin, and playing the cello. Her classmates described her as extremely friendly and always in the library. She enrolled in Mt. Holyoke College where she majored in Russian language and literature and graduated in 1963. One college highlight was bussing, with classmates, to Washington, D.C. to celebrate the hundredth anniversary of the Emancipation Proclamation where MLK delivered his "I Have a Dream" speech. After graduation, Linda helped her mother and brother for several months, then, on a whim, she applied to the Russian Studies program at Stanford University where she started in the Spring Quarter of 1964. When classes resumed in the fall of 1964, she met her future husband, Marc, in the Stanford Main Library. On their first 'date', they went on a motorcycle ride. Four weeks later, he invited her on a herpetology expedition to Mexico for the winter break and on this exciting lizard-chasing adventure, in Topolobampo, they decided to get married. They were married May 2, 1965 and a month later, Linda received her Master's Degree from Stanford University. Linda was always intellectually curious and when her four sons were growing up, she would often say, "What good is money if you can't spend it on education." But she also was fond of saying, "Don't let school interfere with your education" and thus, annually, she would declare a school holiday in the fall when the apple orchards had their first day for picking. She and her four sons would return with bushels for the neighbors, local firemen, and to make homemade apple pies and apple sauce. Linda also loved to garden, from planter boxes in married student quarters at Stanford to large plots in Winnetka starting in 1973. She loved taking her young sons to the Chicago Botanical Garden and watching it develop. She was a nurturer, always generous with a radiant smile and infectious laugh. She devoted herself to her family. Friday Sabbath meals were elaborate events and she joked that she had to begin preparing on Thursday mornings. She was always an optimist. "Today is the first day of the rest of your life" was her refrain to help her children overcome a difficulty. In 1990, she moved to the Streeterville neighborhood of Chicago. Linda was an adventurer with a ready willingness to try new things. She discovered the Northwestern University Medical School Galter Library across the street and decided to investigate why babies might cry a lot in the evening hours. This led to her publishing three research papers on the effects of melatonin on intestinal smooth muscles in 1991 and one paper on Sudden Infant Death Syndrome in 1994. In 1994, she took courses in office medical management and became Office Administrator in a pediatric practice. In 1995, she succeeded in obtaining permission to develop a rubble strewn one-acre lot at 600 North Lake Shore Drive into a community garden. She single-handedly organized neighborhood volunteers and civic organizations to donate trees and plants. Linda continued to play her cello as an adult, go to symphonies and the opera. She enjoyed tandem bike riding, tennis, dancing the Tango, and Yoga. In 2000, Linda got the travel bug and made annual international trips from watching Alaskan brown bears catching salmon to wildebeests and zebra herds migrating. She enjoyed adventure travelling with mountain hiking, white water rafting, kayaking, and camel riding in Tanzania and Morocco. Linda continued to be an intellectual explorer; in 2006 she wrote in an email to her husband, "You knew I was spunky and spirited and speaking my mind-never mind that I give thoughts and ideas from left field. It's part of the creative process."She learned to sew and crochet and enjoyed making many original afghans for her ten grandchildren. Even as Alzheimer's developed, she continued to be engaged in art, music, dance, and Yoga.Her four sons independently remembered her cheerfulness ("My mother's giggle was unique and infectious. Even recently when she could not speak, she could still giggle." "Her laughter used to ring contagiously through the house." "She created a home full of love and laughter." "She had a laugh that could fill the entire house.") and her cooking ("Mom knew the keystone of the family is the family meal." "She knew the that the fried matzoh was crispy enough 'when the smoke detector went off'." "Learning how to make spaghetti sauce." "She taught me how to sew, iron, cook, and clean because 'You will be alone for a long time'.")As a wife, mother, office manager, or community organizer, Linda was always a gentle, compassionate and extremely empathic person. She always said hello to, smiled at, and wished to embrace friends and strangers, especially those with canes, walkers, wheelchairs, children, or dogs.Millagros Pacheco and Jamie Angio befriended and compassionately cared for Linda as if she were part of their own families. Thank you also to Esperanza Covaleda, Uzma Khan, Julia Newman, and Drs. Zoe Arvanitakis and David Oyer.