It was only recently that her husband began showing signs of coming out of what she called his emotional "coma."
For about a month after the Glendale crash, Lintner wondered whether it was a good idea to take the train again. But his family said he enjoyed riding the train because of the sense of community he forged with other passengers and the time it afforded him to catch up on his reading. So he decided to continue taking it to work.
But Michelle didn't like it when her husband started meeting with other survivors of the crash. She said it was unhealthy because she thought the group talked more about the crash than about healing from it.
She worried he wouldn't get over the accident. She recalled how he would have an "allergic"- type reaction whenever he saw images of the crash on television. She said he carried with him a newspaper clipping with a photo of Juan Manuel Alvarez, the man convicted of first-degree murder for causing the crash.
"I don't know" why he carried the photograph, she said. "Hate, probably. Because that changed his life."
At meetings with other survivors, Hudson said, Lintner talked proudly about his 15-year-old son, Andrew, a rabid Angels fan like his dad. They would go to as many games as possible each summer.
A pitcher in a prep league, Andrew would practice with his father in a field behind their house in Simi Valley. They enjoyed taking trips together to baseball stadiums throughout the nation.
One of the trips was to Wrigley Field in Chicago, a few hours' drive from where Lintner grew up in Beardstown, Ill., family members said. Souvenirs from their trips were kept in a glass case in the house.
Lintner had met Michelle in college. He helped her with English and showed her his lecture notes. She realized she was in love when she went on a 10-day trip to New York and missed him dearly. A year before graduation, he asked for her hand in marriage. He treated her like a queen, she said.
"We didn't have money or nothing, but we just married," she said. "I thought that would be my life, forever with him."
After the 2005 crash, Lintner often tried to hide his pain from his wife and son. He joked as he showed his family the dark bruises that marked the left side of his body. There were also bursts of anger, but then Lintner would immediately put on a happy face when his son walked into the room.
"He lied a lot to me," Michelle said, "because I wanted to be back to normal."
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ari.bloomekatz@latimes.com
victoria.kim@latimes.com
hector.becerra@latimes.com
