John Oskar Lindell was born ____, ____ to Mary _____ and John O. Lindell in Utica, N.Y.. He died ( but in protest)
_____________________. in ________________________. of mostly natural causes.
Mr. Lindell attended Sacred Heart Grammar School (now a community center and partially abandoned), Utica Catholic Academy (demolished for a parking lot) and Utica College of Syracuse University (the Oneida Square Campus was abandoned for a new location). Lindell was an uninspired student in high school though something of a basketball player. He began his years at Utica College in 1955 with an athletic scholarship that he promptly lost due to a grossly inadequate academic performance. Mr. Lindell would become a "student" late in his sophomore year. After getting priorities straight he received his BA from Syracuse University in 1959.
In the autumn of that year Mr. Lindell enrolled in New York University to begin work on a Masters degree in the Department of Government. Upon arriving in New York City he stayed initially at the Broadway Central Hotel (in the 1970s the building collapsed) but then moved to 99 East 4th Street (subsequently razed for a parking lot). Mr. Lindell received his MA degree in 1962.
In 1960 another graduate of Utica College, Annette Nicotera received and entertained Lindell's proposal of marriage. There were family misgivings concerning the proposed match. Ms. Nicotera's Uncle Cy Susso, a superb American patriot, noted that Lindell had no Italian blood, was most probably a communist, perhaps a Russian spy and had no job. Rather courageously she accepted the proposal, they were married and took up residence in Utica. Over the next seven years Mrs. Lindell would issue forth three precocious and beautiful daughters; Catherine, Elizabeth and Jennifer. But unhappily a twenty-two year marriage would end in divorce in 1982.
From 1961 to 1965 - defying the expectations of some - Mr. Lindell found a job, in fact several jobs. He taught at Utica Free Academy (now an assisted living facility), TR Proctor High School and Mohawk Valley Community College. Other employment included the New York State Legislature, IBM and General Electric Radio Receiver Division. As the alert reader will surmise the "radio" industry was not a wise career move. GE would subsequently layoff Lindell, close and abandon the plant. In 1965 he returned to NYU to begin work on a PhD. His area of special interest would be the USSR and he secured his doctorate in 1973. But in 1966 with years of work on his degree still in the future, Lindell accepted a position as an Assistant Professor of Political Science at Hartwick College in Oneonta, N.Y. The Lindells moved from Utica (the population of the city over the ensuing years fell by 40%) to accept the position in Oneonta - "the city of the hills" where "life [is] enjoyed".
During his first two years at Hartwick Lindell occupied an office in a building designated Card Board Alley and shared a wall opposite a row of urinals. In addition he would be "fired" twice for not completing his PhD program. Remarkably he would also be reinstated twice. The CBA building would be demolished and Lindell moved to Arnold Hall and then upstairs into a refurbished Chapel. There he would have an office with a 35 mile view of the Susquehanna River Valley until retirement. Arnold Hall was torn down in 2009 and replaced with a parking lot.
During his 34 years at Hartwick Dr. Lindell taught most of the courses offered by the Department of Political Science, a Department he organized in 1972. But his speciality was Russian/Soviet affairs and through the years he led tours, taught, lectured and did consulting in Russia. Contrary to Uncle Cy's suspicions Lindell was never a member of the Communist Party (his doctoral adviser had in fact vetoed his proposed contact with the CPUSA) and throughout his career Lindell had little interaction with the security services of the USA or the Soviet Union (the exception being in Baku, Azerbaijan in 1988). Professor Lindell did like to emphasize that as the USSR tottered on the abyss of oblivion he gave the Russians "lots of good advice". The USSR totally collapsed in 1991. Dr. Lindell retired in 2000.
In retirement - now a gentle old pensioner - Lindell did many of the things that preoccupy such individuals. In 2000 he sold the family home in Oneonta that he had maintained with care. Shortly after the sale the house was "flipped", became rental property and shortly thereafter a slum. Houses up the street from the old home were also sold and converted to student housing. Finally in June, 2012, Center Street Elementary School - one block away and the pride of the neighborhood - closed forever.
Mr. Lindell also played weak tennis, pathetic golf, did some minor research and inconsequential writing. He lived with his companion Carol A Hanlon for many years (anniversaries were not celebrated or even noted) in Fly Creek, NY and Sarasota, FL. Lindell also worked as a Field Assistant for his biologist daughter Catherine, in the Eden-esque rain forests of Costa Rica and the debilitating humidity of Panama. He crewed on sailboats as a "ship's cook" participating in his only "Mayday" aboard the floundering Critical Path off Boca Grande, FL in 2003. (The crisis would pass and Lindell that evening would serve the crew an excellent baked lasagna dinner.) For five years during tax season he worked as a Volunteer Tax Preparer for an IRS/AARP program in Sarasota. Thus did he face and rather heroically overcome his great fear of the IRS brought on during a period he referred to as My Time of Serious Tax Troubles. For several years Lindell worked with dogs as a volunteer at the Humane Society of Sarasota County rising in rank to K-9 Coach. {The ranking system was then abolished.) He also volunteered at the Sarasota County Animal Services and Satchel's Last Resort. Mr. Lindell often said (paraphrasing Mark Twain) that if there were no dogs in heaven, he demanded to go where they were.
