Mary Myung Ok Lindauer was born in Seoul, Korea, on August 24, 1919, and died August 15, 2014 at the age of 94, one week before her 95tth birthday, at the Redwoods Senior Community Center, where she lived since 2005. Mary was a retired Executive for the American Red Cross, where she worked for 30 years in Pasadena and Santa Rosa, California. She was married 62 years to Walter Lindauer, who died in 2004.
In 1920, Mary’s family, including 10 brothers and sisters, immigrated from Korea to Shanghai, China,and eventually to Hawaii. Her father was a leader in the Korean Independence movement and was forced to flee Seoul when the Japanese occupied that country. He converted to Christianity and later founded the Korean Methodist Church in Kauai and Honolulu. Mary’s early life in Hawaii was deeply influenced by these circumstances. Mary graduated from the University of Hawaii in social sciences and had a successful career as an executive social worker.
Mary and her family joined the Orange Grove Friends Meeting in Pasadena and later the Redwood Forest Friends Meeting in Santa Rosa, California, where she remained a member until her death. She loved music and dance. When she retired from the Red Cross she took up the piano and hula dancing. It was a joy to see her enjoying her freedom. She also started a journalism class, which inspired her to become a writer. Mary had a new life after moving to the Redwoods Retirement Center. She joined the journal and poetry writing workshops and wrote volumes of poems and memoirs. She recorded her life in Hawaii in thoughtful freestyle poetry. Her background in reading, art, and music informed her later life, and she was quoted as saying that she “loved being a writer now.”
She was a talented seamstress and knitter all her life, and continued to contribute at the Redwoods knitters group. She was active in the Peace Movement and joined the Seniors for Peace at the Redwoods, a group that has become nationally known for their persistent vigil every Friday. She took full advantage of the diverse community of seniors and made many new friends and relationships at the Redwoods. Mary’s friends always remark on her great sense of humor and a depth of understanding of human nature and compassion for the underdog.
She is deeply missed by her 3 children (Ruth, Paul and Karl), 5 grandchildren, and 4 great-grandchildren, and by everyone who had the opportunity to know her.
