{"id":261351,"date":"2026-06-10T01:35:52","date_gmt":"2026-06-10T01:35:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/261351\/"},"modified":"2026-06-10T01:35:52","modified_gmt":"2026-06-10T01:35:52","slug":"beloved-staten-island-unofficial-mayor-remembered-for-decades-of-community-service","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/261351\/","title":{"rendered":"Beloved Staten Island \u2018unofficial mayor\u2019 remembered for decades of community service"},"content":{"rendered":"

STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. — Linda Graves was known by her friends and family as the \u201cunofficial mayor of Staten Island.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cShe knew everybody. Literally anywhere we went, someone knew Linda, and Linda knew someone,\u201d said her daughter, Shannon Walters. <\/p>\n

Graves, a lifelong Staten Islander, died on May 12 at the age of 72. The cause of death was cancer. <\/p>\n

She was born on November 15, 1953 to James and Elizabeth Mooney, both of whom emigrated to Staten Island from Ireland. Her father was an oiler for Proctor and Gamble, and her mother managed the household. Graves had six siblings. <\/p>\n

\"LindaLinda Gravesfamily archive<\/p>\n

She grew up in Port Richmond and attended Port Richmond High School. At the age of 17, she got a job as a telephone operator. <\/p>\n

\u201cShe wanted to be a nurse,\u201d Walters said. \u201cThat didn\u2019t work out, but she became a bartender for the Spa Lounge down on Richmond Terrace.\u201d<\/p>\n

Graves\u2019s social skills came in handy in her work as a bartender. \u201cShe was personable,\u201d Walters said. \u201cMy mother never met a stranger. She met you once, she knew everything about you, you were her friend for forever.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen she left her job as a bartender, she became a matron on the New York City Staten Island Ferry,\u201d Walters said. \u201cShe worked in the Whitehall Ferry Terminal, as well as on the boats themselves, maintaining the bathrooms.\u201d<\/p>\n

Graves held that job for 30 years. On 9\/11, she worked to transport water to the first responders in a golf cart. <\/p>\n

She devoted her free time to Our Lady of Mount Carmel. \u201cShe counted the money for them,\u201d Walters said. \u201cShe maintained their bank accounts. She did the readings during the mass. She was a sexton in the church, setting up the masses.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"LindaLinda Gravesfamily archive<\/p>\n

\u201cShe loved being a part of that community,\u201d Walters said. \u201cShe loved the priests. She fit in.\u201d<\/p>\n

Later in life, Graves moved from Port Richmond to Silver Lake, across the street from a golf course. Errant golf balls were the bane of her existence. \u201cAll the balls would come onto the street, so they were constantly bouncing near the kids and breaking car windows,\u201d Walters said. <\/p>\n

Graves was proud of her Irish roots. She loved playing bingo and looking after her grandchildren.<\/p>\n

\u201cShe had a strong personality,\u201d Walters said. \u201cWhen she had an opinion about something, you knew about it. She did not hold back. She told you exactly what she thought when she thought it. She didn\u2019t really care if you agreed.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"LindaLinda Graves and her husband, Bryan Graves, Sr.family archive<\/p>\n

Graves is survived by her children, Shannon Walters, Scott Walters, Bryan Graves, Brendan Graves, and seven grandchildren. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. — Linda Graves was known by her friends and family as the \u201cunofficial mayor of…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":261352,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[37],"tags":[9,24,63,122,124,123],"class_list":["post-261351","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-queens","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-city","tag-nyc","tag-queens","tag-queens-headlines","tag-queens-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/261351","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=261351"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/261351\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/261352"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=261351"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=261351"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=261351"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}