News & Blog

Broadmead Welcomes New Residents, John & Linda Mattingly

By Willy Sydnor

About John:

John Mattingly served as Commissioner of the Administration for Children's Services for New York City from 2004 to 2011, under Michael Bloomberg. It was the type of position for which he had prepared throughout his career, but it wasn't where he planned to go when he first started out.

Born and raised in St. Mary's County, MD, John graduated from St. Mary's Seminary in Baltimore, with a major in philosophy. Expecting to go into the priesthood, he went instead into social services.

While volunteering at Joseph House, he met his future wife, Linda. Since Linda was 19 and John was 23 when they married, their families thought they were too young, but they proved it was a good match because they just celebrated their 52nd anniversary. They have two children. John and Linda moved from Baltimore to Pittsburgh, where he worked in juvenile justice, getting children out of the Camp Hill Prison. After that, the family came back to Baltimore, where John worked for 12 years at the Annie E. Casey Foundation.

Then he took the commissioner's job in New York. His career was capped the way it began: by undertaking an effort to move the majority of New York City's incarcerated youth back from distant state institutions to community programs. Finally, John returned to the Annie E. Casey Foundation, from which he retired in 2013.

His primary interests are baseball and philosophy, in that order. He also loves great music and reading James Joyce and Henry James.

About Linda:

Little did Linda Mattingly know that within days of moving to Broadmead she would find herself in Hallowell following hip surgery, but she's now safely in her new home with her husband, John, and their Shepherd mix, Toby. Another thing Linda did not expect was that when she got married at age 19, she and her husband would move nine times during their 52 years of marriage.

Born in Baltimore and raised there and in Silver Spring, Linda attended St. Joseph's College in Emmitsburg. She met John while volunteering at Joseph House, then in Baltimore, a charitable organization that provides direct assistance to people with low incomes.

At first, Linda worked in human relations and in fair housing, enforcing discrimination complaints. But she decided to pursue further education in a field with better employment opportunities. She obtained a master's degree in nutrition and dietetics, which led to work for WIC in Baltimore and in acute care in Toledo, OH, and to management of the dietetics department at Stella Maris.

She and John have two children—Katy, who works in alternative medicine at the University of Michigan, and David, who works for the Global Fund for Human Rights. Since much of David's work is done by phone, he and his husband have bought his parents' home, which Linda says made everyone happy and their move much easier.

Since retiring 10 years ago, Linda has done volunteer work, helping to prepare food for those who are homeless. She started a book club at Towson Unitarian Universalist Church and reads in her spare time. She also enjoys movies and likes to cook.