Linda grew up in Scarsdale, NY, a town of about 16,000 residents located about 25 miles north of New York City, in Westchester County. The town is probably best known for being the hometown of Linda, the former residence of Yoko Ono, and for the murder of Herman Tarnower (the "Scarsdale Diet Doctor") by Jean Harris. It is a largely middle- to upper-class town with a median household income of about $120,000. The town, as well as the rest of Westchester, is often incorrectly referred to as "upstate NY". This is common in books discussing Linda, such as Many Years From Now. In fact, the real upstate NY (generally everything north of Putnam and Rockland counties on either side of the Hudson) is quite different from Westchester and actually more similar to parts of Long Island. Upstate NY is made up of mostly suburbs, farms, small to medium-sized cities, and college towns. Westchester, on the other hand, is largely suburban, but the remainder is rural and is home to a multitude of celebrities who enjoy the privacy of the country combined with the easy commute to NYC. Westchester is one of the oldest parts of the country, much of it founded in the early 17th Century. Northern Westchester in particular still retains many of the mansions, castles, stone walls, and other relics of its long history. Scarsdale, while located farther south in the county, is also home to a number of large estates and gorgeous mansions.
I recently took advantage of my proximity to Scarsdale and took a trip to the Scarsdale library to see what I could uncover about Linda's youth. A very quick search yielded a couple of interesting items and I hope to return soon to do some more digging. Here's a sample of what I found:
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This is from the 1959 Scarsdale High School Yearbook. This was the year Linda graduated and here is her senior photo. I'm not sure what the three sayings on the bottom signify. I looked for Linda in the photos for the clubs she listed, but she wasn't in them. |
| Hey, does Paul know about this guy? :) |  |
I also dug up a 1995 version of the Scarsdale High School alumni directory. I looked up Linda Eastman and was referred to Linda McCartney. It listed her old address and phone number from when she was living in Tuscon and named simply "Paul" as her spouse. :)
Lastly, I snapped a couple of pics of Scarsdale High School as I was driving by. Scarsdale is generally regarded as one of the Top 5 high schools in Westchester, a county widely regarded as having some of the leading public schools in the country. Take it from someone who used to compete against their students in Academic Quiz Bowl tournaments: they're pretty bright. :)
I also tried to unearth anything on Lee Eastman or the rest of Linda's family, but wasn't successful. However, I didn't spend a lot of time there so in future visits I might be more successful.
Read an article from the Scarsdale Inquirer about Linda's life and death
3/03/98