Lindgren, William M.

World traveler William Marcellous Lindgren was born on September 26, 1922 to Roy and Rudy (Peterson) Lindgren in Braham, Minnesota, a small town just north of Cambridge on Highway 65. Lindgren was an only child.

In 1940, Lindgren entered the University of Minnesota, graduating in 1944 with a BA in Political Science and Economics. In early 1945, Lindgren joined the Royal Canadian Armed Forces and discharged in September 1945. After he was discharged, Lindgren enrolled at the University of British Columbia. He received his master's degree in Political Science and Economics in 1946.

With a connection through his University of Minnesota Sigma Nu fraternity, he was hired by the California Texas Oil Company (Caltex) in early 1947 and would arrive in Shanghai, China, in July of that year for training. In 1961, Lindgren left Caltex and was hired by Pfizer Pharmaceutical Company, then sent to Manila, Philippines. He resigned from Pfizer in 1964 and returned to the United States. Upon his return, Lindgren was hired in 1965 by St. Cloud State University to teach. In 1968, Lindgren resigned from St. Cloud State and was hired by R&D Products and then assigned to Hong Kong.

Lindgren resigned from R&D Products in 1974 and retired to Portugal, yet returned to Minnesota later that year permanently. In 1975, Lindgren was hired again by St. Cloud State to teach and held that position until he retired in 1988. After his 1988 retirement, Lindgren continued to travel extensively. In the spring of 1993, Lindgren learned he had terminal cancer and passed away on October 13, 1993 in Cambridge, Minnesota.

As an employee of Caltex, Lindgren began traveling across Asia in 1947. By the time he returned to Minnesota in 1966 after his stint with Caltex and Pfizer, he had been assigned to China, Taiwan, Hong Kong, India, Pakistan, Vietnam, Philippines, Singapore, and Japan. Whenever possible he would visit other nearby locales, including Macao, Thailand, Cambodia, Kashmir, Nepal, Tibet, and Afghanistan. Given the time frame and locations, Lindgren found himself in the middle of many events that changed the geo-political landscape of the 20th century, among them the establishment of Communist China, its invasion of Tibet and the Dalai Lama’s flight to India, the French-Viet Minh conflict and subsequent Vietnam War, and Cold War movements among the United States, the Soviet Union, and China in the border regions of Central Asia. This also made Lindgren a valuable source of information for American intelligence agencies, which often took advantage of his proximity and ability to move relatively freely in these areas by debriefing him for information.

Lindgren never married and had no children.