Mrs Juanita Mary Lindena

Juanita Mary Lindena was born September 3, 1935 in Kalispel, Montana to Louisa (Anderson) Murphy and Anthony Patrick Murphy and joined her three year old sister Patricia. It was the depth of the depression and the family joined other family members who had leased land from the Flathead Indians at Elmo on beautiful Flathead Lake. The families worked together and survived the depression. When Juanita was five years old the family moved to Polson, also on the lake, where her father was able to secure more work. In 1943 during WW II, the family moved to Fairchild Air Force Base near Spokane, WA where her father obtained a position as Manager of Roads and Runways. He needed to be there 24 hours a day so they lived on the base. Juanita and her sister were the only children and there was no school on base. For four years they rode the military buses 14 miles each way to Spokane, first attending Our Lady of Lourdes Cathedral elementary school. Juanita began piano lessons and when she completed eighth grade entered Holy Names Academy on a scholarship. In her Senior year she auditioned for the Spokane County Civic Scholarship for Music and won, giving her the opportunity of attending Holy Names College. It was the first time any school won that award two years in a row. The family then moved to Spokane. The summer between her third and fourth year in college, Roger Wagner did a summer sabbatical there and Juanita auditioned with him. He told her that if she came to So. California when she graduated, he would put her in one of his choral groups. She did do that. She then obtained a position with the California Teachers system. She taught at the elementary school in Granada Hills for 35 years. She married Siegfried Lindena in the early Sixties and they enjoyed travelling to his native Germany, Hawaii and British Samoa. Siegfried passed away in 1995. After retirement, Juanita became very active volunteering at the San Fernando Mission Archives which she enjoyed very much and where she made many very supportive friends. Juanita was preceded in death by her parents and half brother, Edward Murphy. She is survived by her sister, Patricia Halvorson and nieces Theresa Bryan, Kathleen Patterson and Colleen Swanson.

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Mrs Juanita Mary Lindena

September 3, 1935 - January 30, 2019