Linda Garrity

MADISON

Dr. Linda I. Garrity died on April 10, 2017. Linda was born in Morton Grove, Illinois, to parents born in Germany and Austria. She was the oldest of three children and is survived by her brother, Richard Timmel.

Linda graduated from the University of Illinois, Urbana, with a B.S. in Journalism and a minor in Psychology. She moved to Chicago, where she worked as an editor for McGraw-Hill and then entered graduate school in Psychology. She received her Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology in 1973 from the University of Houston. Linda moved to Madison, Wisconsin, in 1974 and began work at the Mendota Mental Health Institute. While there, she developed the Primary Prevention Project for children from birth to three years of age, a program focused on providing support to parents of newborns by teaching them the importance of positive early bonding.

In 1979 Linda became Mendota's Director of Psychology and Director of its Predoctoral Psychology Internship program, a position she held for seven years. In 1985 she began a full-time private practice in psychotherapy which she continued until her retirement in December 2015. She also served as an Adjunct Associate Professor in the Department of Psychiatry at the University of Wisconsin from 1990 to 2013.

In 1991 Linda began an intensive training program at the Chicago Institute for Psychoanalysis and graduated in 2000 as a Psychoanalyst. She was certified as a Psychoanalyst by the American Psychoanalytic Association in 2003. She taught at the Wisconsin Psychoanalytic Institute and served as a Training and Supervising Analyst there as well as at the Chicago Institute for Psychoanalysis.

Linda had wide interests outside of her professional life. She enjoyed hiking and traveling with friends and went on numerous international hiking trips. Most recently, she toured Costa Rica and India. Closer to home, Linda had favorite hiking trails at Devil's Lake and Indian Lake County Park as well as in Tucson, Arizona. She also enjoyed weekly summer bicycle rides on the Capitol City Trail. She was very interested in photography and displayed an impressive wall of photographs as a reminder of her travels. An avid theater- and concertgoer, she especially loved both the works of J.S. Bach and the music of David Brubeck.

Linda will be missed by all of those who shared their lives with her. She was a devoted, loyal and close companion to her friends. A dedicated, empathic psychologist and psychoanalyst, she was deeply committed to helping those in emotional distress overcome the barriers to leading happy and successful lives. Special thanks are extended to BrightStar Care and Agrace Hospice for their compassionate and loving care and support.

A Celebration of Life will be held this Sunday, April 30, 2017 from 4 to 6 p.m. at Sprecher's Restaurant and Pub, 1262 John Q Hammons Dr., Madison.

Those wishing to remember Linda may make contributions in her name to Prevent Child Abuse America, 228 South Wabash Avenue, 10th Floor, Chicago, Illinois 60604, or to Zero to Three: National Care Center for Infants, Toddlers and Families, 1255 23rd St., N.W., Suite 350, Washington, DC 20037.

Please share your memories of Linda.

Cress Funeral & Cremation Service
3610 Speedway Road Madison
(608) 238-3434