Chances are, of the golfers you can name, a woman’s name is not at the top of the list. Yet, for Lynne Lindsay, a resident at The Lantern Alzheimer’s Center of Excellence in Chattanooga, Tennessee, these stereotypes were meant to be broken, and golf was a sport to provide a challenge and to bring joy.
Wide World of Sports
Lynne was born in November 1945 in Washington D.C. to Tyler and Mary Gilbert. She had two sisters and a brother, and the family traveled a lot. After all, her father was in the U.S. Army. Lynne remembers their year in France with particular fondness.
“I grew up playing sports,” Lynne remembered. “I can’t think of any sport I didn’t play except winter sports.”
Her daughter-in-law, Vanessa Lindsay, shared, “She was an overachiever in all things physical.”
Being a military family afforded Lynne wonderful opportunities to participate in a wide variety of sports. And while she was involved in baseball, basketball, swimming, competitive diving and more, golf was always her favorite. There was always a golf course on or near the bases where they lived. Lynne describes herself as a tomboy, and she was even photographed for Life Magazine for an article about girls who played sports.
In college, Lynne attended West Michigan State University. She played rear guard on the basketball team and studied all the sports she liked to play. She earned a bachelor of science in education and became a PE teacher, although she enjoyed playing much more than teaching.
Focusing on Golf
Golf was Lynne’s favorite sport for several reasons. Not only did she excel at it, but the way she saw it, it was a sport where advancement was based on talent. “They wanted to see the good players in the sport,” she said. “You can’t just jump into a sport like golf.”
And she was good. Over the years she played golf at the amateur level, she won numerous trophies. Most of these were in tournaments at military bases, including her becoming the Junior Champion at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas. Lynne was getting noticed as a fantastic golfer. She had two backers who wanted to help her go professional.
One other big reason for favoring golf was, Lynne said, “You meet lots and lots of people.”
It was on the golf course that Lynne met her first husband, Dave, who also liked to golf. He was in the Army, a graduate of U.S. Military Academy at West Point. Shortly after their wedding, Dave was deployed to Vietnam and was killed in action. Meanwhile, discovering she was going to be a mother, Lynne had to set aside her pursuit of a professional golf career.
Expanding the Family
Lynne and Dave’s son, Chris, was born at Fort Bragg, and Lynne set about the difficult task of being a single mother.
That phase didn’t last long, however. Lynne met Doug Lindsay, a fellow golfer, and they hit it off and got married. Doug was a golf pro at Dunwoody Country Club in Atlanta, Georgia, and in Oklahoma City as well.
“We played golf together everywhere we went,” Lynne remembered. “Everybody wanted to talk to me because they didn’t know any women who played sports.”
The couple had a son and two daughters together: Hunter, Darby, and Kirby. Doug also adopted Lynne’s first son, Chris. The family ended up in North Carolina, where Doug got out of the pro scene and worked at a golf store instead, selling golf clothes. Lynne and Doug eventually divorced.
Working Woman
Lynne set to work right away, in sales. “I was a single mom of four kids,” she said. “So much was on me to get stuff done.”
After years of sales experience for several different companies, including telecommunications, she found her favorite in her 50s – Aflac Insurance. She was repeatedly named a Top Performer and even earned trips as a result, which she thoroughly enjoyed.
“She outworked everybody,” her daughter-in-law Vanessa said with a laugh. “She took 10 years and just hammered it. She was competitive.”
To that, Lynne added, “I didn’t want to lose.”
Coming to The Lantern
Lynne retired and started having memory problems. After a hospital stay and rehabilitation, Lynne knew she needed more help. Her family started searching for a memory care community close to several of them in Tennessee.
“We were looking for a place that would be most like home,” Vanessa shared. “We were concerned with the negative stereotypes of nursing homes and memory care centers, but The Lantern was highly recommended.”
Lynne moved into an apartment at The Lantern in March 2024, and as she says, “It’s home now.”
Some of Lynne’s favorite activities at the community include getting her nails done and arranging flowers. Why flowers? “Because they grew on the golf courses,” she said. She also enjoys visits from her family members. She now has 10 grandchildren and four great-grandkids.
Lynne, we are proud of what you have accomplished in your life, and we are privileged to have you as a member of our Morning Pointe family!
