Neil Lindblad was born on August 9, 1941, in Minnesota, and he was the beloved first born son of the late Caroline and Theodore Lindblad.  He was raised in Minnesota with his two brothers, Kent and Gary.  He graduated from high school and bravely served in the United States Navy where he would meet Regina (Gene) the love of his life, the future mother of his children, and his wife of 55 years. Neil married Gene on August 22, 1962, and they were blessed with 55 years of happiness together. Neil grew up in Minnesota, but they raised their family of three boys, Teddy, Scott, and Michael, in New England, including Massachusetts and Vermont.  After both working in Rhode lsland, they would enjoy retirement and spend their golden years in Melbourne, Florida.

Neil not only lived by the Golden Rule, he exemplified the Golden Rule naturally. Neil was a patient, kind, loving father and husband, who worked tirelessly to improve the lives of others.  He enjoyed bingo, cooking, sports, especially baseball, cars and car shows with Teddy and Wanda, nature, the beach, but most of all spending time with family and friends.  Being a friendly, helpful friend and neighbor, Neil would meet many people, who would inevitably become lifelong friends, who felt like family.  However, Doreen, Kerrie, Chrissy, and Taylor, would hold special places in his heart as the "daughters" he never had.

Everyone who knew Neil loved him, and if you were lucky enough to be related to him, you knew you were blessed. Neil made every child, grandchild, niece, nephew, and cousin love him, and he had a way of making you feel like you were the only person in the world. Neil was the kind of Dad and grandpa that inspired Teddy and Wanda and Michael and Julia to share their wedding anniversary of August 22nd as a special tribute of love and respect. Neil was the kind of Dad that inspired his first born son to selflessly donate his kidney without being asked adding decades to his life and legacy.  If you wish Neil was your Dad, well we all did, but that wish came true for the two luckiest people, Wanda and Corrine, when they married Teddy and Michael. Neil was so happy and excited to welcome Brooke into his family and to know Scott found such a perfect soulmate as he had 55 years earlier.

Family was everything to Neil, and he was so very honored that his great grandson, Oliver would be named Oliver Neil. Although Neil's sons are very different, they strongly agree on the point that none of them have even one bad memory of their Dad, not 1 in a total of 156 years worth of memories.  How can that be?  You meet so many people who have had no fathers, mean fathers, lousy fathers, absent fathers, or just ignorant fathers, what made the 3 of us so lucky to be given the gift of the kind of father that 3 different boys and now men have not 1 bad memory, despite giving him so many challenges over the years.

There are so many words to describe Neil: SWEDISH, KIND, LOVING, STRONG, PATIENT, HANDSOME, (NOT JUST GOOD-LOOKING BUT MR. MINNESOTA HANDSOME), HARDWORKING, TALENTED, MECHANICAL, LOYAL, and SMART.  When you realize that he had only 20 short years to prepare for his life's work of being the Best Husband and Father not just that he could be but that anyone could be, you realize it was his love for his wife that made it so easy for him.  There's no other explanation how a 20-year old kid could turn 55 years of challenges into 55 years of happy memories for 4 lucky people based on a call to a switchboard operator.  We are grateful he made that call, and humbled that he made that decision as a 20-year old to teach us that being a great husband and father is easy as long as you pick the right Wife…the rest will fall into place. If you would ever like to honor Neil, please consider becoming an organ donor and following the "Golden Rule" that Neil made look so easy.