IUPUI is Indiana's premier urban research university. The campus enrolls more than 30,000 students in 20 schools and academic units.
School Alumni Associations
IU School of Social Work Alumni Association
Alumni Profiles
Lew Linde
My desire and motivation to enter social work to help people with their problems follows the force of ancestral energy with my maternal grandmother as a frontier midwife, my father, a country doctor of 55 years, and my mother, a school teacher and it was easy to follow in their footsteps. The youngest of a family of three, I was born on May 11, 1928 at Starbuck, MN.
After finishing high school in 1946, I enlisted in the U.S. Air Force for a three year term and became a weather observer. Best of all, I became eligible under the G.I. Bill for forty eight months of college. In 1949 I enrolled in Concordia College in Moorhead, MN and graduated in 1953 with a liberal arts degree. In the fall of 1953, I enrolled in night classes at the William Mitchell College of Law and I went to work as a public assistance caseworker at the Ramsey County Welfare Department in St. Paul, MN in 1954. I applied for, and was awarded a two year social work scholarship from the State of Minnesota in 1955 and chose to attend the Indiana University Division of Social Service because of the friendly and warm acceptance of my application. Another strong factor was that my Aunt Martha and her family lived in Indianapolis.
My first year of field work was at the Marion County Juvenile Court and my second year was at the Indianapolis VA Hospital. The Division of Social Service faculty did an excellent job of introducing me to the profession. Director Mary Houk was extremely impressive. She was a competent educator and a woman ahead of her time. My field work instructors, Meritt Gilman, Juvenile Court, and Margaret Neville, VA Hospital, passed on a wealth of knowledge and practice skills. Freudian philosophy was a prominent part of the curriculum at that time and most case diagnosis mentioned a Freudian idea. Although much of Freudian thought is outmoded, I still believe that the id, ego and super ego concepts are valid. On the last day of school, Margaret Neville gave this word of advice, "If you remember anything from IU, always stick to reality." I received my Master's Degree in Social Work on June 10, 1957 at the graduation ceremony in Bloomington, IN.
Because of my scholarship commitment; I returned to Minnesota and worked two years at the Hastings State Hospital as a psychiatric social worker. I had completed half of my law school studies and was undecided about completing work on my law degree. Mary Houk had encouraged me to finish law school citing sisters Grace and Edith Abbott, pioneer social workers, who were lawyers at the University of Chicago. She said that a law degree would enhance my social work practice. I decided to finish work on my law degree. I graduated from the William Mitchell College of Law in 1960 and I was admitted to the Minnesota Bar the same year.
My work history over the past 50 years has included employment with a blend of social work wisdom and knowledge with legal principles and practice. Some of my significant work experiences were in public welfare, psychiatric social work, consulting with non-profit child welfare agencies, supervising state adoption and foster care services, and refereeing public welfare appeals. I also worked in corrections as the chair of the Adult Parole Board, Administrator of the Minnesota Corrections Board, Executive Officer of Juvenile Releases and a Middle Manager at Stillwater Prison.
Upon my retirement in 1991 from the Minnesota Department of Corrections, I became a volunteer (Pro Bono) attorney with Southern Minnesota Regional Legal Services in St. Paul, specializing in Family law. Since 2000, I have been associated with Legal Assistance of Dakota County. As a volunteer lawyer, I have handled approximately 175 divorces. In 1994, I was awarded the Minnesota Legal Services Coalition Pro Bono Public Award and in 2006, I was given the First District Minnesota State Bar Association Pro Bono Award.
On a personal note, my beloved wife, Marcella, a graduate nurse, died of cancer in 1998. My youngest son, Paul, is a San Francisco psychiatrist and is on the medical school faculty at the University of California, San Francisco Medical School. My youngest daughter, Sara, is a high school counselor at Richfield, MN.
I will always be deeply grateful for my education, training and experience at the Indiana University Division of Social Service. As a result, I have had many rich personal and professional dividends over the past fifty years.
See the IUPUI Office of Alumni Relations Calendar of Events for upcoming School of Social Work alumni programs.
School of Social Work web site
IUPUI Office of Alumni Relations contact:
Karen Deery, (317) 274-8959 or kdeery@iupui.edu
