Susan Lindley

Being Steve Lindley's roommate first year and his next door neighbor this year [sophomore year of college], he'd consistently kept me in the loop about his mother's illness. When we came to class one day in late October or early November and she wasn't there, my gut reaction that something bad had happened was unfortunately true. Professor Lindley had gone to the hospital the night before, and after several days there the doctors and family joined together to tell her she would no longer be able to teach.

We had guest teachers for the rest of the term, one of whom was superb, some of whom were decent, and some of whom were just plain bad. And yet we were still expected to take the tests as normal, even though the material we were being taught in class didn't line up with the material on the test. I won't go into the whole rant, but suffice it to say the whole class situation was handled very poorly after Professor Lindley's departure.

My religion paper comparing the Baptist General Conference to the Evangelical Lutheran Church of America turned out quite magnificently, if I do say so myself, and first semester ended on a seemingly positive note. I was with friends and family back home, Christmas came and went, and I finally had a chance to relax from school.

And then I got the news. (Bear in mind I can only write this from my timeline of reference)

On the evening of December 27th, after I had driven back to the cities from President Thomforde's wedding in Boe Chapel at St Olaf, and while I was having fun with friends at the Trans-Siberian Orchestra concert, Susan Lindley passed away, surrounded by her loving family. I found out the next day. Of all the deaths that I had seen in the previous year and a half, this one was the one that struck me the hardest.

Written in Summer of 2006