Cynthia “Cindy” Louise Deal, age 68, passed away on Friday, July 26, 2024, following a brief illness.
Funeral services will be held at the Free Church in Lander, Wyoming at 1:00 p.m., Friday, August 2, 2024 followed by burial at Mount Hope Cemetery and a Celebration of Life at the Lander Community Center.
Cindy was born in Henderson, Nevada on December 2, 1955, to Richard “Dick” Whitlock and Sheila Marie (Downey) while her dad was stationed at Nellis Air Force Base. When Cindy was still an infant, the family moved to Jeffrey City, Wyoming where Cindy attended school through her freshman year of high school. Cindy loved living in Jeffrey City and was the oldest of four children and spoke fondly of the deep friendships that were born during her Jeffrey City days. After 9th grade, students had to attend school in Lander, 60 miles away, and stay with a host family. The eldest son of her new host family, Bill, was away at college and was heavily encouraged by his mom to come home to “see their new dishwasher” Cindy. After a brief six-month courtship, the two teenagers tied the knot and proved everyone wrong as they recently celebrated 52 years together.
After almost two years of marriage, Cindy and Bill welcomed their first daughter, Kendra Anne. They continued to expand their family welcoming Shawna Marie and Jolene Louise a short time later. Their family was completed with the addition of Shane Nicholas. With four young children, and still young herself, Cindy began the best adventure of her life: creating a home and pouring love into her family.
Above all else, Cindy made things fun for her four kids and spontaneity often took priority over schedules, particularly when she was young. Daily chores turned into dance parties, blanket forts were a regular occurrence and games of bok-bok chicken both thrilled and terrified her daughters. However, fun is not to be confused with a lack of structure, as she was also very strict and is legendary for the lengths to which she’d go to keep her kiddos on the straight and narrow during their high school years. Her investigative and interrogation skills rivaled those of an FBI agent. Throughout her life, she continued to be “inquisitive” which helped her in her role of family communicator, ensuring that each member knew the details of each another’s lives, often through daily phone calls. Although her adult children never outgrew the requirement to check in while traveling and these measures sometimes drove them crazy, they knew that it was due to her unwavering love.
Throughout their 52-year marriage, Cindy and Bill always prioritized what was best for the family, which led to several moves, including Blanding, Utah in 1981, Martinsville, Indiana in 1993, back to Blanding in 1994 and then home to Wyoming in 2001. During each of these moves, Cindy added new friends who appreciated her humor, her wit and her loyalty. Cindy was the very best kind of friend; unfailingly loyal and dedicated.
Cindy’s focus was always her family and all her grandchildren adored spending time with her. She spent hours playing with them; teaching them all to play cards, entertaining them with tales of Shoshone Lake and making special treats for them. Her specialties of peanut butter fingers, macky or cinnamon rolls were frequent requests. She showered her entire family with love through her cooking and passed on that passion to each of her children and grandchildren. She also loved decorating, and redecorating, as it wasn’t uncommon for her family to come home to a completely rearranged home after she got an idea about something. One of Cindy’s absolute favorite pastimes was coffee time with her family. Coffee time was not just a cup or two and wasn’t even about the coffee. Rather, coffee time was an event, spanning several hours where the conversation flowed effortlessly. She could talk about everything, or nothing at all, and still never run out of things to say. Coffee time is one of the things that her family will miss the most.
Cindy was a private person, and kept her circle small, but was fiercely protective of those within it. She loved taking a break from the responsibilities of daily life to go on a picnic or head to the mountains and enjoy God’s creation. She loved the simple things in life; watching aspen leaves move in the breeze, the smell of rain and spotting wildlife. