Linda L (Bussard) Ruffo

            Linda Lee Ruffo of Mount Pleasant, PA was born to James C. and Doris I. (née Craig) Bussard on October 6, 1953. She graduated from Hempfield Area High School in 1971 and went on to earn an undergraduate degree in Health and Physical Education from Slippery Rock University in 1975. Throughout her life, Linda loved to swim, spending many afternoons and evenings at Youngwood’s Park and Pool. She eventually became a certified lifeguard and shortly after graduating returned to HAHS as a swimming teacher, providing many students who previously never knew how to swim with an invaluable life skill. An inspiring career educator, Linda also taught Human Health and Sexuality, Physical Education, and coached Hempfield’s Spartan cheerleaders. She retired after spending over 25 years in public education.

            She married Gregory E. Ruffo of Youngwood, PA in 1977 and together they had one child, a son Matthew in 1990. Linda took immense pride and profound joy in being a loving wife and mother and comprehensively adored her family. She had a wide range of passions and interests, most notably an affinity for cats, often opening her household to a vast number of strays and rescues in dire need of a compassionate home. One of Linda’s favorite hobbies both before and after retirement was making bespoke letters and cards for a plethora of occasions with the aid of computer software such as PrintMaster and Adobe Photoshop. Her boundless creativity never ceased to impress and deeply move those she held dear. In keeping with her love of swimming, Linda and her family traveled to Virginia Beach, VA’s oceanfront every summer to celebrate the Independence Day holiday. She loved the ocean and everything about the beach vacation experience: the scent of the salty sea air, the warmth of the bright sunshine, the feeling of sand between her toes, and especially, the sound of the waves breaking on the shore.

            Despite being an incredibly vivacious woman, Linda had more than her fair share of personal struggles. She was diagnosed with systemic lupus erythematosus in 1982 and soon found it affected every facet of her day-to-day life. After several difficult years, Linda finally found peace on Saturday, July 16, 2022 at the age of 68 at Westmoreland Hospital in Greensburg, PA. She is preceded in death by her mother and her sister Karen and is survived by her father, husband, son, aunt Joan E. Smith of Greensburg, cats JaSpar and Pearl, dog Ruff’n, and many nieces and nephews. Her family invites those who wish to pay respects to a visitation session this Saturday, July 23 from 4 - 7 p.m. at C. Richard McCauley Funeral Home Inc., 101 S. 4th Street, Youngwood, PA 15697.

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