Mae Lindsay

(1903–2005)

(b. Dorchester, Massachusetts, 29 May 1903; d. Timberville, Virginia, 5 March 2005) (Boston University, BA 1934, MA 1944; educator, pianist, singer). 

Mae Lindsay taught Music Appreciation and was chorus director at Braintree High School in Massachusetts from the 1930s until her retirement in 1965.  In 1962 I took her Music Appreciation course as a full five-credit major―those were the days when music was a valued part of education. I soon realized that Miss Lindsay was teaching all subjects through music, from literature and geography to history and government.  Her approach to music and education opened new worlds for me.  Later when I began my own independent studies of music, I developed a series of pioneering programs on women in classical music based on Miss Lindsay’s innovations, philosophy and approach. This led ultimately to the founding of the Maud Powell Signature magazine.  Mae Lindsay became a role model for me and I often wonder what direction my life would have followed had I not known her.  As I grew older and became more aware of how much she influenced my life, I regretted that I had never said “thank you.”  In 1995 I decided to find out what had become of her and made inquiries.  Much to my surprise and delight I found her alive and well and living just two hours from me in Virginia where she had retired.  She was just celebrating her 92nd birthday and was leading such a busy life that I had to wait three weeks before we could meet and I could say “thank you” in person.  We enjoyed a rewarding friendship until her death just two months shy of her 102nd birthday in 2005.  I will let Mae Lindsay have the final word.  “Education without some musical knowledge is incomplete.”

― Pamela Blevins, Editor of The Maud Powell Signature, Biographer of Ivor Gurney and Marion Scott

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