Michael Wallace Lindow

Michael Wallace Lindow passed away on February 11, 2024 at South Florida Baptist Hospital with his family – wife, Ellen Celeste Lindow; son, Kevin Michael Lindow; daughter, Lydia Lee Lindow; grandson, Timothy (Tike) Forbes in attendance. He is also survived by his mother, Leona Lindow, grandson Keifer Ancell and granddaughter Adalee Knight-Lindow. Michael was born in Neenah Wisconsin in January of 1955 to Wallace H. Lindow and Leona L. Lindow and grew up in West Allis and New Berlin, Wisconsin. At the age of 16, his parents left Wisconsin for a warmer climate for his father’s health. They bought a chicken farm in Seffner, Florida and Michael attended and graduated from Brandon High School where he was editor of the literary magazine and the school newspaper.

He had a passion for writing and reading science fiction that while attending the University of South Florida led him to form a science fiction club with a group of friends. It was at the Science Fiction and Literary Association that he met his wife Ellen Celeste Lindow, a Florida native and had to grudgingly admit that maybe Florida wasn’t all bad. He earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Biology and a Bachelor of Arts in Science Education from USF while working nights as a machinist with his father. In addition, he fed chickens daily and helped with maintenance and upkeep on his parent’s 50 thousand bird egg farm.

Farmers aren’t necessarily paid well, so after graduation from USF, Michael began teaching 7th grade science at Eisenhower Middle School where he enjoyed having a room full of animals the students could touch and get excited about science. Then PCs were invented, and Michael was fascinated. When a chance came to teach the first introductory computer course at Eisenhower, he jumped at the chance, even assembling the computer desks and Apple IIe computers himself. In a few years he obtained his Master’s degree in Instructional Technology and Educational Leadership and worked for the rest of his career providing support for teachers and students in Hillsborough County, even recruiting his two children to help set up computers at the opening of Durant High School before they were old enough to attend high school themselves. (Now there’s a team of actual adults hired to put the computers in a new school). He also began teaching an introductory class in Microsoft Office at Hillsborough Community College which he was still doing at the time of his passing.

All the while, he continued to share his love of animals and love of science fiction with his family and community. Over the years he kept llamas, alpacas, goats, chickens, and a parade of dogs, all of whom loved him at first sight and were his devoted friends, like Napoleon, a neighbor’s Doberman who ran up to him while Michael was on his daily run and refused to leave his side. The neighbor finally gave up and let Michael keep the dog. Michael planned for retirement by looking for a puppy he could raise, as most of his dogs came into his life as rescues. He found a litter of Great Pyrenees, went to meet them and came home with two puppies. Sara and Starbuck are beautiful, well-behaved dogs that fit his routine perfectly, giving him great joy over the past four yeaRS.

Arrangements entrusted to Neptune Society, Palm Harbor.