Linda R. (Tankard) Gonsalves, 59, of Wareham, died at home Jan. 8, after a long illness surrounded by her loving family. She was the daughter of Carrie (Camillo) Tankard and the late George V. Tankard, Jr.

Linda was born in Newark, New Jersey, in 1956, one of six children. The family moved to Oak Bluffs on Martha’s Vineyard in the late 1960s. Linda graduated from Martha’s Vineyard Regional High School and married her childhood sweetheart, Wayne P. Gonsalves, in 1980. She attended beauty school in Boston, graduating from Wilford Beauty Academy. She worked for beauty salons in Newton and Somerville, Massachusetts. She and Wayne lived in the city for many years before moving to Wareham with their children in 1986. Linda then became a homemaker, dedicating her life to raising her three daughters.

Linda will be remembered as a loving and devoted mother who attended all her daughters’ sporting events. When her girls were older, she returned to employment at Marian Heath Greeting Cards in Wareham as a packer, Benthos in Falmouth as an assembler, and Target in Wareham as a display associate. She was an avid bargain hunter who enjoyed crafting, gardening, and traveling. Her greatest joy was being a grandmother to her two grandsons.

She is survived by her husband, Wayne of Wareham; daughters Mia E. Wright of New Milford, New Jersey, Gina E. Gonsalves of Everett, and Elana M. Gonsalves of Wareham; her mother Carrie (Camillo) Tankard of Oak Bluffs; brothers George V. Tankard, III of Vineyard Haven, Craig Tankard of Vineyard Haven, Felipe Tankard of Raleigh, North Carolina; sisters Carmen Amadeo of Oak Bluffs and Stephanie Earl of Olathe, Kansas; and grandsons Brayden and Kellen Wright.

Services will be held Jan. 14 at 11 a.m. at St. Augustine Church, 56 Franklin St., Vineyard Haven. Burial will follow at Oak Grove Cemetery, Oak Bluffs. There will be no visiting hours.

Donations in Linda’s memory can be made to:

Cranberry Hospice, 36 Cordage Park Circle, Plymouth, MA, 02360 http://www.bidplymouth.org/cranberryhospice

MV NAACP, P.O. Box 1513, Oak Bluffs, MA, 02557

http://www.marthasvineyardnaacp.org/nmv.donatenow.html

Massachusetts General Hospital Cancer Center, 55 Fruit St., Boston, MA, 02144 https://giving.massgeneral.org/cancer/

Arrangements are by the Chapman, Cole & Gleason Funeral Home, 2599 Cranberry Hwy., Wareham. For more info and online guestbook, visit: www.ccgfuneralhome.com.