PORT ST. LUCIE PEOPLE
The ASTRONAUT’S MOM
Linda Relis is down-to-earth and pragmatic about
life. Her worldview is formed with a “both feet
on the ground” kind of attitude. For the mother
of an astronaut, she’s exceptionally humble.
At the age of 18, Relis married and had her first child,
Ronald Garan Jr., a year later. Eventually, she found
herself raising three boys as a single parent in the 1960s.
Life was demanding, but Relis met the challenge while
attending night classes.
“I figured, why give up?” she says. “I kept trying. I
knew I’d be successful eventually. Only I had the power
to change my life and didn’t accept failure.”
Relis attended the School of Visual Arts and the New
York School of Interior Design in Manhattan. She remembers
how difficult those years were. “I had lots of friends
but no money; you don’t realize how poor you really
are,” she says. “I wanted to be an artist, but not a struggling
artist.”
Relis is a native New Yorker, Florida snowbird and
spends summers in North Carolina. Her lifelong love of
nature influences her art form. The environs of the mountains
in North Carolina and the tropical scenery of Florida
are her backdrops for producing fine art oil paintings.
Earning a living as an artist since 1982, her works
have earned many awards. Her paintings are in private
and corporate collections throughout the United States
including the State of Florida’s permanent art collection,
part of the Art in Public Buildings Program.
As her two older sons left the nest, the youngest,
Daniel Garan, decided he wanted to attend the Guitar
Institute of Technology in California. Linda left a job at
her father’s warehouse in South Bronx, leased her house >>
54 Port St. Lucie Magazine
JOHN BIONDO
Award-winning artist, Linda Relis, poses at her home/studio in Port St. Lucie. Many of her works feature birds of Florida in their native habitats, preserving
beautiful scenery in oils on canvas.
BY DEBRA MAGRANN