Tryon Lindabury retired 8 years ago from the Houston, Texas police force. From Texas he, his wife Anne (married 49 years in April), and their yellow lab Rebecca have moved to the Columbus area. Mr Lindabury has led a fruitful and interesting life, and is now planning for a great new beginning here.
Mr Lindabury began his adventures when he joined the Air Force in 1964. He flunked the physical to be an airplane pilot the first time because he was too tall. After getting a pass, he flew 141 combat missions in B-52’s, and 39 missions in CH3 helicopters. Four tours overseas in eight years were his gift to our country and since he was facing more tours, he retired from the Air Force in 1972. He is still very pro-military.
Following his military career Mr Lindabury served as a policeman in Houston, Texas for thirty years. During his time there, he never fired his pistol in the line of duty. Lindabury was a Master Peace Officer and certified by the state of Texas. He saw a need while working as an officer to start a program for continuing education after officers finished cadet training. This program was recognized and used throughout the U.S. in later years. He chose to work the streets for ten years in one of the worst areas in town. It later became one of the better areas. One of his fondest memories while working as a policeman was a time when he got to play with President George Bush’s dog, Ranger. Another memory was being able to eat pizza with George Bush.
The Lindabury’s were caretakers for his parents for nine years while in Texas. Mr Lindabury retired from the police force in 2006. After his retirement, He and his wife then became caretakers of his father-in-law in Virginia for four years.
Tryon Lindabury “wanted to leave the flat lands of Texas and come back to the area (he) fell in love with.” Memories of working at the Ridge Crest Baptist Assembly while in high school brought him back to North Carolina. He wanted to live near Mt. Mitchel, so he drew a circle around the area on a map and found Tryon within a hundred mile radius. He thought he would be able to tell people his name was Tryon, he lives in Tryon Estates, which is in Tryon. He found out that two out of three “Tryon’s” was not bad since the Estate is actually in Columbus. He said could still go to Tryon and buy a shirt with his name (which is a family name) already printed on it. They moved to Columbus in October of 2010.
The Lindabury’s are American Canoe instructors and enjoy canoeing and teaching the sport at four main events each year. They are free style national champions winning for four years in a row, and have instructed two winning student teams. They taught in the Adirondacks and are now teaching at the Tryon Estates lake.
Lindabury is living a life that he enjoys. Rebecca, the dog, gets him up and out by 6 a.m. each morning to take a five-mile walk on the trails around the lake where they live. There is hope this will get him back in the shape he was once in as a marathon and distance runner. Since he loves the outdoors, he helps maintain the trails at Tryon Estates.
Tryon spends two hours each day in Bible study, serves on the Activities and Landscape committees of Tryon Estates and enjoys being social. He does computer and TV repairs for other Tryon Estates residents, and keeps up with friends around the world using e-mail.
Tryon sees himself as someone who takes care of himself and enjoys his own destiny. He would like to travel to the western U.S.A. to camp for about two months, something he has done before. His one regret is that he did not keep a diary as he traveled through his exciting life.