Mary McCardle Lindsey

Mary McCardle Lindsey     

Born April 24, 1927

Died February 26, 2024

After a life well lived, Mary has earned her wings and is flying high with the Angels.

Born on April 24, 1927 in Westburg Township, Iowa the eldest daughter of Albert and Margaret McCardle.   She grew up on a working farm in Buchanan County, Iowa where she began helping with outdoor chores at a young age. Mary loved to tell the story about getting up early each morning, milking May Belle, the nice cow and Susie, the not-so-nice cow along with feeding the chickens all before dashing to catch the school bus.  Dick and Dan were two of their horses on the farm she enjoyed reminiscing about, as well as the pony “Bill” she would take to the neighbors’ farm and gallop home on.  She told stories of her childhood dog named Jigs and her family that she loved dearly.  She spoke about how she loved going to school each day to get a break from farm chores and to learn, and learn she did.  Mary excelled in all her classes, graduating Salutatorian in 1945 from Jesup Consolidated School in Jesup, Iowa.

During her senior year of high school, she was recruited by the FBI to work in the Washington DC office.   She said she and her girlfriends would joke about being independent because they were raised near  Independence, Iowa and she proved that to be the case. Once she graduated, she was bound for Washington DC on a bus;  a young girl, leaving home and Iowa for the first time in her life, alone.

After her job ended with the FBI when the War ended, Mary went to work for the telephone company.

It was in Washington DC that she met the love of her life, Raymond Gladding Lindsey, a young city boy that loved to dive and swim, and who was raised in DC, far from any farm life.  Meeting at the local swimming pool, she said every time she got into the pool, Ray would pop up out of the water right in front of her.  He was smitten with her, she was a bit hesitant in the beginning, but they soon dated, fell in love and married in October of 1947.  After the births of Kay and Dave, they decided to leave DC.  They sold their home and moved to Florida, where Raymond began teaching for St Lucie County School District and Mary transferred to Southern Bell Telephone Company.  They bought land and built their forever home on Edgevale Road, at the outer edge of town on a one lane dirt road. The family continued to grow, with the arrival of Sandy, Barry and Randy over the next decade.  Mary quickly moved into management at Southern Bell as Supervisor over the phone operators, she retired with 33 years of service.  

Her next career began with H & R Block as a tax preparer where she again, quickly moved up to management, being office supervisor at several locations in both Fort Pierce and Vero Beach.  This second career lasted some 30 years.

Just call her grandma!   Mary became a grandmother in November of 1980 with the birth of Brooke Lindsey. Once her first grandson Kelvin began to speak, he called her Mamoo and the name stuck. She was forever called Mamoo by her children and her grandchildren. Over the years, five more grandchildren arrived, and she loved each and every one of them with all her heart, making certain to never forget a birthday and signed every birthday card “Love, Mamoo”. She was the world’s best Mamoo!!

Mary enjoyed traveling and she loved to spend time at the log cabin they built in the mountains on the property they purchased in Violet, North Carolina, not far from Murphy.  She traveled to Hawaii several times to see her son Barry and his family and went to Ireland and Scotland with her high school friend, Mary Lou (Tuttie) O’Brian, traveled back to family reunions in Iowa and visited nearly all the states in the Midwest and West on family camping trips with Ray and the children.

In 2012 she was given a new title, “GG”, short for great-grandma with the arrival of Baron, to be followed with three more great grandsons and one great granddaughter over the next 7 years.  When her second grandson Wyatt was born in 2015, although she couldn’t believe it, she was present for and witnessed his birth in Melbourne, Florida. She went into the birthing room to say hello, spotted an empty chair in the corner at the foot of the bed and made herself quite comfortable. She remained seated until her great grandson made his debut. Without a doubt, she cherished and enjoyed the great grandchildren, lining her desk top with photos and attending holidays and birthday celebrations with them all.  

In her last year, she would spend hours looking through all her photos and her advice to everyone was to “take good care of all your photos and put names on them”!  Occasionally she would forget something but was assured by her son Barry it was because she had too many things to remember and couldn’t remember them all, she liked that reasoning.

Mary was preceded in death by her husband Raymond, son Randy, sister Paula Olsen and brother James McCardle.

She is survived by her children, Kay (Mac) Powell, Dave (Rita) Lindsey, Sandy (Russ) Turner and Barry (Elizabeth) Lindsey. Her grandchildren, Brooke (Donnie) Andrezze, Julieanne (Denny) Gillispie, Kelvin and Malinda Turner, Theodore (Mariah) Lindsey, James (Mio) Lindsey, and Jessica (Dirk) Mandt. Her great-grandchildren, Baron, Gabi and Silas Gillispie, Wyatt and Connor Andrezze.  Her siblings, Betty McCardle, Andrea Jeffery, Charlotte Collins, and Bill McCardle.

Her memories will live on in the hearts of her family who loved her dearly.  Her beautiful spirit, loving nature and enthusiastic story telling will be greatly missed.