BODACIOUS OWNER Roland Lindsey holds a smoked brisket at his Mobberly Street location in this photo from 2010.

Bodacious Bar-B-Q founder Roland Lindsey’s love for food and serving those around him will live on through his restaurants and memories, his family, friends and customers say. The longtime restaurateur, 78, died Thursday.

Lindsey grew up in Dallas and learned how to cook barbecue in 1955 at his father’s cafe. He eventually operated his own Dallas-area restaurant until 1964, when he married his wife, Nancy.

The Lindseys moved to Longview from Commerce in 1967 and a year later opened the first Bodacious location on Mobberly Avenue under the name Little Roland’s Bodacious Bar-BQ. Lindsey’s childhood nickname later was dropped from the restaurant.

His daughter, Paige Lindsey, said she and her sister, Robin Hightower, “literally grew up in the restaurant.”

Roland Lindsey’s niece, Shelly Butler, was “like (their) sister,” and still works at one of the restaurants, Paige Lindsey said.

“It’s the only life I’ve ever known. … They kept me in a breadbox under the desk, and they had a nursery upstairs. The customers would pass me around,” Paige Lindsey said. “I would get to help Dad with little chores around the barbecue place.”

She said she had to “share him a lot,” but it was worth it.

“(The customers were) like family,” Paige Lindsey said. “It was always good to see people and have a parade of people in our lives because of the restaurants, so it made me love that part about my dad. … It was neat to see him so giving and loving toward other people.”

Her father later opened a second location in Mount Pleasant. Today, Bodacious has 22 locations statewide, she said. The restaurant’s signature sauces, rubs and spices also are sold in grocery stores.

Pitmaster Jordan Jackson is known for inventing the Mother Clucker sandwich at Stanley’s Famous Pit Bar-B-Q in Tyler. Jackson said he worked at the original Bodacious location in 2002 and returned for a second stint in June 2009.

Two months later, Jackson said he met Roland Lindsey for the first time when the Bodacious founder was hospitalized in San Angelo. Jackson was dating Paige Lindsey at the time.

He was scared to meet his future father-in-law in a hospital room, but from that moment, Jackson said they formed a bond. He and Paige Lindsey now are married with children.

“Everybody always told us that we were best friends. We did a lot together. We traveled a lot together with the stores and stuff. We had a love for food. … We were so much alike in that sense, and we just created a bond over food and family,” Jackson said of Roland Lindsey.

Because of Roland Lindsey’s declining health, he closed the Mobberly Avenue location in December 2013. With his father-in-law’s blessing, Jackson reopened the restaurant in June 2015.