WICOMICO CHURCH—William H. Lindsey Jr., 90, a retired Foreign Service Officer with the U.S. Information Agency (USIA), died on March 4, 2018, having suffered a severe stroke six weeks earlier.
Bill was born in Atlanta, Ga., on February 6, 1928. He attended and played football for LSU, then transferred to Spring Hill College, Mobile, Al. He served in the U.S. Army in Korea, then attended Officer Cadet School at Fort Sill and subsequently served in the Army in Germany. After leaving the service, he attended Mexico City College, earning a master’s in Latin American history.
In 1963 he joined USIA and, during the following 30 years, served in Chile, the Dominican Republic, Uruguay, Mexico, Colombia, Sri Lanka, New Zealand and Sierra Leone. These two final posts represented the extremes of Foreign Service life. He met his wife, Susan, in Uruguay, where she was teaching at the British Schools. Their son, Lee, was born in Mexico.
He retired in 1993, but returned to government service in 1997 when he joined FEMA as a reserve officer. Over the next 18 years, he was involved in disaster relief efforts from California to Puerto Rico, from Michigan to Louisiana. After a working life spent largely overseas, this third career gave him an opportunity to travel throughout the U.S. and explore many regions of the country. He retired, for the last time, in 2015 at the age of 87.
In 1997, Bill and Sue escaped from life inside the Beltway and moved to Wicomico Church, to live on the shores of the Chesapeake Bay. On his bike, or in his red sailboat, he was a familiar sight to his neighbors.
He is survived by his wife, Susan; son, Lee, and daughter-in-law, Mary, who live in Charleston, SC.; and his beloved dog, Bonnie.
Burial will be private.
