Linda Ann DeLaMater

Linda Ann DeLaMater (Ryan)

November 25th, 1950 - December 30th, 2025

“Mama Linda” went home to Jesus after a long, hard fight down here,

But she wouldn’t want you to remember her based on the hardships she fought this past year.

My mother would remind you of the bent corners and frayed edges of all the mystery novels she’s explored,

And how she would walk the library aisle, start to finish, then ask the clerk if there were any more.

She would turn on the hymns of Ireland or the familiar melodies of Chicago and The Temptations,

And ask to marathon ghost stories without any hesitation.

My mother was fearless in ways she'd never admit,

I think that is why she faced every day with such resilience and wit.

If honesty is what you needed, then that is what you would get,

Delivered with a smile, a laugh and a caring word of advisement.

My mother’s strength echoed through the stories she would tell,

About being a caregiver for her own mother, her twin brother, a husband and her two daughters as well.

Over an afternoon coffee, a few rounds of Yahtzee, a homemade quiche with a slice of cake,

She would tell you tales from the fifties to the eighties, from the last decade to today, and that storytelling was one thing illness could never take.

The countless, subtle reminders of how many memories seventy five years can make.

Though it will never feel long enough for those of us who carry on in her absence, she would remind us in her feisty spirit,

That my mother left this world as she lived: Fighting with courage, with love, with purpose, and that is what she would ask you to never forget.

Linda is survived by her devoted husband Richard DeLaMater, and two daughters: Katharine Montross and Kelly Duffy.

The family would like to thank the dedicated and caring staff at Troy Center, at Community Hospice and at the Hospice Inn for St Peter’s Hospital.

In lieu of flowers, the family asks for donations to The Community Hospice Foundation of Albany, NY.