by Gina Mazza
At age 75, Linda Wortham of Pittsburgh’s Hill District moves through life with the energy of someone half her age. Every week, her calendar is packed with volunteering and other activities—from ushering at the Pittsburgh Cultural Trust’s art venues, organizing road trips for senior and helping local veterans, to taking line dancing classes and organizing monthly Zoom calls with her extended family that bridge miles and generations.
“I’m a people person,” Linda shares with a warm smile and soft laugh. “When I’m home, I’m introverted and quiet, but when I’m out, I’m a social butterfly. I enjoy staying active and helping others.”
Linda’s life story is a testament to the power of resilience—grounded in faith—and the quiet joy of giving without expectation. The early chapters of her life brought both love and loss. Fresh out of high school, she married her sweetheart, whom she’d been dating since age 13. At age 23, tragedy struck when her husband was killed by a drunk driver, leaving her a young grieving widow with children to raise—two sons of her own, her husband’s son and another son whom she adopted from a neighborhood family that was unable to raise him.
“My husband’s tragic death really put a damper on my life,” she admits. “I had a hard couple of years trying to regenerate myself without him. Eventually, it all worked out. My faith is pretty strong.” Today, her sons James, Frederick, Michael and Timothy live in Virginia and have blessed her with seven grandchildren. After more than 40 years single, Linda married her current husband, Raymond Porter.
Slowly but surely over the decades, Linda turned her personal trials into a successful banking career that also sparked her love of community service. Early on, she honed her work skills at Duff’s Business Institute and the University of Pittsburgh, earning an associate degree and landing her first job was as a health expediter for Head Start.
“I was on the team that created the iconic Mr. Yuck sticker through pediatrician Richard Moriaty, MD at Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh,” she recalls. “After he founded of the Pittsburgh Poison Center, we sort of got laid off. So, I worked briefly at Hill House Association in the Hill District as a youth director then I got hired by Mellon Bank (now BNY Mellon) as an interbank and intercompany accountant at the East Liberty location.”
Volunteering began to intertwine with her banking tenure as her job connected her with various initiatives and organizations around the Pittsburgh region through the bank’s Mellon Volunteer Professionals (MVPs) program. Though busy raising her family, Linda found time to donate her skills where needed. “We were scattered around town doing this and doing that, like helping businesses with mailings and other tasks. Every quarter, the MVPs adopted four different senior centers throughout the city, and we’d go and do activities with the members—like bingo and lunches and parties. I was one of the MVP volunteers at the time that helped to open the Pittsburgh International Airport and the David L. Lawrence Convention Center downtown.” In addition, Linda also found time to put in volunteer hours with the Central Blood Bank (now called Vitalant), Junior Achievement and the Juvenile Diabetes Foundation.
Upon retiring from BNY in September 2012 at age 63 after 38 dedicated years of employment, Linda asked herself: “Okay, so what am I going to do now?” A colleague pointed her to the Pittsburgh Cultural Trust. “I was a volunteer usher for three years then got promoted to floor manager, which is like a supervisor for the volunteers that come in. I like the arts—ballet, plays and musicals. I’m just ‘okay’ with opera,” she enthuses.
From there, her “second career” as a volunteer really took off—to the point where, these days, she serves multiple organizations in various capacities on an average of 30 to 40 hours a week. Two of her special focus area seniors and veterans. Since her family’s ties to the military run deep (her father served in World War II, two of her sons served in the U.S. Marines and U.S. Army, and cousins in her extended family worked with the CIA and FBI), she recruits volunteers for the Southwestern Vet Center on Highland Drive. “I go up to the center every Monday and spend four or five hours in the canteen. I pitch in to host ice cream socials and support events like free markets.”
Linda also partners with AARP’s national and Pennsylvania offices. As treasurer of Pittsburgh Hill District AARP Chapter 4706 for eight years and a community outreacher, she’s the “[fill in the] blank, blank, blank—whatever they need me to do.” Linda teaches AARP’s Smart Driver courses, updating seniors on vehicle tech, laws and how medications affect mobility. No driver’s tests, just empowerment.
Two years ago at her AARP chapter, Linda led a trip of 57 seniors—including 22 in wheelchairs—to Las Vegas in 110-degree heat, arming them with ID bands for safety. “I said to myself, ‘Good Lord, how am I going to take all these 80-plus-year-old people to Vegas in 110-degree weather? I lean on God a lot. I always ask Him to order my steps, so I kind of get my directions and that’s where the idea for the wrist bands came from.”
Linda is a longtime member of Ebenezer Baptist Church in the Hill District, through which she has also done mission work by traveling to Russia, Africa, Germany and the Caribbean.
If all of that weren’t enough, Linda’s advocacy extends even further to the Southwestern Pennsylvania Partnership for Aging (SWPPA), where she’s a board member, and Age Friendly’s digital access initiatives. “I’m active within the community, basically making sure that my seniors—well, I hate to say ‘my seniors’ because I’m one of them, too!—just making sure they are aware of everything that goes on throughout the city and being a part of it.”
In her off-volunteer hours, Linda line dances and exercises at Vintage Senior Center, staying active herself. During the pandemic, feeling isolated from her 56 first cousins (her mother was one of 11 siblings), she started monthly Zoom calls to gather everyone. “I’ve been trying to stop doing it but they love it because we can all see each other at the same time, and just talk and share.”
How does Linda manage all that she does? “I’m pretty much an organized person. Before I go to bed, I write out a to-do list.” Her motivation is the pure joy of making other people happy. “That is my gratification. I’m a hugger and I know that something as simple as a hug or a smile can be contagious. It’s only by the grace of God that I’ve been able to do what I do. I am still am able to drive, I have most of my wits, the only medication I take is a vitamin and my mobility’s still good. So, why not share that and help others?”
As far as reflections on aging, Linda is nostalgic about the “simpler times” of her youth while growing up in the South, but embraces her role in this modern and automated world. As a result of her volunteerism, honors have come unsought. Two years ago, the Western Pennsylvania Veterans Center awarded her the Presidential Volunteer Award, signed by President Biden. Pittsburgh bestowed a key to the city and named a day in her honor. “I don’t need the accolades,” she says humbly, “but it’s nice to be recognized.”
In the coming years, Linda will no doubt continue to be a bridge-builder who connects generations, communities and hearts. Her message remains consistent: Stay active, share joy, and let faith light the way. As long as there are people in need and hugs to give, Linda will keep proving that true service has no expiration date.