Vivian Myrlan Lindsey's Obituary
Vivian Myrlan Morris was born on December 22, 1919, in Central Indiana near Boyleston, Clinton County and passed away on December 19, 2021, in Redwood City, CA, just 3 days shy of her 102nd birthday. She is survived by her sons Joe and Bill Lindsey, sisters Linda (Bishop) Pfeiffer and Patricia (Bishop) Moore, four grandchildren, ten great-grandchildren and three great-great-grandchildren. She is predeceased by her father Lorin Morris, d. 1927, mother Mary Mildred (Whitcomb) Bishop, d. 1992, step-father Grant Bishop, d. 1987, brother William Morris, d. 1922, brother Nelson Morris, d. 1975, sister Sue Bishop, d. 2013, and sister Damaris (Bishop) Shigley, d. 2015.
(Yes, I did spell Mom’s birth middle name correctly. She often lamented that her middle name was supposed to be Marilyn, but whoever filled out her birth certificate obviously didn’t know how to spell. :)
Vivian grew up in the small rural community of Scircleville, Indiana, graduating from High School in 1937. Her father Lorin, who had been gassed during World War I, was in and out of Veteran’s hospitals for a few years before passing away when she was seven. Vivian and brother Nelson would then live with just their mother Mildred, who was postmistress of Scircleville from 1924 to 1936, until Mildred remarried in 1929, to Grant Bishop. Her four sisters began arriving on the scene in 1930, and just about every other year after that, and she spent considerable time helping her mother care for them until she left home in 1938. Mom would often remark, “do you know how hard it was washing all of those diapers without running water in the house!” Even though she grew up during the Great Depression, she told us that they always had enough to eat and a roof over their head because of her mother’s good job as postmistress.
(Mom often told us the story about when she and her brother Nelson were growing up in Scircleville, how “barnstormers” would land their bi-planes in a field on the outskirts of town and give people rides. My grandmother Mildred would give each of them a fifty-cent piece so that they could go up in the plane. My mother always gave her fifty cents to her brother so that he could go twice. Nelson would later become a radio operator/gunner on a WWII fighter/bomber.)
In 1938, Vivian enrolled in Ball State Teachers College, in Muncie, Indiana, with financial assistance from an aunt who lived in Chicago. She graduated with a degree in Home Economics and Art in 1942. (She remembered the gratitude of her aunt and would later repay it forward by helping her oldest grandson Rob with his expenses at the University of Oregon.) After graduating college, she took a job in defense plant Delco-Remy in Anderson, Indiana, where she would work from 1942 to 1947. She worked in the office at Delco-Remy, and during the war, in the age before computers, all inventory was tracked in a huge card system. She was responsible for tracking PT Boat motors and their components.
After WWII, Vivian was reunited with Bob Lindsey whom she had met and dated prior to the war. They were married in 1947, and settled in Muncie, IN. Bob was a heavy equipment operator (bulldozers and draglines) and worked for a local construction company. On March 25, 1948, first son Joe was born in Ball Memorial Hospital, Muncie, IN, delivered by the same doctor who had delivered his father Bob. In 1949, the family moved to Punta Gorda, FL where they lived for a year while Bob worked on a construction project. The family returned to Muncie, IN in 1950, living in “the little brown house” for a few months, before moving to the “five acre property” on West Jackson Street. On September 25, 1952, son Bill was born, also in Ball Memorial Hospital. The next spring, on a cold March day in 1953, the family moved to “The Farm” – a 91 acre spread just outside Ridgeville, IN. Here the family would work hard to try and make a go at farming, growing corn, wheat, soybeans and alphalfa, milking cows and raising chickens and rabbits, while Bob worked part-time driving a gas truck, milk truck and log truck to supplement the farming income. Starting up a farm from scratch was a tremendous challenge, but Vivian was a great cook and baker who tended a large garden, so the freezer was always stocked full of vegetables and meat, and the family was well fed.
But alas, farming became a challenge too great to overcome, and in 1958, Vivian and Bob decided, partly in order to provide their sons with a better future, to sell the farm and move to California, where Vivian’s mother Mildred, step-father Grand and sister Sue had moved a year or so before. Bob found a job in the US Post Office in Burlingame, CA and they moved the family into a very nice two bedroom bungalow in San Carlos, CA, where both Vivian and Bob would live out the rest of their lives. Here Vivian would work part-time for several years while the boys were in school as a seamstress for a large clientele of San Francisco Bay Area Socialites, also as an Avon Saleslady and, for a time, as a housekeeper at the Villa Hotel in San Mateo, CA.
Vivian loved the San Francisco Giants and Indy Car, NASCAR, Midget and Sprint Car racing. Having come from Indiana where Bob had worked on a Midget and Roadster (precursor to Sprint Cars) racing team during the late 1940s and early 50s, you would say racing was in her blood. She would often say that during the spring and summer they would go to races every night of the week except Mondays. She started taking son Joe to the races when he was one year old, and you might say it got into his blood too.
But, it was son Bill who would start racing Midgets throughout California in 1976, and would race with the Bay Cities Racing Association (BCRA) for the next 40+ years. Vivian was almost always in the pits whenever Bill raced passing out her famous chocolate chip cookies. Oldest son Joe was finally able to buy a Midget in 2000, and then two more in 2001 for his sons Barry and Rob. Vivian was in her glory surrounded by sons and grandsons racing. She said that she was just a “little” nervous when both sons and the two grandsons were on the track at the same time. Joe has retired from racing and Bill races sporadically, but grandson Rob has raced for the past 20+ years throughout California, Oregon and Washington in both Midgets and Sprint Cars, and has been the Oregon Wingless Sprint Car Series (WSS) Champion for the past five years. Rob has now been joined these past 3 years by his son Chad, Vivian’s oldest great-grandson, who is now also racing a Sprint Car. Vivian was so proud of her sons, grandsons and now great-grandson racing, and happy to see them doing something that their father / grandfather had been so involved in. The races were also a great way to stay in touch with the family. Vivian’s granddaughter Kris was always at Joe’s races, and often at her Uncle Bill’s too. Many times Kris was joined at the races by her daughters Amber and Ali, so Vivian was always in touch with the growing family.
Husband Bob passed away too early in 1979, from lung cancer, and while Vivian continued to attend races, she also started to travel with her cousin Margaret. For the next 10-15 years, they traveled all over the world visiting Egypt, Israel, Jordan, Canada, Peru, Brazil, Argentina, a trip through the Panama Canal, Australia, and Mexico.
In addition to attending races, watching racing and her SF Giants on TV and traveling, Vivian was also a member of the Federated Women’s Club of San Carlos, regularly attending their monthly meetings and helping with their fundraising projects and charity work well into her 90’s. In 2000, Vivian received Congressional Recognition for her charity work.
One of Vivian’s final wishes was to be able to remain in the family home at 270 Vine Street, San Carlos, CA, for as long as possible. With the help of her sons, especially Bill who drove from his home in Pioneer, CA weekly to check on her, and the excellent round-the-clock care provided her by caregiver Ofa, she was able to live at home until her passing.
What’s your fondest memory of Vivian?
What’s a lesson you learned from Vivian?
Share a story where Vivian's kindness touched your heart.
Describe a day with Vivian you’ll never forget.
How did Vivian make you smile?