Linda Mass Henkle

Linda Mass Henkle, 85, of Livingston, New Jersey, passed away peacefully on December 19, 2025 surrounded by her three daughters. She was born in Elizabeth, NJ on August 11, 1940, the cherished daughter of Florence and Harold Cohen.

An only child, she thought of her first cousin Mollie like a sister.

Linda graduated from Battin High School in Elizabeth and attended Syracuse University for her undergraduate degree in early childhood education. She met her first husband Norman Mass at Sun Valley Swim Club where he was working as a lifeguard and she as a camp counselor. They married in 1962 and raised their family in Livingston.  Linda earned two graduate degrees–an M.S. in psychotherapy and a Masters in Social Work. These academic accomplishments were followed by a rewarding lifelong career as a therapist. She was so dedicated to her patients that she continued to practice into her early eighties.

She met the love of her life, James Henkle, in 1986 and they were inseparable for forty years, as content playing bridge, reading, and taking art classes together as they were traveling to new places or dancing the night away with friends at the Garden State Yacht Club. They slept every night holding hands.   Always impeccably dressed, Linda was a funny, intuitive, hardworking, persistent, compassionate, and beautiful woman who took immense pride and joy in her family. She loved her grandchildren fiercely and felt so blessed to have gotten to experience their childhoods. A constant source of inspiration to those around her, she kept and cherished her old friends lifelong, and her sincere interest in people allowed her to make new ones wherever she went.

She is survived by her devoted husband Jim, loving daughters Wendy, Allison, and Jennifer, her son-in-law and favorite chef Michael, her beloved grandchildren Joseph, Chloe, and Griffin, stepsons Casey and Cory, and her loyal granddog Miso. Linda never let anyone leave without telling them to drive safely, don’t rush, and often, “It wouldn’t kill you to wear more blush.” She will be greatly missed.

Donations may be made in her memory to the VNA Hospice at https://www.rwjbh.org/giving/support- hospice/give/.