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Judge Linda Teodosio speaks on daughter, faith at luncheon
BENJAMIN WHITE
Associate Editor
Published: January 24, 2014
On one of her many trips to St. Patrick’s Cathedral in New York City, Judge Linda Tucci Teodosio of the Summit County Juvenile Court noticed an interesting quote on the bulletin: “Without justice, there can be no love.”
After some research, she found that the words originated from a speech Pope John Paul II gave in 1978, when he said, “Love surpasses justice, but at the same time it finds its verification in justice.”
“That talk really spoke to me,” Judge Teodosio said before the professionals and students packed in the ballroom at Quaker Station on Jan. 10. “I think the reverse is true: without love, there can be no justice.”
The veteran juvenile judge addressed her faith, tribulations and their combined affect on her day job as she spoke at the First Friday Club, an open monthly luncheon that promotes thought among Catholics. Judge Teodosio’s speech, the first in which she openly addressed the 2011 passing of her daughter Andrea, drew roughly twice the average crowd of the meetings, according to staff.
Judge Teodosio recalled a case over which she once presided surrounding the shooting of a young man. She said both the victim and his family attended each of the shooter’s review hearings, encouraging the offender to use the opportunity to change his life’s course to a positive direction.
“I often found myself wondering if I were faced with a crisis like that, would my faith, my belief, my virtue allow me to act in the same way? I honestly still don’t know the answer to that exact question,” Judge Teodosio said. “Unfortunately our family had our faith put to the test in a different way.”
Andrea Rose Teodosio graduated from Walsh Jesuit High School and John Carroll University. Her mother said she loved Italian culture, sports and music, but her selfless attitude stood above all.
“She was one of those kids that never met a stranger,” Judge Teodosio said. “I have to say she learned a lot of that from her father, who after the games would take both teams out for ice cream.”
When Andrea was 22 and worked for a local marketing firm, she travelled to Snowshoe Mountain in West Virginia for a skiing trip. Judge Teodosio recalled receiving a phone call from the ski patrol and hearing that Andrea had collided with a tree and sustained life-threatening injuries.
“You think it’s going to be the most horrible experience of your life, but it’s worse than that,” she said.
Throughout the frantic five-hour drive with her husband Tom, who sits on the common pleas bench, and son Chris, she said she racked her brain over Andrea’s condition and what she could have done to protect her. Soon after Andrea arrived at the hospital, doctors pronounced her dead.
As she reflected on the seemingly senseless death of her daughter, Judge Teodosio said she could not help but question the reasoning of her God, but she ultimately relied on faith.
“If God’s love for my daughter is greater than my love – if it’s perfect – then she has to be all right,” she said.
“When I lost Andrea, I had a choice to make. I could have been bitter and I could have been angry, and maybe I had some of those feelings deep inside,” she said. “But we made the choice that we were not going to let her life go for nothing. She was a wonderful woman.”
After her daughter’s death, Judge Teodosio said she wrestled with the possibility that her trauma would negatively affect her performance on the bench.
“One of the very difficult decisions I have to make in my court is when to terminate parental rights,” she said. “I was worried about that, knowing the loss that I suffered, how would I be able to make those decisions?
“I think it hasn’t affected my decision-making, but it has affected my compassion. I can look at someone and say I appreciate what you’re going through – I know how terrible it is.”
The Teodosios honored their daughter’s legacy and the sense of public service she learned from them by launching the Andrea Rose Teodosio Memorial Foundation. Through the nonprofit, the Teodosios and others have started projects ranging from giving girls in foster care homecoming dresses to donating toys to children and scholarships to students. They also began the tradition of the Andrea Rose Teodosio 5k race which takes place every year in July and last year drew more than 800 participants and volunteers and raised $35,000 to aid the foundation.
The Summit County United Way and Inside Business Magazine also established the Andrea R. Teodosio Rising Star Award, which honors a young person exceptionally devoted to serving the greater good. The Italian-American Council offers a similar award in Andrea’s name.
During her speech, Judge Teodosio urged her audience – the students in particular – to live their faith through service each day, even in the smallest deeds.
“No matter what your age, you have an opportunity to make a difference in the lives of others, whether it’s the person on the fringes that gets bullied or the person who doesn’t have any friends or is new to the school, you have the ability to show God’s kindness,” she said.
The judge shared a picture of a bumper sticker that hung on Andrea’s dresser that read “Sow only seeds of love – let this sticker forever remind you to spread love and kindness to others as often as you can.”
Judge Teodosio serves as the board president of the First Friday Club, which draws an average of about 200 people to its monthly luncheon. Along with her husband and son, Judge Teodosio’s speech drew community leaders including veteran Akron attorney Orrville Reed along with students from Walsh Jesuit, St. Vincent-St. Mary High School, Archbishop Hoban High School and several Catholic grade schools.
Past speakers included Akron attorney Ann Amer Brennan and Holy Cross College President Brother John Paige. February’s luncheon will feature Edward P. Hahnenberg of John Carroll University.
After the luncheon, Judge Teodosio said she was thankful she contained her emotions during her speech, which ended with a slideshow of her daughter’s pictures.
“I think I am where I’m supposed to be, and I think that my experience, while I would gladly give it away in a second, really enriched my ability to interact with other people,” she said.
“Anybody who’s a judge, we bring our values to the bench. It’s our job to search out good.”