Art Lind is a long-time Villager who can serve as an inspiration to us all! Art was born in 1927 on a farm in Minnesota, which is where he developed his incredible work ethic. At 18, he was drafted into the Army and sent to Fort Lewis, outside of Tacoma, Washington. By default, because he could type, he became the company clerk and missed out on all the basic training “fun” stuff, like getting up early, marching, cleaning and guard duty! When that was over, they trained him to compute the officer’s payroll for the 6th Army, which he did for the rest of his enlistment.
He went on to graduate from Stanford, then worked at Lockheed for 28 years in finance and contracts. Art and his wife Pauline moved to The Villages in 1992 and he has been active on almost every board, including the committee to rewrite the association CC&Rs and Club bylaws after the developer turned The Villages over to residents.
He plays pickleball, tennis, table tennis, pool, bocce ball, goes to the fitness center and plays contract bridge. I don’t know when he has time to cook and eat, but he attributes his health to eating properly, switching to organic foods 25 years ago and limiting additives and preservatives.
When Art was 21 years old, he decided to climb Mt. Shasta. Then at 50 he climbed it again with his two sons. At 80, his sons took him to climb it again! He got into shape by climbing to top of the mountain here at The Villages with a 20-lb. pack on his back. Now Art is thinking of travelling to the Czech Republic next year to compete in an over 90 tennis tournament bracket. If you think pickleball is just for younger Villagers, think again!
And as a side note… last Thursday, we held our open play which was a great success—three courts were reserved, and they were all full with people having a blast. Make plans to join us on the third Thursday next month!
