Melinda Sue "Mindy" Lewis is a fictional character in the town of Springfield on the CBS daytime drama, Guiding Light, originated and, most notably, portrayed by actress, Krista Tesreau.

Mindy Lewis, lovingly called "Princess" by her beloved daddy, Billy, grew up in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Mindy, whose mother died when she was only five years old, grew up spoiled and rich. Mindy came to Springfield in June 1983, with her father following very soon after. Mindy was instrumental in convincing Billy to marry Vanessa Chamberlain, whom she adored. She then started dating Phillip Spaulding, but the heir to Spaulding millions did not pay enough attention to her, so Mindy, in a ploy for attention, made it look like her horse, Boss, trampled her and landed herself in Cedars Hospital. Her roommate was Beth Raines and their new friendship set in motion the friendship between Rick, Phillip, Beth and Mindy that would henceforth be referred to as The Four Musketeers. Phillip and Rick were both smitten with Beth, but Phillip backed off and continued to date Mindy. When Mindy accidentally heard Justin and Alan talking about Phillip being not Alan's but Justin's son, she told Rick, while Beth's stepfather, Bradley Raines heard every word.

Meanwhile, Phillip and Rick planned a surprise party for Mindy on her 18th birthday at the Country Club and, while everyone was congratulating Mindy at the party, Phillip confronted Alan and Justin about his parentage (Bradley Raines had told him the truth). Later, when Beth told Mindy that Phillip was about to leave town, Mindy visited him and told him that she wanted to go with him and the pair made love for the first time. However, Mindy did not really want to go anywhere and, to keep Phillip in town, she asked Beth to convince him to stay. While Mindy begged Rick not to tell Phillip that she had known the truth before him, Alan did and, as a result, Phillip left Mindy during a conversation at Cedars. Mindy vowed to herself to win Phillip back, and one day, she and Rick witnessed Beth and Phillip confessing their love for each other at the stables. Angry, when Mindy learned that Phillip had arranged for Beth to have a secret room at the stables where she could draw paintings, she spitefully leaked this info to Bradley. Bradley took action by threatening Phillip and raping Beth. Later, when Mindy realized Bradley's true nature, she confessed her schemes to Rick and warned Alan about Bradley. At this time, Beth left Phillip and Mindy used this to her advantage by comforting Phillip and sleeping with him again. This time, she did not take her birth-control pills. Soon after, when Beth and Phillip ran off to New York, Mindy and Rick followed and formed a bond while working at Circus Underground.

In New York, a sidewalk Santa named Nick assisted Rick and Mindy in their search after Rick saved Nick's life from a heart attack. When Trudy, Rick and Mindy's boss, bought one of Beth's drawings—a portrait of Phillip as a clown—for $20, the picture led Rick and Mindy to right to Phillip and Beth. By January 1984, the group was back in Springfield and Mindy had fallen in love with Rick. Mindy discovered that she was pregnant by Phillip. Mindy told Rick the truth and he told Ed and Maureen while Mindy told her stepmother, Vanessa, and swore her to secrecy. Meanwhile, Phillip and Beth made plans for their February wedding. After Mindy changed her mind about having an abortion, Rick decided that the baby needed a father so he proposed but Mindy turned him down by saying that they were too young and not ready for marriage. Rick told Billy that he wanted to marry Mindy but Billy agreed that the pair was not ready. When Rick announced that they HAD to get married since there was a baby involved, a furious Billy went to Ed and yelled at him for not keeping a closer eye on Rick. Ed shot back that Phillip was the father, not Rick.

Billy went to the church where Beth and Phillip were about to be married and confronted Mindy about Phillip being the father of her baby. Mindy was forced to confess the truth. Beth was standing nearby and overheard and left Phillip at the altar. Meanwhile, Phillip wanted to be part of the baby's life but Mindy would only permit this if he married her. Though Phillip agreed, the marriage would dissolve, when Mindy miscarried the baby. Afterwards, Mindy became attracted to Lujack Luvonaczek, who only had eyes for Beth. So once again Mindy was thrown over for the sweet Beth. In the meantime, Rick became involved with Roxie Shayne, Mindy's old rival from Tulsa and a jealous Mindy brought Roxie's abusive boyfriend Dub Taylor to town to break them up. When Dub revealed that Mindy had brought him there, Rick was appalled and grew closer to Roxie.

In 1985, Mindy turned to shady Kyle Sampson for comfort. However, Kyle was only using Mindy to get information about Billy in order to take over Lewis Oil. When Mindy found out about his vendetta against her father, Mindy got drunk and shot Kyle in his arm. Not long after, Kyle invited the Lewises to a family dinner and, still under pressure, Mindy broke down and confessed to everyone what she had done to Kyle. To her surprise, Kyle protected her. In the meantime, when Kyle's assistant, David Preston, kidnapped Kyle and demanded $10 million, he hid the money in a juke box but Mindy found it and kept it for her own since she felt it justified all the pain Kyle caused her family. Later, Mindy was exposed and she was forced to return the money. About this time, Mindy began working at Company with Roxie and Roxie's boyfriend from Alaska, Kurt Corday. When Mindy fell in love with Kurt and planned to marry him, a jealous Rick alerted the authorities that Kurt was an illegal alien from Canada. To save Kurt from being deported, Roxie, who had married Kurt in Alaska when she was suffering from amnesia, crashed Kurt and Mindy's wedding and married Kurt herself to keep him in the country. The marriage was quickly annulled. Soon after, Billy demanded that Kurt properly propose to Mindy and give the engagement some time before having a proper wedding.

Later in the spring of 1985, June, Warren Andrews opened up a new nightclub, the Blue Orchid. After Kurt asked her to marry him, Mindy, who loved the ambience of the Blue Orchid, suggested that they have a lavish wedding there. Kurt agreed and the date was for November 1985. Mindy and Kurt had a grand wedding, with Mindy in a gorgeous gown and veil and Kurt in a tuxedo with a white coat and golden pants and white gloves, and Billy gave Mindy away. At the reception, tragedy struck when Billy, who unbeknownst to everyone had been brainwashed by the Largo Organization, pulled a gun and aimed it at Kyle. When her grandfather, H.B., called out Billy's name in the ensuing melee, David Preston was shot instead. Billy looked about to be convicted, until at the 11th hour, Suzette Saxon confessed to shooting and killing David Preston.

Later, In January 1986, Kyle started a new campaign with Jackson Freemont's help to start a new cosmetics line. Kyle, on Jackson's and Beth's advice, decided to have a beauty contest to name the new "Sampson Girl" who would advertise the cosmetics. Rivals Mindy Lewis, Roxie Shayne and Jessie Matthews all vied for the competition to be the "Sampson Girl". As with most beauty contests, there was much backstabbing, nailbiting and a little bit of backstage intrigue. Jackson prematurely created a victory poster for Beth, whom he was falling in love with. Kyle threatened Roxie about her past as a prostitute, after her father, Hawk Shayne, threatened to blackmail Kyle over his illegal ownership of Reva's former house, Reva Bend, Roxie dropped out prematurely from the contest. Mindy used her ability to sell her sexy looks to sway the votes of the judges, much to Kurt's chagrin, and the voting was close with Mindy winning the contest and being named "Sampson Girl". However, Mindy had more to lose—namely, her marriage. As the "Sampson Girl", she traveled, schmoozed and interviewed with the likes of Dick Cavett, while hubby Kurt was busy building their dream house and keeping Company running smoothly. Kurt looked forward to the day when Mindy would become a full-time wife and they could start a family. Kurt was blissfully unaware that Jackson had talked Mindy into signing a no-pregnancy clause for the next five years. Things came to a halt though when Alexandra Spaulding and Hawk Shayne, out of a mutual enmity towards Kyle, fabricated evidence that the "Sampson Girl" contest was a fraud and Mindy's name was mud.