In the autumn of that year Mr. Lindell enrolled in New York University to begin work on a Masters degree in the Department of Government. Upon arriving in New York City he stayed initially at the Broadway Central Hotel (in the 1970s the building collapsed) but then moved to 99 East 4th Street (subsequently razed for a parking lot). Mr. Lindell received his MA degree in 1962.
In 1960 another graduate of Utica College, Annette Nicotera received and entertained Lindell's proposal of marriage. There were family misgivings concerning the proposed match. Ms. Nicotera's Uncle Cy Susso, a superb American patriot, noted that Lindell had no Italian blood, was most probably a communist, perhaps a Russian spy and had no job. Rather courageously she accepted the proposal, they were married and took up residence in Utica. Over the next seven years Mrs. Lindell would issue forth three precocious and beautiful daughters; Catherine, Elizabeth and Jennifer. But unhappily a twenty-two year marriage would end in divorce in 1982.
From 1961 to 1965 - defying the expectations of some - Mr. Lindell found a job, in fact several jobs. He taught at Utica Free Academy (now an assisted living facility), TR Proctor High School and Mohawk Valley Community College. Other employment included the New York State Legislature, IBM and General Electric Radio Receiver Division. As the alert reader will surmise the "radio" industry was not a wise career move. GE would subsequently layoff Lindell, close and abandon the plant. In 1965 he returned to NYU to begin work on a PhD. His area of special interest would be the USSR and he secured his doctorate in 1973. But in 1966 with years of work on his degree still in the future, Lindell accepted a position as an Assistant Professor of Political Science at Hartwick College in Oneonta, N.Y. The Lindells moved from Utica (the population of the city over the ensuing years fell by 40%) to accept the position in Oneonta - "the city of the hills" where "life [is] enjoyed".
During his first two years at Hartwick Lindell occupied an office in a building designated Card Board Alley and shared a wall opposite a row of urinals. In addition he would be "fired" twice for not completing his PhD program. Remarkably he would also be reinstated twice. The CBA building would be demolished and Lindell moved to Arnold Hall and then upstairs into a refurbished Chapel. There he would have an office with a 35 mile view of the Susquehanna River Valley until retirement. Arnold Hall was torn down in 2009 and replaced with a parking lot.
During his 34 years at Hartwick Dr. Lindell taught most of the courses offered by the Department of Political Science, a Department he organized in 1972. But his speciality was Russian/Soviet affairs and through the years he led tours, taught, lectured and did consulting in Russia. Contrary to Uncle Cy's suspicions Lindell was never a member of the Communist Party (his doctoral adviser had in fact vetoed his proposed contact with the CPUSA) and throughout his career Lindell had little interaction with the security services of the USA or the Soviet Union (the exception being in Baku, Azerbaijan in 1988). Professor Lindell did like to emphasize that as the USSR tottered on the abyss of oblivion he gave the Russians "lots of good advice". The USSR totally collapsed in 1991. Dr. Lindell retired in 2000.
In retirement - now a gentle old pensioner - Lindell did many of the things that preoccupy such individuals. In 2000 he sold the family home in Oneonta that he had maintained with care. Shortly after the sale the house was "flipped", became rental property and shortly thereafter a slum. Houses up the street from the old home were also sold and converted to student housing. Finally in June, 2012, Center Street Elementary School - one block away and the pride of the neighborhood - closed forever.
Mr. Lindell also played weak tennis, pathetic golf, did some minor research and inconsequential writing. He lived with his companion Carol A Hanlon for many years (anniversaries were not celebrated or even noted) in Fly Creek, NY and Sarasota, FL. Lindell also worked as a Field Assistant for his biologist daughter Catherine, in the Eden-esque rain forests of Costa Rica and the debilitating humidity of Panama. He crewed on sailboats as a "ship's cook" participating in his only "Mayday" aboard the floundering Critical Path off Boca Grande, FL in 2003. (The crisis would pass and Lindell that evening would serve the crew an excellent baked lasagna dinner.) For five years during tax season he worked as a Volunteer Tax Preparer for an IRS/AARP program in Sarasota. Thus did he face and rather heroically overcome his great fear of the IRS brought on during a period he referred to as My Time of Serious Tax Troubles. For several years Lindell worked with dogs as a volunteer at the Humane Society of Sarasota County rising in rank to K-9 Coach. {The ranking system was then abolished.) He also volunteered at the Sarasota County Animal Services and Satchel's Last Resort. Mr. Lindell often said (paraphrasing Mark Twain) that if there were no dogs in heaven, he demanded to go where they were.
