Linda Celia Stamm's Obituary
Linda Stamm passed away on June 19, 2019, at the age of 76. Linda was born in Cleveland, Ohio, to Morris and Eleanor Stamm (nee Ginsburg). She graduated from Cleveland Heights High School and received a B.A. from Ohio State University. She is survived by her sons, Steven Watkins (Safura) and Daniel Watkins (Paige); four granddaughters, Maya, Sezny, Ellie and Claire Watkins; her sister, Shirley McDonald (Rick); grandniece, Allison Davis; great grandnephew, Landon Sommerville; and cousins, Sheila Adler and Joanne Laidman.
Linda was active in the Cleveland community throughout most of her career. In 1970, she worked for the City of Cleveland Health Department to engage residents of the near westside in planning decisions concerning the new McCafferty Heath Center being built. In 1979, Linda helped organize WELCOME (West-East Siders Let’s Come Together) to promote a safe and peaceful start of busing to achieve racial balance in the Cleveland schools. During the industrial decline of the 1980s, she organized the Cleveland Council of Unemployed Workers, which prevented home foreclosures for many laid-off workers and addressed issues important to the unemployed, such as extending unemployment benefits. In 1986, she helped defuse a violent reaction on W. 88th Street when an African American family moved to the predominantly white neighborhood. In the 1990s, Linda managed community outreach at St. Vincent Charity Hospital, bringing health education programs to the surrounding neighborhood and developing a weekly free health clinic and state-licensed pharmacy to a homeless drop-in center.
Before retirement, she was director of volunteers at Beth Israel Deaconess Hospital in Boston, Mass., and Robinson Memorial Hospital in Ravenna, Ohio. In retirement, she enjoyed her beautiful granddaughters, gardening, traveling, reading and volunteering.
A memorial service will be held in early August. Please contact Steve Watkins at [email protected] for more details.
Friends are invited to donate to the Abraham Lincoln Brigade Archives, 239 West 14th Street, Suite 2, New York, NY 10011; The ALS Association Northern Ohio Chapter, 6155 Rockside Rd., Suite 403, Independence, OH 44131; or the Southern Poverty Law Center, 400 Washington Ave., Montgomery, AL 36104
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