We received the sad news that Linda Klein Babel passed away on April 25, 2022 from complications post-surgery. Her obituary was published by The Island Packet from Apr. 29 to May 1, 2022:
“Linda Klein Babel, 78, of Hilton Head Island, SC passed away unexpectedly on Monday, April 25, 2022, at the Savannah Memorial Hospital. She was a refined, elegant and cultured woman who never stopped seeking new adventures, friendships and passions with youthful exuberance. She savored relationships, fine details, and was a wonderful friend to all; that’s what makes her unexpected passing so difficult for all who knew her. Born in New York City in 1944, she was adopted by Stanley J. Klein, Sr., and Anne Koch Klein of Englewood, N.J. Stanley passed when Linda was just 9, and Anne later married Henry E. Stepp. The couple lovingly raised Linda, instilling the values and the thirst for life that she passed on to everyone she met.
She was educated at the Dwight School, maintaining lifelong friendships with many of her grade school classmates. She attended Tufts University and would later graduate from the Katherine Gibbs School in New York City.
It was at Tufts that she met her soulmate, Frank Babel in 1962. She was the yin to Frank’s yang – the steady and stabilizing force to balance Frank’s boisterous, life-of-the-party personality. Their 57-year marriage began in 1964, as they set off on a journey of love and laughter, family and friends, and adventures including 14 moves and world-travel to 70+ countries, before finally settling down full time in Hilton Head Island’s Sea Pines community in 2005.
She was petite and graceful, was strong-willed, whip-smart, and had a great sense of humor. She was a compassionate and caring listener and a meticulous giver. She had a great sense of style and kept an immaculate home. She always had a twinkle in her eye and an infectious smile. Linda was a magnet for knowledge. She had a miraculous recall which made her a must-have trivia teammate and a voracious consumer of crosswords, Sudoku and “Jeopardy!” In recent years she found the game of mahjong and loved her frequent outings with the ladies at the club. Linda had an insatiable appetite for reading and knowledge, and especially favored anything related to the royal family and Egyptology.
She lived to make others happy and feel loved, most of all Frank, her adored children, treasured grandkids, and all of her family and friends. She found the joy in your most mundane successes, found the positive in any predicament and was a quick wit who always had intoxicating stories and the perfect joke to make her friends laugh and smile. She made generosity and living life to the fullest seem so effortless, and she always did it with humility. She contributed to society through membership in a litany of clubs, arts and cultural organizations through the years – including the Hilton Head Symphony Orchestra, of which she rarely missed a concert. She made an impact as a member of the 100 Women Who Care Club and a participant in countless fundraisers. She was benevolent with her time and charity to organizations and was an ardent supporter of the Boys & Girls Club of Hilton Head Island.
Linda is survived by Frank, her children Lisa McCarthy and Laurie Hartnett, son-in-law Joe Hartnett and her three grandchildren, Aidan McCarthy and Gavin and Abby Hartnett. She is also survived by loving family including sisters-in-law Kathy Babel and Mary McEnaney and brother-in-law Vic (Mary) Babel; nieces Caryn Knoll and husband Shaun; Stacey Klein, Liz McEnaney, and Julia Norris and husband Drew; nephews Ken Klein and wife Alejandra, Ken McEnaney and wife Jamie, and Darius Babel; and grand-nieces and grand-nephews Kenneth Jr. and Olivia Klein, and Kate and Olin McEnaney. She was pre-deceased by brother Stanley Klein and sisters-in-law Susie Klein and Jeanne Babel. Linda will be missed tremendously by her family, friends, and the Lowcountry community.”
