Phoebe Ruth Lindsay, 94, of La Junta passed away on September 10, 2018 at the Arkansas Valley Regional Nursing Care Center. She was born on February 27, 1924 in Skiatook, Oklahoma to Samuel N. & Nellie M. (Holbrook) Cooper. Phoebe grew up on a farm near Skiatook, OK, the 10th of 12 siblings.
Her father passed away when she was a teenager, and within a year the bank foreclosed on their home. She and her siblings went to work to support their family. She met Bill Lindsay,… Read More » of Sperry, at a church function when they both were about 14.
They were immediately interested in each other. He offered her a piece of chiclet gum, and a life-long romance began. During their courtship, Bill went to visit Phoebe.
The couple wanted to make popcorn, and Phoebe’s mother objected, saying they couldn’t make it until the kitchen was cleaned. Phoebe then put an apron on Bill, and they cleaned the kitchen together, then made popcorn. After high school Phoebe attended Tulsa Bible College, where she became a licensed minister with the UPC church.
While she was at Bible College, Bill returned from his service in the Navy. They shocked a few people by marrying during the Bible College quarter rather than waiting for the break as was the norm. She and Bill moved to Rocky Ford, CO in 1953, where they raised a family of 8 children.
Phoebe was a very engaged mother – she would read the Bible and pray with her children before they left for school, was a den mother when her son Titus joined cub scouts, ran a Bible study for kids in the neighborhood, and would feed any neighborhood children she believed to be undernourished. During their golden years, she and Bill volunteered together for Meals on Wheels and did ministry work for the local county jail and the Arkansas Valley Correctional facility in Ordway for 13 years. Bill and Phoebe moved to La Junta, CO in 1993, where she became involved with the local pregnancy clinic.
Bill passed away in 2007 after 60 years of marriage. He was always present in Phoebe’s heart and she wore their wedding bands on a chain around her neck. Phoebe loved music.
She played the piano and the accordion, and loved to sing and write her own songs. Phoebe never met a stranger. After one Greyhound ride to Oklahoma, she emerged cheerfully from the bus, eager to introduce her family to her seat-mate with whom she had become fast friends.
She enjoyed sewing and canning, and would can anything up and including crab apple jelly. She would feed anyone who came into her home, and was known to her friends and family as incredibly kind. She is survived by her children, David (Anna Mae) Lindsay of Alamosa, CO; Teresa (Arley) Chamberlain of Rose, OK; Annetta (Mike) Bundy of Locust Grove, OK; Timothy (Bernice) Lindsay of Colcord, OK; Tina (Michael) Sczekan of Denver; Rose Mary Thulin of Buna, TX; Titus (Lynne) Lindsay of Conway, AR; June (Kevin) Harsh of La Junta; sister, Marietta Frazier of Fowler; 15 grandchildren; 15 great-grandchildren; numerous nieces and nephews also survive.
She was preceded in death by her parents, husband, three brothers and seven sisters. Funeral service will be held Wednesday, September 12, 2018 at 2:00 p.m. at the Peacock Memorial Chapel with Pastor Steve Hicks of the Cheraw Baptist Chapel officiating. Interment will follow at the Fairview Cemetery in La Junta.
In lieu of flowers memorial contributions may be made to either the Alzheimer’s Association, 225 North Michigan Ave. , Suite 1700, Chicago, IL, 60601 or the Arkansas Valley Pregnancy Center, 118 W. 4th Street, La Junta, CO, 81050 direct or through the Funeral Home. Peacock-Larsen Funeral Home & Arkansas Valley Crematory is in charge of arrangements.
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