Cecelia Alice Backster Tindall passed away on November 11, 2019, in Everett, Washington. At 91 years of age, Cecelia had lived a memorable and rewarding life, full of family, friends, meaningful work, and commitment to Jesus Christ and the church community.
On April 21, 1928, Cecelia was born to John Harrison Backster and Ruth Eloise Backster in Grenora, North Dakota. When she was a very young child, she asked Jesus into her heart; the remainder of her life reflected the personal commitment she had made as such a young child.
When she was four years old, the family moved to Clearview, Washington, where she attended a “Cathcart School District #109” common school through the eighth grade. When she was fourteen, her parents and all six children moved to a small white house with green trim on the north side of Queen Anne Hill, in Seattle, Washington. Cecelia attended Queen Anne High School all four of her high school years, graduating in 1946 as a member of the Honor Society. As a high school student, she was active in the Seattle First Free Methodist Church youth group, FMY, and enjoyed singing soprano in FMY chorus groups. Following high school graduation, she attended Seattle Pacific College for two years, where she planned to major in either music or home economics.
While she was a student at Seattle Pacific, Cec worked at Western Foods, packing pickles to pay for her college tuition. It was at Western Foods that she was introduced, via a blind date, to Harry William Tindall. From that auspicious beginning, romance bloomed, and Harry and Cec were married on August 6, 1948.
During the early years of their marriage, they made their home in the Ballard neighborhood in Seattle. Their first child, Michael, was born while they lived in Ballard, followed, over the course of six years, by Steven, David, and Cheri. When their youngest child was three, they moved to their big house in the North Queen Anne neighborhood in Seattle, just up the street from Seattle Pacific College.
Cec and Harry were active members of the Seattle First Free Methodist Church, walking the three blocks down the hill to the church every Sunday. They were among the founding members of the church’s Homebuilders class, serving in various official capacities over the years. Cec and Harry especially loved being on the banquet decorating committees, where they created lavish, themed set decorations, table decorations, and printed programs for many Homebuilders functions. Cec also sang soprano in the church choir, but her true legacy was the nineteen years she spent directing the Children’s Cherub Choir, which was the choir for first-, second-, and third-grade children. The choir was huge in those baby-boomer years, and Cec was in her element every other Sunday, as she warmed up their not-so-tiny voices by singing rousing renditions of “There’s a Hole in the Bottom of the Sea” followed by “The Little Brown Church in the Wildwood”, and, at Christmas time, “The Friendly Beasts”. A whole generation of children at Seattle First Free Methodist Church learned to sing under the musical direction of the energetic “Mrs. Tindall”.
Cec worked for eighteen years at Seattle Pacific College/University, first in the bookkeeping and business offices, and the last fourteen years up in the President’s Office as the capable Executive Assistant to President David McKenna. After leaving Seattle Pacific University, she was the Executive Assistant to CEO James Curtis at Milliman and Robertson in downtown Seattle for eleven years.
Cec and Harry moved to Everett, Washington in 1999. Their Everett home was located just a short distance from Silver Lake, where Cecelia had learned to swim back when she was a child living in Clearview, many years prior. Ten years later, Cecelia and Harry moved to Garden Court Retirement Community in Everett, where Cecelia lived for another ten years.
Cec was hard-working, highly organized, meticulous, and smart. She was generous with her time, talents, and resources, and devoted to her church and family. She was creative and treasured beautiful things. And, she loved the color pink, so much so, that in her family, still today, “Cecelia Pink” is the real name for a real color.
Cecelia was preceded in death by her parents, Ruth and John Backster; her five siblings, Beatrice Soethe, Elloise Shipman, Joan Smith, Knighton Backster, Richard Backster; and her husband, Harry Tindall. She is survived by her children, Michael (Elaine) Tindall, Steven (Donna) Tindall, David (Laurel) Tindall, Cheri (David) Rash; her grandchildren Christopher (Janene) Tindall, Andrea (Adam Warbington)Tindall, Jonathan (Alia) Tindall, Jerry Tindall, Daniel Rash, Janelle (Spencer) Sawyer, Jory Tindall, Andrew (Linnea) Rash, Kailee (Matthew) Redman; and her great-grandchildren Benjamin, Savannah, Gabriel, Abigail, and Chiron.
A memorial service was held at Evergreen Funeral Home, 4504 Broadway, Everett, Washington 98203, at 1:00 PM on Tuesday, December 3, 2019, followed by a reception.
In lieu of flowers, the family respectfully suggests contributions to the SPU Tindall Computer Science Endowment, the SPU Women’s Gymnastics Fund, or Seattle First Free Methodist Church.
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