Linda Santisteban, 56

A ‘loving, caring and dedicated mother’

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Linda Santisteban was a smart, energetic woman who joined the work force early in life, changed careers then committed her love and time to her family and community.

Santisteban, a Meadowmere Park resident, died on March 14 after what her husband, Joel, called a “hard fought two-year battle with leukemia.” She was 56.

Born in Brooklyn in 1958, Santisteban was raised and educated in Valley Stream. She graduated from Valley Stream Central High School in 1976. A business honor student, Santisteban went right into the work world and found a job with the ABC television network.

From 1976 to 1981, she worked behind the scenes on many hit TV shows, including “Happy Days,” “Laverne & Shirley” and “Wide World of Sports.” Santisteban also worked as an assistant producer for children’s programming.

After those five years, she left ABC “to pursue her love of the airlines and the business of flying,” Joel said. Santisteban worked as a salesperson and a variety of other jobs for various airfreight companies for 20 years, including directing flights on the runway for DHL.

In 1982, she met Joel. Their first date was in Manhattan’s Central Park. They were married for 33 years.

Six years later, the couple had their first child, Lisa, who is now 27. Subsequently they had two boys, Michael, 23 and Joel, 22. “She loved her work, but after having her first child, Lisa, in 1988, loved being a mother and homemaker even more,” her husband Joel said. “She was a tireless, nonstop mom who not only cared and raised her own children, but was also heavily involved in the Lawrence School District as a teacher’s aide, Parents Athletic Association member and consummate volunteer to several activities and fundraisers.”

“A sharp-witted advocate,” according to Joel, Santisteban was just as committed to her community, fighting against local heavy industries by working with politicians and the Department of Environmental Conservation to make those businesses environmentally responsible. She was also at the forefront of the Meadowmere Park Civic Association’s successful 18-year effort to get the roads raised throughout Meadowmere Park and by the entrance of the community garden building.

Santisteban died on the five-year anniversary of her son Joel’s acceptance to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), which is Pi day, 3.14. Joel played football and lacrosse at MIT. His mother established the Parents Association for the football team. For four years, she fed the team after games, raised money for its senior dinner, and designed, raised money and purchased the jersey for each departing senior.

“Watching her sons Joel and Michael play football and lacrosse at their respective colleges gave Linda many of the happiest moments of her life,” her husband said. “She will be remembered as a loving, caring and dedicated mother to all those who knew her.”

In addition to her husband and children, Santisteban is survived by her siblings, Della, Joseph and Thomas Pellegrino.

A wake was held at the Five Towns Meserole Funeral Home in Inwood on March 19. A funeral mass was held at Our Lady of Good Counsel Church, also in Inwood, the following day. She was interred at the Holy Rood Cemetery in Westbury.