Lilly May Lindbo

LILLY MAY LINDBO
March 28, 1937 ˜ March 31, 2022

Lilly was born on March 28th Easter Sunday in 1937 and passed away after 85 years and three days on March 31, 2022.
Since early childhood she learned the joy of giving and the deep satisfaction from doing so. Each Spring her grandfather - a daffodil growing farmer sent a huge case of hundreds of daffodils to his daughter Esther and her children - Lilly being one of them. Scores of neighbors, teachers, bar keepers, a madam at the local bordello who had befriended her as a child, and complete strangers were surprised when Lilly and her sister Pearl handed them a bouquet of daffodils. They squealed with delight as they were off to the next unsuspecting person.
This practice happened every Spring for years. Lilly loved to see the delight from those surprised by her generosity and kindness. She also liked the satisfaction she experienced when being generous.
As years went by daffodils became loaves of bread, a pot of soup, a plate of hot cross buns, a smile, a hug or a sincere hug or compliment. These spontaneous gifts were like bouquets of kindness. She never stopped handing them out to people.
Lilly helped with the high school youth at American Lutheran in Kellogg, ID, and at Bethel Lutheran Church in Brush Prairie, WA. They loved her. She was positive, authentic, interested in them - often surprising them with kindness, understanding and acceptance.
Lilly often took the side of the forgotten or those who were having a tough time in life. She was a home aide in the head start program. She volunteered to teach adults who were unable to read the notes the teachers sent home with the children. She was just as happy for the newly literate parent whom she taught to read as they themselves were.
Lilly was an enterprising business owner who operated two “Soup and Company” restaurants and a “Company Pizzeria” in Vancouver. She had the same winning ways in these settings. She surprised a cook with a new set of teeth. She hired a young man recently out of reform school.
She was never judgmental. She seemed to understand how rough life sometimes can be.
Lilly is survived by her husband, Gary; their eldest daughter, Julie Ash and her husband Larry and their children Olivia and husband Jackson Ratliff daughter Allison daughter Jennifer Lindbo, son John and his wife Leslie; Joe and his wife Michelle and their children Chloe, Joe David and a Rachel Lindbo. She is preceded in death by her mother, Esther Collins; and sister, Pearl Kraupa. Lilly is loved and will be missed by many.
Her funeral is Saturday, April 9th at 12 noon at St. Andrew Lutheran Church 5607 NE Gher Road Vancouver, WA, with viewing prior from 11:00-11:45 a.m. Graveside service will follow at 1:30 p.m. at Bethel Lutheran Church 12919 NE 159th Street Brush Prairie, WA, cemetery and reception following at 2:00 p.m. at Bethel. Memorials can be directed to W.H.O. (Winter Hospitality Overflow).
Please share a memory @ www.columbian.com/obits