Linda Ann Bruton's Obituary
Linda Ann Bruton, 76, passed away Tuesday, October 6, 2020 at her home in Coconut Grove, Florida after a brief battle with pancreatic cancer.
Linda Ann Salomon was born in Cleveland, Ohio on June 21, 1944, third child of Jacques Salomon and Sadie Gulko Salomon. Until age 6, she lived in the penthouse of her father’s Blackstone Hotel in Miami Beach, Florida, and she later attended Nautilus Elementary School. As a teenager, she drove Corvettes, adored Elvis and occasionally studied at Miami Beach High School and the University of Georgia in Athens.
Linda earned her undergraduate degree in education and art history, later earning a master’s degree in guidance counseling in Miami. She taught at North Twin Lakes Elementary School, Kelsey Pharr Elementary School and Booker T. Washington Middle School, later returning to teach at her original school at Nautilus in Miami Beach. After Hurricane Andrew she served as a guidance counselor at Blue Lakes Elementary School and Caribbean Elementary School. She had a special talent for teaching troubled kids the importance of self-respect, and she made it cool for students to participate in the Crime Watch program at several of those schools.
Linda made room in her home and heart to adopt dogs and musicians. Linda met musician Burt Bruton of Candor, North Carolina in the summer of 1975. They were married in December 1975, and on July 4, 2020 they celebrated the 45th anniversary of their first date. She supported him through law school at the University of Miami; he now practices real estate law at Greenberg Traurig, P.A. She made many friends among the members of the Real Property, Probate & Trust Law Section of the Florida Bar and their spouses.
In her retirement years, Linda loved to make mosaics in her art studio, decorating her Coconut Grove home with her mosaic creations. Her generous nature made Christmas her favorite holiday, and she shopped year-round for all the people on her long gift list. In 2014, Linda learned to play mah jongg and organized a circle of neighborhood mah jongg players; she affectionately referred to her group as the “B****es and Cheaters” (ladies, you know who you are).
Linda is survived and grieved by her husband Burt, by her siblings Gail Cooper of New York City, Warren Salomon of Miami, and Richard Salomon of New York City, by her nephew Stephen Cooper and by her adopted dogs Bailey and Lilly. She was predeceased by her parents and by her adopted dogs Winnie, Lady and Sammy.
A celebration of Linda’s life will be held at a future date when it is again safe to gather her many friends and well-wishers together in Miami. During her life, Linda’s favorite gift to honor lost loved ones was to plant trees in Israel, and that would be the best way to honor her now in lieu of flowers.
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