Contact for press inquiries, interviews, and photo requests: Cheryl Todmann | Cheryl.Todmann@kbcc.cuny.edu | 646-897-2508

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48 Years Ago: Amelia Met Jef on the Campus of Kingsborough Community College

It was September 1974 when President Gerald Ford pardoned Richard Nixon, and Aretha Franklin’s “Ain’t Nothing Like The Real Thing” and Waylon Jennings “I’m A Ramblin’ Man” both peaked on the music charts. For Brooklynites Amelia Trombetta, 19, and Jeffrey Lindauer, 20, the notable moment occurred at Kingsborough Community College, when they literally bumped heads in a freshman sculpture class where Jef was a student-teacher.

One rainy day soon after, as Amelia remembers it, she had an art history class in the old N-100 building (the former barracks building turned into an auditorium). Small in stature, Amelia was toting gear from her painting class, her sketch pad, and some other art tools.

“Jef came and sat next to me, and we said hello. I had on a necklace, which broke and fell to the floor. When I reached down to pick it up, he did too, and we banged heads,” she recalled. After class, he offered her a ride home in his Volkswagon because it was raining. They talked all the way home to her house in Dyker Heights (he lived in Bensonhurst). He asked Amelia for her number. “He called me that night, and we’ve been together ever since.”

Seven years later, they were married. They have two children and four grandchildren.

Now, 48 years later, Jef and Amelia Lindauer, Staten Island residents, returned to where the magic started at KCC. They came back to Kingsborough after hearing about the My Turn program and decided to continue pursuing their interest in the arts and sculpture. “We received literature about the My Turn program a few years back. We were going to do it, but then COVID happened. Now we can,” said Jef, 69, who retired five years ago after 40 years as a retoucher for commercial photography.

“We both wanted to get back into a big studio. We have a studio at home, but we don’t have the same space, or welding and ceramics equipment the studios have to offer here,” said Amelia, 68, who retired from the NYC Department of Education as a paraprofessional after 24 years.

Jef received his bachelor’s degree in fine arts from Queens College as a part of the CUNY BA program, which allowed him to take courses from different schools within the City University system, including Kingsborough. Amelia finished her degree at Empire State College as an adult, receiving life experience credits for her art courses at Kingsborough, jobs in the arts, as well as her personal artwork. 

“We are thrilled to be back. It’s great to be with younger and older people of all different backgrounds,” said Amelia. And they are grateful for the teachings of Prof. Gabriel Bennett, their figure modeling and carving instructor. “He’s exceptionally supportive and generously involved in the learning process. He’s more than an instructor, he’s an artist, and that makes all the difference.”

Welcome back, Jef and Amelia!