Lindsay "Big Red" Jewett was born on a farm in Twin Falls, Idaho. He moved with his family to California in 1924 and graduated from Lodi High School, where he was student body president and a member of the football and championship livestock judging teams. In 1928 he entered UC Davis as an Animal Husbandry major, working in the Philo Delphos fraternity and animal science barns while maintaining an outstanding record of student achievement. He was a member of the boxing team, a member of the Alpha Zeta and Sword and Sandals honor societies, served on the Student Executive and Picnic Day Committees, was part of the 1930 championship livestock judging team, and was elected student body president in 1932. The Lindley Trophy for top ranking student on campus in scholarship, athletic ability, and student activities was awarded to him in 1932. Lindsay's younger brother Clinton, known as "Little Red", was also a UC Davis student (see his biography in the Memorial Book).

Lindsay had a long and varied career in the field of agriculture. Following graduation, he taught high school agriculture in Fresno, Los Molinos, and La Puente. While at Los Molinos he married fellow teacher Lorna Sauber. In 1941 he was appointed to the Animal Husbandry staff at Cal Poly SLO where he taught feeds and feeding and swine production. He resigned in 1946 to manage a dairy ranch near Lodi and ship cattle to Hawaii. In 1951-2 Lindsay returned to Davis as an instructor and manager of the farm practice program, teaching practical farm skills and overseeing students in summer farm and ranch internships. From 1952 to 1963 he managed large beef cattle operations, first for the Fred H. Bixby Company, a cow/calf operation where he was also involved in raising and showing Appaloosa and Shire horses, then for the Hollister Company, importing feeder steers from Mexico.

After Lindsay's wife, Lorna, was killed in an automobile accident in 1962, he married Alyce Williams Lowrie, the first female student at Davis to earn a baccalaureate degree. They lived in Davis for several years while Lindsay taught at Winters High School. After his retirement he was active in the community food pantry and as president of the Fort Crook Historical Society in Fall River Mills.

Lindsay and Alyce were recognized jointly by the Cal Aggie Alumni Association with the Distinguished Achievement Award in 1987. He also received the UC Davis College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences Award of Distinction in 1990 and was elected to the UC Davis Aggie Athletic Hall of Fame in 1993. The couple established the Alyce Williams-Lindsay Jewett Fund for short-term student loans.