Neighbors Mourn ‘Grandma’ : Crime: Grieving friends say Joaquina Marie Linfor, who was found slain, was an enthusiastic free spirit.

The sight of 82-year-old Joaquina Marie Linfor patrolling the sidewalks and stooping to tend flower gardens in her South Gate neighborhood was a familiar and comforting one to her neighbors. Linfor had keys to the next-door elementary school’s gates and would check the grounds late at night and visit with custodians. A former South Gate Azalea Queen, she was often seen at city functions, collecting tickets or baby-sitting children.

But on Thursday she was gone and the streets seemed empty.

Linfor was found dead in her apartment in the 2600 block of Poplar Place early Wednesday by a neighbor who said he saw her door ajar, then discovered her lying face-down with her hands tied behind her back. A sheriff’s spokesman said Thursday that detectives had no leads. Linfor, known as Marie to her friends, was well liked by teachers and children at Liberty Boulevard grammar school, where many called her “Grandma,” said Jyotsna Patel, co-owner of the Seville Motel, Linfor’s neighbor.

Neighbor Sam McCall, who found Linfor’s body, remembered the bilingual grandmother’s ability to track “all the cars parked along the street, and all the people walking up and down it.”

“I don’t know what we’ll do without Marie,” said McCall’s wife, Grace, who said Linfor came over every morning to chat with her and to help weed her flower garden. “She watched out for all of us.”

Edison Griffin, principal of Liberty Boulevard school, called Linfor an “enthusiastic free spirit” and said teachers plan to plant a tree in her honor or dedicate a plaque on the school’s front lawn.

“She took care of our school seven days a week,” he said.

Linfor, who leaves three stepsons, 11 grandchildren and 25 great-grandchildren, was also popular with South Gate city officials, who worked closely with her after she was crowned queen of the city’s Azalea Festival two years ago.

“I told her she couldn’t be as old as she was, she had too much energy,” South Gate Mayor Mary Ann Buckles said.

“It’s a very big loss, and that doesn’t even sum it up.”