Obituary for John Blackwell Lindenberger
John Blackwell Lindenberger, died at age 91 on September 17th, 2020, leaving behind a grieving but tremendously grateful family for having loved and been loved by such a special man.
Mr. Lindenberger was born in Louisville, a city his ancestor, Capt. James Patten, helped settle in 1778, on Feb. 18, 1929. He lost his father, James Miller Lindenberger, Jr., in a 1934 Easter morning car crash on Lookout Mountain in Chattanooga, TN, that also sent his mother, Gladys (Fishburne; later Bennett), to an extended stay in a hospital. During her convalescence, he and his older sister, Laura Jean, lived with their grandparents.
Graduating from Manual High School with the class of 1946 ½ , Mr. Lindenberger spent most of his career in the photo-engraving industry and was an active member of the Graphic Communications International Union local 552, until his retirement in 1996. He served as president of the local, including a stint in the 1960s when he led the union on strike against the commercial printer, Standard Gravure.
Mr. Lindenberger was a competitive athlete well into his fourth decade, playing basketball and, especially, baseball in the many adult amateur leagues that operated in the post-war years in Louisville. Later, as a father to four sons and a daughter, he was a coach to them and countless other youth baseball players. He coached in leagues in Pleasure Ridge Park and Hikes Point Optimist club and for the boys’ basketball teams at Ascension Catholic School in St. Regis Park.
His children – James Herbert of Tampa, and his wife Carol Bryant; Robert Blackwell of Titusville, N.J. and his wife Judith Lindenberger; Jennifer Nilest of Louisville, and her husband Mike Nilest; Hudson Patrick of Boulder, and his wife Kim Weins; and Michael Anthony of Houston, and his long-time partner Phil Clore – remember him as a powerful inspiration. He was a champion of workers’ rights and civil rights and of treating everyone with fairness.
Mr. Lindenberger is predeceased by his beloved wife Kathy; his parents, Gladys and James; his stepfather, the former minor league baseball player, Herbert Bennett; his sister, Laura Jean Blair, and his brother-in-law Will Blair.
He is also survived by six grandchildren; Nicholas Nilest of New Braunfels, Texas, and his wife Reena Nilest; Rebecca Lindenberger of Philadelphia, Sarah Nilest of Louisville, Jessica Lindenberger of Pennington, N.J., Sophia Kathleen Lindenberger of Denver, and Savannah Lindenberger of Fort Collins, CO.
Visitation to be held Monday, September 21st, at Highlands Funeral Home, 3331 Taylorsville Road, 40205,10:00 a.m. - 1:00 p.m., with a brief non-denominational service from 12:30 to 1:00 p.m. at the funeral home; and burial to follow at Cave Hill Cemetery.
Mr. Lindenberger was born in Louisville, a city his ancestor, Capt. James Patten, helped settle in 1778, on Feb. 18, 1929. He lost his father, James Miller Lindenberger, Jr., in a 1934 Easter morning car crash on Lookout Mountain in Chattanooga, TN, that also sent his mother, Gladys (Fishburne; later Bennett), to an extended stay in a hospital. During her convalescence, he and his older sister, Laura Jean, lived with their grandparents.
Graduating from Manual High School with the class of 1946 ½ , Mr. Lindenberger spent most of his career in the photo-engraving industry and was an active member of the Graphic Communications International Union local 552, until his retirement in 1996. He served as president of the local, including a stint in the 1960s when he led the union on strike against the commercial printer, Standard Gravure.
Mr. Lindenberger was a competitive athlete well into his fourth decade, playing basketball and, especially, baseball in the many adult amateur leagues that operated in the post-war years in Louisville. Later, as a father to four sons and a daughter, he was a coach to them and countless other youth baseball players. He coached in leagues in Pleasure Ridge Park and Hikes Point Optimist club and for the boys’ basketball teams at Ascension Catholic School in St. Regis Park.
His children – James Herbert of Tampa, and his wife Carol Bryant; Robert Blackwell of Titusville, N.J. and his wife Judith Lindenberger; Jennifer Nilest of Louisville, and her husband Mike Nilest; Hudson Patrick of Boulder, and his wife Kim Weins; and Michael Anthony of Houston, and his long-time partner Phil Clore – remember him as a powerful inspiration. He was a champion of workers’ rights and civil rights and of treating everyone with fairness.
Mr. Lindenberger is predeceased by his beloved wife Kathy; his parents, Gladys and James; his stepfather, the former minor league baseball player, Herbert Bennett; his sister, Laura Jean Blair, and his brother-in-law Will Blair.
He is also survived by six grandchildren; Nicholas Nilest of New Braunfels, Texas, and his wife Reena Nilest; Rebecca Lindenberger of Philadelphia, Sarah Nilest of Louisville, Jessica Lindenberger of Pennington, N.J., Sophia Kathleen Lindenberger of Denver, and Savannah Lindenberger of Fort Collins, CO.
Visitation to be held Monday, September 21st, at Highlands Funeral Home, 3331 Taylorsville Road, 40205,10:00 a.m. - 1:00 p.m., with a brief non-denominational service from 12:30 to 1:00 p.m. at the funeral home; and burial to follow at Cave Hill Cemetery.