Linda G. Youngblood

Linda Gilman Youngblood passed away Monday, January 30 at age 71 in her home in The Woodlands, Texas. She was born April 25, 1951 in Proctor, Vermont to Richard and Mary Gilman. She graduated from Mount St. Joseph Academy in Rutland and Castleton College in Castleton, Vermont.

Linda was a resilient woman: a mother, a grandmother, a sister, a friend, and a teacher. In her later years, she became an avid bicyclist. She lived a vibrant life, with chapters in Vermont, Texas, Colorado, and Massachusetts.

Linda grew up in Rutland, Vermont, spending summers at her aunt and uncle Josie and Pat Abatiell’s camp on Lake Bomoseen. She, her sister Barbara, and their cousins spent evenings and weekends down the street from her parents’ house on Gilrain Avenue learning to play card games, make fresh pasta, and ‘harvesting’ lollipops from their grandfather Ralph Esposito’s garden. She was a majorette at Mount St. Joseph’s.

Linda became a teacher after graduating from Castleton College. She taught at St. Peter’s and Rutland Northwest Primary School. She married Walter Murphy (dec.) July 27, 1974.

In 1981, Linda moved to Texas to be closer to her sister Barbara. In Houston, she met her second husband, Jon Craig Youngblood (dec.) and they married April 17, 1982. She continued teaching in Houston at St. Michael’s Catholic School until she and Craig had their first daughter, Jesica Caye Youngblood, in 1986. Three years later, they welcomed their second daughter, Jaclyn Cristine Youngblood.

Linda loved making things for those she loved. She sewed Halloween costumes for her daughters and burp cloths for her grandson; she’d whip up her grandmother’s date nut cake at the mention of a merry occasion.

She married James Caradonio March 3, 2001 and moved to Worcester, Massachusetts. She enjoyed watching her daughters row on Lake Quinsigamond. While in New England, Linda relished a good lobster dinner served on her kitchen table, covered with newspapers and bowls of melted butter.

She moved back to Texas in 2009. In this final home base at Shearwater Place, she got a dog. Macie was her walking partner and the impetus for meeting her ‘dog park friends', who brought Linda great joy. Linda explored internationally, visiting Italy and London with her friends, and Berlin and Amsterdam with Jaclyn. Her adventures continued stateside on two wheels: daily bike rides with her neighbor or solo treks to see the ducks at Hughes’ Landing.

Linda loved decorating her house and hosting her family for the holidays. She adorned her fireplace mantle with themed holiday villages and her staircases with Santas. When she visited Jesica in New York for Christmas, she loved to look at the twinkling lights and ornamented windows and explore the Hudson Valley. The other three quarters of the year, she enjoyed hot Texas days listening to country music by her pool or puttering in the shade of her garden beds.

When she became a grandmother in 2021, Linda poured unbounded love into her newfound role. She dusted off her stroller-pushing and diaper-changing skills for her grandson, Rafael. She loved being his MaeMae.

Linda is survived by her daughters, Jesica Caye Youngblood and Jaclyn Cristine Youngblood; her sister, Barbara Gilman Allen, her brother-in-law Cary Allen, and her niece Carolyn Allen Lazarde; and her grandson, Rafael Yonatan Levy.

Services will be held Friday, February 10 at Forest Park Funeral Home, 18000 Interstate 45 S., The Woodlands, TX 77384. Visitation hours begin at 10 a.m. and the memorial service begins at 12 p.m.

In lieu of flowers, donations can be made to Montgomery County Animal Services, online at mcaspets.org.

Fond memories and expressions of sympathy may be shared at www.forestparkthewoodlands.com for the Youngblood family.