Herbert Lindberg

Dr. Herbert Ednar Lindberg (10-20-30 to 08-22-25)

"Cow's tail Bert" was born on October 20, 1930 in Chicago Illinois, the youngest of five children (the "tail" of the family). The skinny kid who liked to go boating and swimming on the lake at his Uncle Milton's cabin in Michigan went on to be the first in his family to get a college degree, earning a Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering at the Illinois Institute of Technology in 1952. Not content with that, Bert and a couple of friends piled into an old car and drove across country to California, where Bert became Herb and attended the University of Southern California School of Engineering, receiving a Master of Science in Mechanical Engineering in 1954. Herb was then accepted at Leland Stanford University to work toward a PhD in mechanical engineering. It was in the Stanford bookstore that Herb met Mary Mildred Pagels, who was studying for her Master's in education. Mary paid for his books as he discovered he'd forgotten his wallet! Herb paid her back, love followed, and they married in June 1956.

In 1957 Herb and Mary celebrated the arrival of the first of their four children and in 1958 the completion of his PhD at Stanford. After a short stint in southern California working for Hughes Aircraft, Herb and Mary returned to the Bay Area, where they bought a home in Sunnyvale and he took jobs first at Lockheed and then with Stanford Research Institute (SRI). Herb's research in dynamic buckling would contribute to improvements in designs of buildings, bridges, tunnels, and even automobile bumpers. One highlight of his career was receiving an award from the US Journal of Defense Research for best paper of 1978 for research supporting the strategic defense initiative, also known as Star Wars.

Herb loved basketball, tennis, and golf, and especially enjoyed hiking, camping, swimming and boating. He instilled that same love in his four children, taking his family all over California and the Pacific Coast to various national and state parks, as well as visits to Canada. He also enjoyed traveling to Mexico, the East Coast, and Europe with Mary.

Herb was a born leader and for any committee that he joined, he inevitably became president, secretary, or some other officer in charge. Such committees ranged from the Kona Kai Swim and Racquet Club to the South Yuba River State Park, from homeowner's associations to the Nevada County grand jury. Herb was also a lifelong camera bug, and he combined his photography skills and docent volunteering to create a book documenting wildflowers along the Yuba River, and later a series of documentary videos about the rebuilding of the Bridgeport covered bridge.

Herb and Mary retired in the 1990s and in 1998 built their dream house at Lake Wildwood in Penn Valley, where they welcomed their children and grandchildren on many family visits. In 2017 they moved to Eskaton Grass Valley and it was there under hospice care that Herb passed away on August 22. He is survived by his wife, Mary, his children, Barbara Lindberg Heninger, Julie Lindberg, Craig Lindberg, and David Lindberg; his son-in-law Andy Heninger and daughters-in-law Jodie Ueno Lindberg and Micki Zmolek Lindberg; his grandchildren Nadia and Maddie Heninger and Nikolaus, Courtney, and Tyler Lindberg; and his great grandchildren, Aurora Yates and Logan Salinas. Memorial services will be held at Eskaton Grass Valley on Tuesday, September 9, at 2pm. In lieu of flowers, the family suggests taking a walk in nature and appreciating the beauty of the world around you.