In Memoriam: Nancy Lindeberg
Nancy Lindeberg (June 20, 1948 - July 20, 2024)
Beloved and long-time member of Saint Peter’s, Nancy Lindeberg, died in Christ late on Saturday evening July 20th. Two and a half years ago she was diagnosed with a rare form of abdominal cancer that was expected to take her life in just a few months. An athlete who completed many 5ks, 10ks, and marathons, Nancy was determined to do everything in her power to run this particular race with cancer (twelve years ago she was diagnosed with breast cancer) as long and as fully as possible. True to her inimitable resolve, Nancy did precisely this up to the very last hour of the day. Via speakerphone, Nancy was surrounded in the fianl moments of this journey by a few of the several people who supported her in her training and ran this race alongside her: her brother, Scott, and his family, and Kathy and Tom Schmidt.
Nancy was as much an athlete as she was an actor—a gift she shared here at Saint Peter’s most memorably in our annual dramatized presentation of the Saint John Passion on Good Friday. She sang in the Choir of Saint Peter’s for decades, even through her first cancer diagnosis. And as though this weren’t enough talent to share with others, Nancy was one of the key members of Saint Peter’s Merciless Band, a folk music group that performs from time to time made up of beloved friends. Actually, it is more accurate to say family.
In every way possible, Saint Peter’s was Nancy’s family. Though her beloved mother died at 105 only a few years ago and her niece lived in Brooklyn while completing medical school, Nancy’s 50+ years in New York City were a long way away from her mid-western home. From Thanksgiving lunches to Christmas dinner; from vacations on Isla Mujeres to funerals, weddings, baptisms and more; from opening nights to annual theatre festivals, Nancy’s years were integrated into so many of our lives.
Mass of the Resurrection with Inurnment in Saint Peter’s Columbarium for Nancy will be held on October 26. The Saint Peter’s Choir will sing the Fauré Requiem and Saint Peter’s Merciless Band will offer music.
As we hold Nancy, the community she called family, and her family in our hearts, I invite us all to pray this prayer:
God of all grace, we give you thanks because by his death our Savior Jesus Christ destroyed the power of death and by his resurrection he opened the kingdom of heaven to all who call on his name. Make us certain that because he lives we shall live also, and that neither death nor life, nor things present nor things to come, will be able to separate us from your love in Christ Jesus our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen.