Lindy Anderson of Clermont has decided to honor the legacy of her late sister Carol, by offering furniture gifts to local needy people and families monthly. Both women always actively supported their communities with donations and community service work. Lindy Anderson notes, “A New Beginnings Carol Anderson Furniture Grant Program has been set up to help those in need. These monthly gifts will continue to share a redeemed endowment for Carol Anderson with her lifelong spirit to help others.
Lindy notes, “Carol Elaine Anderson was a very accomplished woman. We were both competitive athletic and sports enthusiasts growing up, often swimming at a lake, pool, or the beach. Carol loved diverse activities like photography, ballet, fencing, acrobatics, animals, reading, writing, riding horses, chemistry, science, bike riding, and law. She always wanted to be a physical education teacher. Carol’s many talents enabled her to graduate third in high school. Due to many challenges in her life, she professionally switched her dreams and career directions.”
As a respected graduate lawyer who studied at Wellesley College and the University of Florida, she proudly became selected and honored as one of the first two female public defenders in Florida working for Heiman, Crary Law Firm in Miami and Stuart, Florida. After a successful stint specializing in Real Estate Property matters and Condominium law, she eventually opened her law firm in Stuart, while marrying a retired man who shared her love of sports, going fishing, and enjoying the outdoors. They got married on a boat.
Years later after some unforeseen career challenges, her husband passed, and she moved to Miami Beach. Everything in her life started to go downhill. She unfortunately lost her hearing, became legally blind, diabetic, an alcoholic, and homeless. She started to live as best she could in a special homeless hotel property where they only spoke Spanish while she sadly had to live with no phone, no refrigerator, and no car. After getting stuck with deadly addictions, debilitating herself by falling, and catching various diseases and illnesses; she passed away in October 1990 at the young age of 44.
Lindy Anderson shares, “Her medical, physical, and mental conditions deteriorated. Even though the last time I saw my sister was 7 years before her death, I remember my sister as a successful, perky, young, smart, and talented woman. With alcoholism, she became an outcast to her family and parents. I continue to wish always for my sister’s death to not be in vain. If you know of someone who may be destroying their lives by alcoholism, addiction, or an unhealthy lifestyle, do not judge them. Rather, stand by them, urge them to get help, and then most importantly stay with them while they are getting help. With love and faith, all things can change for the better. People with problems, be it alcohol or other, need to know there is always somebody there for them to lean on. Change cannot be done alone. As it says in my favorite Galatians, Chapter 6:2 bible verse, “Bare one another’s burden to fulfill the law of Christ”.
Lindy Anderson continues, “I dedicated a beautiful big Jonah’s Fish slide at Paradise Park, in a Clermont playground behind my home in memory of my sister Carol. I dedicated this at a special living legacy ceremony with my new sisters from our church bible study group, the Glow Girls. Carol loved sports, fishing, and the outdoors. The love my sister had for teaching swimming, fishing, and tennis, she shared with younger at Camp Illahee, in Brevard, NC. I know she would smile from above knowing a playground would be where she was memorialized and remembered. The sound of children’s laughter is the sweetest in the world. I smile for my sister every time I hear laughter from my backyard.”
Lindy adds, “My sister was a very vital and spirited woman. I understand some of life’s unfortunate challenges. I want everyone to know that it’s not the end when you are down and out. Bad things can happen to good people, yet there are organizations like New Beginnings that will offer you a valuable and positive hand-up. I am proud to help New Beginnings establish this new Carol Anderson Furniture Grant Program as a living legacy to help others for many years to come.”
For more information about these furniture grants, fill out an application at www.NBCFL.org or contact 352-404-6946. Visit their Thrift Store at 415 Citrus Tower Boulevard in Clermont, FL 34711. Follow New Beginnings on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/NewBeginningsofCentralFlorida/
