Linda L. Hackett

Linda Leanza Hackett, 84, of Wyomissing, died on Dec. 29, 2011, in Los Angeles, CA, after spending Christmas with her family. She was the beloved wife of 56 years to Burtis Hackett, who survives her along with their three daughters, Jeanie Hackett of Los Angeles, Joyce Hackett of New York and Julie (Hackett) Behr of New York; her son-in-law, Alan Behr; her grandson, Ryan Behr; and her brother and sister-in-law, Frank and Eva Leanz of Morgantown.

Born Lucille Fannie Olympia Leanza on Dec. 17, 1927, in Poughkeepsie, NY, to Sicilian-born parents, Linda grew up in Connecticut, ice skating on the Mystic River. One of five children, she lost her only sister, and her mother, during her teenage years. She was the salutatorian of her Marietta, PA, high school class. After graduation she worked as a bookkeeper for the Hamilton Watch Company in Lancaster. In 1956 she married Burtis Hackett, and they moved with their three young daughters to Wyomissing in 1961.

Determined to complete her education, she entered Albright College, and twelve years later, Linda graduated Magna Cum Laude, with a Bachelor's Degree in English. She went on to teach at Reading High School for the next two decades, inspiring hundreds of students who would often approach her, years later, to thank her or give her a hug. She delighted in teaching, in tutoring immigrants in ESL, and in the volunteer work she dedicated herself to after retirement at the Wyomissing Women's Exchange and the Reading Museum, She loved swing-dancing to Frank Sinatra, cooking with her daughters, gardening with her husband Burt, and walking the beach with family and friends. At 80, she insisted on climbing on the back of her daughter's Vespa for a ride.

A beautiful person inside and out, she will be terribly missed.

A Mass of Christian Burial will be celebrated Friday, January 6, at 12:00 p.m. in Sacred Heart R.C. Church, 8th and Franklin Streets, West Reading. Burial will be Saturday, January 7 at 11 a.m. in St. Peter's Cemetery, Klinesville, PA.

Edward J. Kuhn Funeral Home, Inc., West Reading is in charge of arrangements. For online condolences, visit www.kuhnfuneralhome.com