Linda M. McGinley

Born Linda M. Moore on December 17, 1947, Linda M. McGinley passed away peacefully on July 20, 2022, with her husband, Mike, at her side. A native Tucsonan, Linda earned Bachelor’s and Master’s Degrees at the University of Arizona before starting her career as an educator. Over the course of nearly four decades, Linda taught seventh and eighth grade students at five different schools, shaping and improving countless lives. She often joked that she taught half of Tucson, and, based on the number of former students who would stop to talk with her whenever she was out in public, she was probably right.

Linda particularly enjoyed working with students who did not recognize their own talents or who had never been encouraged in their education. She persuaded them to participate in competitions such as the Academic Pentathlon or the Masonic Essay Competition, where they inevitably did very well. She encouraged her students to aim high, work hard, and to believe in themselves.

Linda married her one and only, John “Mike” McGinley, on June 18, 1970. The pair welcomed two sons, Michael, in 1975, and Casey, in 1977. Just as she did with her students, Linda encouraged her children to work hard, to learn, and to do their best. She always found a way to have a little extra money to support her children’s hobbies, and she often spent weekends at baseball card conventions or other activities with Mike and Casey.

Linda was preceded in death by her parents, Leslie and Zona Moore, and her sister, Sharon (Angelo) Scribellito. She is survived by her husband, Mike, her sons Mike (Danielle) and Casey (Laura), her grandchildren, John, Fletcher, Josephine, and Lane, countless friends and other family members, and her loyal beagle, Jake. Memorial Services will be held on Wednesday, July 27, 2022, at 11:00AM at East Lawn Palms Mortuary, 5801 E. Grant Road. Graveside services will immediately follow. In lieu of flowers, the family urges you to consider a donation in Linda’s memory to the Alzheimer’s Association.