 She is primarily of Swedish ancestry.In 1997, Lindhome won first prize in the JFK Profiles in Courage essay contest awarded by the John F. Kennedy Library in Boston.Lindhome's subject was United States Representative Carolyn McCarthy (D-NY), whose outrage at the murder of her husband and five others by a gunman on a Long Island train compelled her to challenge and win the seat held by her congressman, who had voted to repeal the Federal Assault Weapons Ban.