Sylvia N. Stindt

Sylvia Naniene Stindt was born in Detroit, Michigan on May 24, 1948 to parents Sylvia Baditoi Rivard and Donald James Rivard. Father Donald was a veteran of the WWII, serving in the army under General George Paton in Europe. His heritage was Canadian. Her mother was of Romanian heritage and grew up in Detroit in a large family of 3 brothers and 4 sisters. Sylvia and Don met at a roller-skating rink in Detroit. She had one brother, Donald Jr. (deceased). She spent her childhood living in Berkley and Royal Oak, Michigan. She graduated from Royal Oak Kimball High school and attended Northern Michigan University for two years. After college she returned to the Detroit metropolitan area and worked in a hospital data processing department at the time punch card technology was beginning to be used for patient records. While living in Royal Oak she and her family were active members of First Presbyterian Church of Royal Oak. At that church she met her husband John Stindt who she married there. Son Andrew’s funeral service was held there after his death along with two friends who were killed in a car crash by a drunk driver who ran a red light travelling 80 mph. He was 19 years old and had just finished his freshman year at Albion College. After her marriage she and John lived in a condominium in Royal Oak, Michigan where son Stephen John was born in 1974. The family moved to Troy, Michigan a few years later into a three-bedroom home in the Windmill Point subdivision. There son Andrew Rivard was born. She embraced the “career” of a stay-at-home mom with total commitment and enthusiasm. She volunteered for school projects and was active in the parent organization at the school. She arranged participation in out of school sports (ice hockey, T-ball, soccer) and music lessons (piano and string bass) for the boys. As the boys grew older, she was a regular attendee at orchestra concerts and events such as Ice hockey and Lacrosse games and Metropolitan Youth Symphony concerts. She and several neighborhood women formed a group to talk and do crafts together. At “Stitch and Bitch” she refined her arts and crafts talent and discovered that items she made could be sold at craft shows. That turned into a business of producing country crafts and selling them at arts and crafts shows in the area. She worked at home during the week and set up shop at craft shows on the weekend. She and John loved to travel. After honeymooning in Vail, Colorado they took several ski trips to rocky mountain resorts. Later they traveled by cruise ship to numerous Caribbean Islands and once to Europe for a river cruise. Lake Tahoe was another favorite destination. One of her life’s favorite memories was the marriage of Steve to Margaret Mazzara of Grosse Pointe Woods. A beautiful wedding and the arrival Alexandra Elizabeth was a return to memories of days holding a baby and watching the amazing growth and development of a remarkable grandchild. Watching the new family grow and prosper was a joy to her. Due to severe arthritic afflictions, she experienced numerous hospital stays for joint replacement and other surgeries her mobility grew more limited. The cumulative effect of these limited her physical activity but not her enthusiasm for University of Michigan football and basketball. Thanks to TV she could continue watching the Wolverines, a pastime that started early in her days with John at tailgates in Ann Arbor. The last few years of her life were spent in northern Michigan living in the family log home on the Manistee River. Living there aroused memories of past kayak and canoe river rides, gatherings of family and friends and visits to art shows across the north in the warm weather months.

Sylvia N. Stindt

May 24, 1948 - January 18, 2025