Laurie Lindeen, an English teacher at Martha’s Vineyard Public Charter School and former frontwoman for the all-woman grunge band Zuzu’s Petals, died from a brain aneurysm at the age of 62 on July 1.
“She was a wonderful teacher and had great, great relationships with her students,” Peter Steedman, director of the charter school, told the Times. “It’s a real shock to our community.”
Lindeen, who moved to the Island in 2022, was a teacher at the Charter School for two years before her passing. Steedman said she attended every school event and went the “extra mile” to support her students.
Lindeen also shared her musical talents with students during “project periods,” according to Steedman.
“She left an indelible mark on our community in a very short amount of time,” he said.
According to music site Last.fm, Zuzu’s Petals was an indie female rock trio formed in 1988 in Minneapolis, Minn., by Lindeen, bassist Colleen Elwood, and drummer Linda Pitmon. The band’s name is a reference to the classic 1946 film “It’s a Wonderful Life.”
The Minneapolis-based newspaper Star Tribune described the group as “the Twin Cities’ pioneering all-female rock band.”
The trio would eventually split in 1994, with Lindeen marrying Paul Westerberg, who is best known for his time with the rock band The Replacements. They had a son named Johnny in 1998, although the couple would divorce in 2014.
After her music career, Lindeen shifted to writing and earned an MFA in creative writing from the University of Minnesota in 2004. In 2007, she published a memoir about her time in Zuzu’s Petals titled “Petal Pusher: A Rock and Roll Cinderella Story.”
“Writing a memoir can change your life. By recreating and reliving things, you get a new perspective, a new understanding, and you’re also making art,” Lindeen, who also hosted writing workshops on the Island, told The Times about the memoir genre in January of this year.
She also taught writing and literature at the University of St. Thomas and St. Cloud State University, both in Minnesota, before she arrived on the Vineyard.
Lindeen wrote in a 2022 Minnesota Alumni magazine essay that moving to the Island with her partner, Jim Diem, after 35 years in Minneapolis, was meant to be a “meaningful and courageous Act Three of my life.”
While she initially worked part-time at a local bookstore, Lindeen wrote that the job wasn’t enough to financially support her and she missed working with young people on writing.
“I have an interview to be an English teacher at the local charter school coming up,” Lindeen wrote in concluding the essay. “Wish me luck.”
Lindeen is survived by her father, Lance Lindeen, and three siblings Megan Lindeen, Hillary Benson, and Chris LIndeen, according to the Minneapolis-based Star Tribune newspaper.
Laurie possessed a beautiful soul, a beautiful smile and an open heart.
She told me that writing brought the good things in life to her.
Rest in peace, dear Laurie .
It was a gift to have been Laurie’s guitar teacher for the last year. During the first lesson, she told me that she had MS. In her memoir, “Petal Pushers”, she describes the terrifying moments when it was discovered, way early in the time when Zuzu’s Petals were first performing. Her joy for life inspires me, even as I am stunned and grieving.
I had known Laurie for only a short time, having met her, her partner Jim, and their mighty dog Morty at the dog park not even two years ago. And yet I was devastated earlier this month to learn of Laurie’s passing. She was person that I had hoped would over time become a good friend. So interesting, bright, and funny. This past winter I took a memoir writing seminar from Laurie where she engaged a varied group of us with her wit, wisdom, irreverence, and enthusiastic support. What an utter shame that her life was cut so short – she had so much more to offer friends, colleagues, and family. I feel cheated, as I’m sure many others do, that her life ended at such a young age. I’ve just started reading her memoir “Petal Pushers : A Rock and Roll Cinderella Story” in hopes of getting to know Laurie a little better.
Comments are closed.