Linda P. Tramontozzi

Of Brighton, 84, passed peacefully in her sleep following a long illness. She was the beloved wife of the late Carlo Tramontozzi. Loving mother of Laura and her husband James Coelho, Marina and her husband Joseph Ruggiero and Carl Tramontozzi. Cherished grandmother of Joseph Ruggiero, Jr., Stephen & Cristina Ruggiero, Christina Ruggiero and Giancarlo Coelho. She is also survived by many loving cousins and friends.

“Mrs. T,” as she was known, was raised in Boston’s North End, where her family had emigrated from Italy when she was 2. As a teenager she worked at the North End Branch of the Boston Public Library. By age 18 she was Boston’s youngest newspaper columnist, first, writing a weekly teen column, and then continuing into her 20s with her award-winning column, “Friends, Romans and Countrymen,” her reflections on the contributions of prominent Italian-American leaders. She also created the North End BPL’s Youth Group, an after-school club for teenagers where she invited athletes, politicians, and other celebrities to speak and inspire “her kids.” She always felt that teenagers, in their struggles toward adulthood, needed the most positive attention. Many club members credited her with getting them off the streets and inspiring their own exemplary careers, from local broadcasters and lawyers, to business people and doctors. She attended both Boston University and Boston College, focusing on public relations and journalism. In her 20s, she, along with some friends, began a singles club for North Enders. ISCO, the Italian Social & Cultural Organization, featured everything from lectures to dances, resulting in many marriage proposals!

After starting her own family, Mrs. T led many community projects, including creating OSCA, the Oak Square Civic Association, which rebuilt Hardiman Playground (known then as “Tar Park”) into a vibrant space with playground equipment, benches, shade trees, chess tables, and Little League baseball field. She started the first Public Relations department at Mount St. Joseph Academy, an all-girl private high school in Brighton. She became a trusted advisor to the students and launched many into the careers of Public Relations and Journalism with her after-school “MSJA PR Club.” A prolific writer, Mrs. T was a published poet, and a non-fiction writer whose works were published in magazines as varied as Yankee Magazine, Boston Magazine and The Horn Book, to name a few.

Mrs. T was the epitome of a loving mother to not only her three children, but to all their friends, many of whom still called her “Ma” to this day. A devout Roman Catholic, she lived the “7 Corporal Works of Mercy,” reaching out to anyone in need. She had a magical way of making everyone she came in contact with feel that they were the most important person in the world, and perhaps that was her greatest gift.

In lieu of flowers, the family respectfully asks for donations in Linda’s memory be made to St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, 262 Danny Thomas Pl, Memphis, TN 38105.

Funeral from the Lehman Reen & McNamara Funeral Home Monday August 5th at 9:30am.  Followed by a Funeral Mass in St. Columbkille Church 321 Market St Brighton at 10:30am.  Relatives and friends are kindly invited to attend.  Visiting Hours Sunday August 4th from 3-7pm in the funeral home.  She will be laid to rest at the Christ in the Garden Mausoleum at St. Michael’s Cemetery in Roslindale. 

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