Lindi's Celebration of Life

For those of you who may not have noticed, I stumbled a bit around in reading yesterday's eulogy to Lindi. The reason is because I had forgotten my glasses. Oops. Not a good time to forget. Anyway, if you're so inclined, here is the full text...as written.


First of all, thank you all for joining us today to celebrate the life of Larraine Pearl Lindstrom, lovingly known as Lindi. It is an honor for me to be here as many of us haven’t seen each other since graduation, some 32 years ago for me. My name is Bill Freeze; I was graduated in 1978 and had the privilege of being, as our yearbook called us, one of the "Elite" Ritz Kids.

While we all have so many memories of Lindi, each so special and unique to each of us what comes to mind for me is while being on stage, hearing her a voice call (well, bellow) from the audience, ”Find your light!” I think if anything, that was the thing she said most to me.

Find your light in stage terms means that there’s a light pointed to a location that you are not standing in and you are standing in the dark. When you find your light you feel a warm sensation on your face. You immediately know your in the spotlight…or just plain lit.

But what a lesson for us as we grow up and remember those words, “Find you light”.

“Find your Light”, metaphorically, be true to yourself, follow your dream, and don’t settle for darkness. Reach for that star. Find your light!

What she also taught us, and I don’t think most of us had a clue that what this was really about was to work together; that perfection only comes when we listen to each other, to not sing louder that the person next to us, to harmonize, to step in time together, and work with each other. That was very evident in the Ritz Kids. We achieved greatness because we worked as an ensemble.

Those simple lessons – taught so many years ago in high school are probably the most important things we can learn as citizens of a great country.

To be true to oneself, to walk in our light and to work in harmony with others. What great lessons for life. I would have never imagined I would learn this from a drama teacher.

Together, Lindi and Larry Bulachek “Mr. B” developed believable characters, created the most fantastic sets and offered superior productions for a small high school in nowhere Northern California.

I think I can speak for many of us in saying, Thank you Lindi. You‘ve made a difference in our lives.