When she enrolled at San Diego State University to pursue her teaching credential, she needed to update a bachelor's degree in biology that she had acquired nearly 30 years earlier.

 By the time she began teaching life science to seventh-graders at The Bishop's School in La Jolla in 1977, she had raised four children and attended four colleges.

 "She fell into the role beautifully and quickly made her mark," said Alison Fleming, head of The Bishop's middle school.

 Promoting a hands-on approach to learning science, Mrs. Lindsley sometimes brought rabbits and hamsters into the classroom and shared her affection for snakes and spiders.

 "She could have a student who was scared of snakes wrapping a snake around his neck by the end of the year," Fleming said.

 When Mrs. Lindsley retired in 1990, an award was established in her name to annually honor a Bishop's School seventh- or eighth-grader. It was one of two such awards established in the history of a middle school that dates to 1909, Fleming said.

 Mrs. Lindsley, who had been battling breast cancer for three years, died July 18 in her La Jolla home. She was 79.

 "She loved teaching little boys who couldn't sit still," said her husband, Dan Leslie Lindsley. "They reminded her of me."

 The couple met as seventh-graders in Pasadena and began dating in the 11th grade. They were married 58 years ago.

 In retirement, Mrs. Lindsley took on many roles with the Oceanids, a social and service organization affiliated with the University of California San Diego.

 She served as president of the 400-member organization in the 1990s and operated a monthly forum, Sounding Board, that featured prominent community members as speakers.

 "Jean was a mentor and role model for many women in Oceanids," said Judy Vacquier, a former president of the group. "Although both her hands were injured in auto accidents, and it was hard for her to use her fingers, she served as a corresponding secretary for me when I was president. She would handwrite notes to hundreds of people."

 Mrs. Lindsley was named Oceanid of the Year in 1992. She received the organization's Maxine E. White Outstanding Service Award in 1996 and a special service award last year.

 With her husband, a research biology professor at the University of California San Diego, Mrs. Lindsley shared a love of nature and birds. "We traveled to tropical countries, watching birds and collecting butterflies," he said.

 Mrs. Lindsley was born Lois Jean Whistler on March 5, 1926, in Berkeley.

 "When we went to high school, she wanted to be an English teacher," her husband said. "Then she switched her interest to biology."

 After graduating from South Pasadena High School, Mrs. Lindsley attended Pomona College and the University of California Berkeley. When her husband left the Navy after World War II, she joined him in attending the University of Missouri.

 She earned a bachelor's degree in biology and began pursuing a graduate degree in the study of parasites. However, raising her family took precedence, and she put professional aspirations on hold.

 In the 1950s, while living in Oak Ridge, Tennessee, where her husband was employed by Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Mrs. Lindsley played a role in integrating the community. She joined sit-ins in segregated diners and took part in the community's first integrated summer camps for children.  The camps were designed to bring together black and white students during the summer to prepare them for newly integrated classrooms in the fall.

 When her husband accepted a teaching post in 1967 at UCSD, the Lindsleys settled in La Jolla. Mrs. Lindsley became involved with the Oceanids as a faculty wife. She was active in La Jolla Garden Club.

 She taught as a substitute until being hired full time at The Bishop's School. The Jean Lindsley Award established in her honor acknowledged the qualities for which she was beloved: "honesty, openness to new experiences and ideas, curiosity, generosity of time, friendliness, patience and thoughtfulness."

 Mrs. Lindsley's survivors include her husband, Dan Leslie Lindsley (SPHS '43); daughters, Kathy Salak of Brooklyn, New York and Jennifer "Peggy" Lindsley of Walnut Creek; sons, Dale Lindsley of Seattle and Dan "Dart" Lindsley of Santa Cruz; seven grandchildren; and a great-granddaughter.

San Diego Union-Tribune, July 25, 2005