‘Dogged, thorough’ reporter dies at 67
Goldston worked at Mercury News for 38 years
Linda Goldston, a former San Jose Mercury News reporter who had a special interest in the welfare of animals and the fate of children, died Wednesday evening after a years-long battle with respiratory complications. She was 67.
The author of a popular pets column that attracted armies of enthusiastic readers, Goldston, a Tennessee native, worked at the San Jose newspaper for 38 years before retiring to Paso Robles in 2012. She was long known for her determined and energetic pursuit of stories, whether she was probing for answers from an accused killer or inspiring readers to generously open their hearts to help the unfortunate.
“Linda Goldston was as good a reporter as I’ve ever known,” said former Mercury News reporter and author, Mike Weiss. “She was thorough and skeptical without being cynical, dogged without being pushy — and brave.”
Weiss noted Goldston’s well-known brusque manner, but said it “protected a kind heart animated by the deep desire to see justice done and wrongdoing punished.”
While Goldston penned many memorable pieces, her February 1999 series, “Zoo Animals To Go,” was probably one of two that was most dear to her heart. The four-part saga, detailed how “every year, animals once admired at dozens of the country’s major zoos are sold or given away to dealers, contributing to a multi- billion- dollar- a- year exotic species marketplace,” wrote Goldston.
For the newspaper’s Sunday West Magazine, Goldston and Weiss looked into the murky world of missing and murdered children. She was undaunted even by one of the creepiest characters she encountered.
“He was a very strange and potentially a very dangerous man who liked to visit the graves of murdered girls well past midnight,” said Weiss of the suspect. “Linda was persuaded he was the murderer, yet to encourage him to open up to her, she accompanied him to a graveyard in the dead of night.”
Linda Joy Goldston, born Feb. 12, 1948, never lost her gentle twang sculpted from growing up in Harriman, a tiny “temperance town” founded in 1889 in Tennessee. She attended the University of Tennessee for two years, but transferred to the famed School of Journalism at the University of Missouri, where she earned a degree in photojournalism.
After working for a year as a photographer and staff writer at Today’s News in Harriman, Goldston arrived at the Mercury News in June of 1974 as a tempo- rary summer hire. The paper didn’t let her go — for nearly four decades.
“Linda was a reporter ’s reporter,” said Bert Robinson, Managing Editor/Content for the Bay Area News Group and a longtime colleague. “She had a fascination with unseemly characters, a deep affection for the downtrodden, and the skill to get both groups to tell their stories to her.”
She was an avid smoker known to take outdoor, cigarette breaks with mathematical precision. She loved her bevy of cats — Bouncer, Maggie, Sara, Angelina, Jack and Jake. And she was a rabid fan of the Tennessee Lady Vols basketball team and Hillary Clinton. In her 60s, Goldston happily landed a ticket to see Lady Gaga in a Bay Area concert. Goldston also loved to devour detective novels, especially paperbacks featuring the dark and difficult NYPD Sgt. Kathleen Mallory, created by her favorite author, Carol O’Connell. Meanwhile, in the newsroom, the diminutive, bespectacled Goldston, was a dependable deadline writer with a disarming smile, blunt talk, a sweet tooth and the junkfood eating habits of a teenager.
“I always remember her walking through the newsroom with a Diet Coke and a laugh, wanting to talk with everyone about what they were working on,” said Karen Casto, an assistant business editor. “Linda took so much joy from her work. She thought it was a privilege and she treasured that every day.”
About six years ago, Goldston started battling a rash of serious respiratory problems. In November 2012, she quietly retired, eschewing the customary, newsroom going-away hoopla.
Soon, she moved to the Paso Robles home of her longtime companion, Teresa Allen.
“Linda was doing well until about a month ago,” said Allen, who teaches journalism at Cal Poly in San Luis Obispo. “She indulged her passions by reading a book a day, working on her memoir and reading the 20 magazines she subscribed to — from The Nation to People.”
But due to a grave lung infection, Goldston entered hospice about three weeks ago. “Before that, she was driving her car and, of course, smoking,” said Allen. “She was a quiet curmudgeon but she so loved the Mercury and being a reporter, I think she would have wanted to die in the newsroom.”
Goldston is survived by Allen and by two sisters — Betty and Jane — who still live in Harriman.