Gerald Lindsay

Gerald (Jerry) Lindsay, 85, passed away November 6, 2012 at Hospice of North Iowa. His body was donated to the Deeded Body Program, University of Iowa. A celebration of Jerry’s life will be held at Clear Lake United Methodist Church on Monday, November 19 at 11 a.m., with visitation at 10 a.m.

Jerry was born June 15, 1927 to Lester and Vesta (Billman) Lindsay. At age two, his parents divorced and he lived with his mother and older brother, Larry, at the home of his grandparents, Henry and Laura Billman. They spent summers at their cottage on the North Shore of Clear Lake, where he learned to swim and fish. He attended Monroe Elementary, Monroe Jr. High School and graduated from Mason City High School.

While in his senior year of high school he joined the Navy along with many of his friends and classmates. He went to boot camp and service school at Great Lakes Naval Training Center earning the rank of Gunner’s Mate. He was assigned to the LST 665 stationed in the Philippine Islands. While sailing in a huge convoy to invade Japan, the atomic bomb was dropped on Japan and the convoy turned around. After spending some time in Pearl Harbor, they returned to the United States and he was honorably discharged in May of 1946.

After his discharge from the Navy, he married his high school sweetheart, Katie Buffington, October 5, 1946 at the First United Methodist Church in Mason City. They recently observed their 66^th anniversary.

After a five-year apprenticeship Jerry became a journeyman steamfitter, and later became a master plumber as well. He was a proud member of Plumbers and Steamfitters Local 405, Mason City. He worked on many interesting jobs around the state and country, including a job in Hawaii where he and Katie lived for five months.

An avid hunter and fisherman, Jerry loved hunting ducks and geese with longtime friends Jack Young and Hart Johnson. He made his own duck boats and blinds, and every weekend in season, often accompanied by one of his sons, he would be out on a marsh calling in the ducks or geese. He also enjoyed the pheasant season, packing the whole family in their 9-passenger station wagon, with a great lunch along.

He loved Clear Lake and knew its reefs, depths and shallows, long before modern electronics. For several years he raised northerns in ponds and when big enough released them into the lake. He was involved with the C.L.E.A.R. project for the restoration of the lake. He was instrumental in getting the DNR to put in a reef on the north shore of the lake, and advised the DNR on its location.

He was a member of the All Vets Golf Course for 40 years, and he and Katie played in many husband-wife tournaments during the summer. He was a member of the V.F.W., Disabled American Veterans, Plumbers & Steamfitters Local 405 and later Local 33.

Left to cherish his memory are his wife, Katie, their children: Tom (Fran) Lindsay, Lansing, Gary (Linda) Lindsay, Cedar Rapids, Susan Lindsay, Apache Junction, Arizona, Sally (Ron) Clay, Charles City, Jay Lindsay and John Lindsay of Mason City. Grandchildren: Michelle Dunn, Denise (Dan) Hall, Robert Lindsay, Gerry (Laurie) Lindsay, Julie (Kevin) Lindsay-Drisko, Nathan (Alishia) Lindsay, John (Lisa) Locke, Katie Locke, James Whitehill, Jared Whitehill, Jody Whitehill, Holly (Justin) Platts, Max Lindsay and Nicholas Lindsay. There are 18 great-grandchildren. Also surviving are sister-in-law, Carol Lindsay, Apple Valley, California, brother-in-law, Stanley Buffington, Martinez, California., and several nieces and nephews.

He was preceded in death by his mother, Vesta Lindsay; grandmother and grandfather; brother, Larry Lindsay; grandson, Jeffrey Whitehill; two uncles and an aunt.

Memorials can be directed to the Clear Lake United Methodist Church, or Hospice of North Iowa.