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