Growing up in southern Illinois, Lindell Grigg decided that he, like his brother, would go to college and become a music ministry leader.
While brother Gary did lead music ministries for several years, Lindell’s career took another turn and he ended up in the U.S. Air Force.
Lindell’s father, a U.S. Marine, had survived the invasion of both Guam and Iwo Jima and gone on to become a pastor. The family lived in Texas for a few years and ended up in Peoria, Ill. His mother, who had never formally finished high school, was a punch card operator.
“She got her GED and I tell folks that she was the smartest woman I’ve ever met in my life,” Lindell says. “She was a wonderful mother.”
He graduated with a degree in music from Humboldt State University in California.
“We finished two months early because of the riots,” he says, of the students in the California college system who were protesting the Vietnam War.
“I had a friend who was in the Air Force, so I decided to enlist instead of being drafted into the Army,” Lindell says. “I tell people that He didn’t need me in the ministry, so He put me in the military.”
Lindell’s three-year tour included several posts in Texas and 11 months in Greenland.
Then one day a master sergeant asked Lindell if he wanted to be an officer. In November 1973, he emerged as a newly-minted second lieutenant and went to pilot training in Oklahoma.
“I was in for 22 years and seven months,” Lindell says.
He held the rank of lieutenant colonel when he retired, after being a fighter pilot, flight instructor and doing a stint heading a transition team at Langley, Va.
“I wasn’t excited about not being able to fly,” he confessed. “But I learned a lot about writing, coordinating and the intricacies of the Air Force that you don’t see when you’re in a squadron just flying. They basically teach you how to become a whole officer – including how to manage people.”
Along the way, Lindell and his wife, Joyce, also raised five children and now have 10 grandchildren.
On retirement, Lindell thought he’d go back into flying for United Airlines. “They were hiring like a hundred pilots a month,” he says. “So, I put in my application and had scheduled an interview when United stopped hiring. They went from 100 to zero in a month! So, then I did have to scramble a bit,” he laughs.
Lindell took on the job of heading up the Junior ROTC program at a London, Ky. high school and then moved to a high school in Gainesville until he retired in 2014.
“You’re basically a teacher,” Lindell says. “Our program dealt with leadership and discipline, along with courses in aerospace science and history, and management.”
The program also had drill teams and color guard duties.
“One year in Kentucky, we were away 36 or 37 weekends out of the school year,” Lindell says. “Then we also had field trips to places like Washington, D.C.”
While in Gainesville, Lindell helped out as an intern with church music programs and singing in the choir. He also found time to play softball, his main sport.
“I played in a number of different leagues, mainly church leagues,” he says. “I grew up playing baseball and softball, so it’s always been an enjoyable part of my life.”
Today in The Villages, Lindell often plays five days a week during the seasons, along with golf and bowling with Joyce.
“We’re in a casual league. We’re not serious bowlers,” he says.
The leap from Gainesville to The Villages was easy for Lindell, but a bit more difficult for Joyce and some of their children.
“Joyce thought it was one of those ‘too good to be true,’” Lindell says. “We met with a sales agent in 2011 and I knew within 15 minutes that this was not a bad place to be.”
One of their sons asked them if The Villages was a cult. A couple of weeks later, they returned and put a deposit down on the lot in the then-new Village of Sanibel.
“There was nothing around when we drove up. Just dirt,” Lindell says.
They had told their sales agent that they wanted to live on the water, and he told them he had a lot he wanted them to see.
“Joyce went crazy for it,” Lindell says.
In 2014, they moved permanently to the Village of Sanibel. Lindell’s brother, Gary, recently moved to the Village of Fenney from Jacksonville.
The Villages has become a “destination” for the children and grandchildren.
“We usually get the grandkids for a week or two every summer,” Lindell says.
They are planning a family trip to Mexico this summer and maybe some other trips in 2020.
“We used to enjoy going places and spending time, but now if we leave here, in a couple of days we’re ready to come back,” Lindell says. “It’s just a great life here.”
John W Prince is a writer and Villager. For more information visit www.GoMyStory.com.
