Friday, August 10, 2012

Phyllis Lindley: 1924-2012



Phyllis Lindley

1924-2012

A Celebration of Life will be held Sunday, August 19 at 10 am at Bear’s Lair, Chico Creek Nature Center, Lower Bidwell Park. Phyllis was an active participant in several environmental organizations, including Mount Lassen Chapter California Native Plant Society, Sierra Club, Altacal Audubon and Bidwell Park Watch.

After moving to Chico in 2000, Phyllis helped to maintain trails in Upper Park and started a recycling program for her retirement community at Sierra Sunrise. For many years she was newsletter editor for Bidwell Park Watch and docent at Chico Creek Nature Center, for which she was honored by the Bidwell Park and Playground Commission. She was a diligent membership chair for Mount Lassen Chapter and regularly assisted with the group’s events.

Phyllis was born April 5, 1924 in Oakland, CA to Cdr. Leo Lindley, USN and Marian Lindley. She attended UC Berkeley, serving as student body president in 1944 and graduating in 1945 with a BA in International Relations. In her mid-20’s she went to a High Sierra Camp in Yosemite, sparking a life-long interest in ecology. From then on every vacation she took was spent backpacking, generally in the Sierra. While living in New York in 1953, she joined the first East Coast chapter of the Sierra Club. Returning to the Bay Area, she became a naturalist for the Audubon Society, motivating her to earn a second BA in Wildlife Management. Her career with Audubon lasted for 17 years.

In the early 1970’s Phyllis and close friend Pat Cone purchased 20 acres surrounded by Mendocino National Forest land in the foothills west of Stonyford, where she lived for almost 30 years. They assisted in building their log cabin-sided house, named Amigeo, from trees harvested and cured on their land and also grew much of their food. Amigeo had abundant water from a spring and electricity generated from it by a Pelton wheel. During this time Phyllis tirelessly advocated for the establishment of the Snow Mountain Wilderness Area near Amigeo, by speaking at governmental hearings over many years, earning her an award from the Mother Lode Chapter of the Sierra Club.

Phyllis loved opera and the symphony. There was no television reception at Amigeo, but luckily she was able to hear radio broadcasts of the New York Metropolitan Opera. Her volunteer invasive plant weeding sessions at Bidwell Park never conflicted with Met broadcasts or North State Symphony performances.

Phyllis passed peacefully on June 28, 2012. She is survived by her sister Louise Hatch of Asheville, NC and 5 nieces and nephews.
The Yahi Newsletter printed a Member Profile (p. 4)  honoring Phyllis in Spring of 2002:  http://motherlode.sierraclub.org/yahi/newsletter/Archive/Spring2002.pdf

Read more about Phyllis's life at the California Native Plant Society web site:  http://mountlassen.cnps.org/

Phyllis's obituary was printed by the Chico ER:  http://www.legacy.com/obituaries/chicoer/

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