Wayne Morgan Lindsey

Wayne was born November 9, 1937, to Neil and Julia (Morgan) Lindsey, in Baltimore, Maryland. When he was young, his family relocated to Birmingham, Alabama, and later to Memphis, Tennessee, where he graduated from Frayser High School in 1955. After graduation, he enrolled at the University of Memphis, where he studied mechanical engineering. He later enlisted in the U.S. Navy, and worked as a communications operator, among other things. He was stationed in Okinawa, Japan for much of this time. In 1962, he was honorably discharged from the Navy with the rank of Petty Officer Second Class, and moved back to Memphis, Tennessee.

He later relocated to Michigan and enrolled at the University of Detroit. He told people close to him that this life-changing decision was determined by a coin flip - heads was Detroit, and tails was St. Louis - and the coin landed heads. While in Michigan, Wayne met his future wife, Sally (Deroshia) Lindsey; they married in 1965. The couple moved to San Francisco, California, where Wayne attended and graduated from the University of San Francisco with a degree in Psychology.

Following Wayne’s graduation, the couple relocated to Michigan, where he began a long career working as a vocational counselor at Vocational Rehabilitation with the State of Michigan. During his many years there, he was known for his advocacy and his willingness to disregard convention and red tape while helping clients better their lives. He later retired from the State of Michigan, and relocated to Tennessee and then, eventually, Arkansas.

Wayne was interested in aviation at a very young age, joining the Civil Air Patrol and later becoming a private pilot. His goal was to make his first solo fight on his sixteenth birthday, which he did. He continued to successfully fly private planes until one fateful, windy winter day. While flying just West of Memphis, Tennessee, his single engine Taylor Craft BC12D crashed into a sandbar in the Mississippi River. He and a friend were fortunate to have survived this with minor injuries and were rescued by a passing river barge. Undaunted, he later went on to fly sail planes, mastering that skill as well.

Wayne was a devout Catholic for most of his life, having converted in his mid-20’s. He read hundreds of books about the faith and vibrantly talked to anyone who was at all interested in Catholicism. He enjoyed in-depth and philosophical conversations and even debates on this topic and several closely related ones.

Wayne loved the adventure of traveling almost anywhere by car, bus, plane, or train. His favorite was the road trip, and he often took multi-day road trips to multiple destinations in various parts of the country. He logged many thousands of miles crossing the United States. Although he sometimes owned conversion-van type motor homes, he later converted whatever vehicle he owned at the time to a motor home for that purpose, including sub-compact cars. Wayne believed the best form of travel was a spontaneous trip, where he had no timetable and no destination.

Wayne was also an avid reader, reading dozens or even hundreds of books on any given topic he was interested in. Often, he discovered new passions, and he would quickly visit the library or the bookstore and dive into researching this new interest. This included everything from seashells to organ playing to theology to computers to any topic that caught his interest. He also enjoyed complex crossword puzzles, doing them daily for much of his life.

Although Wayne had struggles for most of his life, he died, having been sober, free of addiction, and close to God for several years. This is an amazing testament of God’s grace.

He was preceded in death by one daughter, Patricia Marie; one granddaughter, Mara Noelle Hufford; his parents, Neil and Julia (Morgan) Lindsey; and two siblings, Anna Katherine Carpenter and Edward Michael Lindsey.

He is survived by nine children: Paul (Debbie) Lindsey, Karen (John) Hufford, David Lindsey, Margaret (Kevin) Thomas, Sarah (Jon Troyer) Lindsey, Tom (Deonne) Lindsey, Martha (Jason) Frary, Mary (Shane Lounsberry) Lindsey, and John (Svetlana) Lindsey. He is also survived by nineteen grandchildren. He is survived by one brother, Georg. He is also survived by long-time friend, Barbara Klaes and her family, but was preceded in death by Barbara’s husband, his long-time friend and adventure partner, Raymond Klaes.

A funeral will be held at Christ the King Catholic Church in Ann Arbor, Michigan, on January 7, 2023.