Verdelia Jane Lindsey

Verdelia Jane Lindsey died Sunday, July 4, 2010 at the Heart Hospital in Tucson, Arizona. Jane was born in Berthoud, Colorado on Sept. 6, 1928, the daughter of William Thomas and Frances Marie Berges Lindsey. While Jane was growing up, her father worked for Mountain Bell, and he moved his family between communities in Colorado, Utah and Wyoming. During the Great Depression, she lived with her mother and siblings in Knox County, Missouri, while her father remained behind to work in the Rocky Mountains, Tragedy struck the Lindsey family in 1934 when several family members fell victim to a diptheria epidemic. When both father and mother were too sick to care for themselves or their children and the house was quarantined, members of the Rock Springs L.D.S. Relief Society risked their own lives to feed and nurse the Lindseys when doctors and nurses would not endanger themselves to provide medical services. Jane's brother, Robert Duffy Lindsey, just eight-years-old at the time, died from the disease. After the family recovered, the three daughters were baptized members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Jane graduated as Valedictorian from Hot Springs County High School in Thermopolis, Wyoming in 1946. She then attended the University of Wyoming in Laramie where she was a member of the Chi Omega Sorority. She married Loyd Tanner August 28, 1948, and completed her Bachelors Degree in history shortly before the birth of her first child, Marva Ann Tanner in Vernal, Utah, in 1951. She moved to Casper, Wyoming in 1954, where her daughter, Paula Jane Tanner (1954) and son, Mark Gregory Tanner (1958) were born. Jane began her teaching career in Casper in 1960 at the Jefferson Elementary School. After her divorce in June 1962, she moved with the children to Provo, Utah, where she attended BYU for one summer to earn teaching certification in the State of Utah. That fall she moved to Pleasant Grove, Utah to teach third-grade for the Alpine School District. After two years in Pleasant Grove, she taught third-grade at other elementary schools in Orem, Utah. In 1964, Jane received the first in a series of grants which allowed her to complete advanced degrees. Spending the summer of 1966 at the University of Oregon in Eugene, Oregon, she then spent a full year in Tallahassee, Florida (1966-1967), where she received her Masters Degree in Mathematics Education. While continuing to teach third-grade in Orem, Utah, as well as a statistics class at BYU, Jane in 1971 obtained her Doctorate of Education at Brigham Young University in 1971, with advanced studies in Educational Administration. After she received her doctorate, Jane accepted a position as an Assistant Professor in the College of Education at the University of Kentucky in Lexington before moving with her son, Mark, to Bakersville, California, where she taught at Cal-State. Yet another move took her to Cedar Falls, Iowa, where she taught Early Child Education and Childhood Development at the University of Northern Iowa and traveled extensively with her close friend and colleague presenting professional seminars. Health issues initially inspired Jane to move to Tucson, Arizona in 1977, where she began teaching eight-grade history at Apollo Junior High School in the Sunnyside School District. She was appreciated by her fellow teachers as the seasoned veteran she was, and they nick-named her "Brainy Janey" because she seemed always to be the source of answers and solutions. Jane retired in 1997 after teaching in Arizona twenty years. In1995, she bought a small home in Pinetop, where she chose to remain the rest of her life. Jane passed on to her children and many students the passionate love she felt for her country and the principles upon which the American government was founded. Always she demonstrated her resolve to take positions on vital issues and work in the public arena to achieve equity for all. Her children remember her as a dedicated mother who instilled in them love of God, family, and Siamese cats. She also introduced her children and grandchildren to all of the arts and disciplines, including reading, math, music, art, history and science. Jane was preceded in death by both parents, two brothers (John and Bob Lindsey), two sisters (Loraine Jackson and Ruth Wiesener), and her daughter, Paula Cuno. She is survived by her daughter, Marva Hoffmeyer, and son, Mark Tanner, both of Casper, eight grandchildren, and six great-grandchildren. Visitation will be held Thursday evening from 6:00-8:00 P.M. at Owens Livingston Mortuary, White Mountain Chapel (320 N. 9th Street, Show Low, AZ). Funeral services will begin at 2:00 P.M. at the Pinetop Chapel of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (4075 Buck Springs Road, Pinetop, AZ) with an additonal viewing beginning at 1:00 P.M. Concluding Services and Interment will be held at the Lakeside Cemetery.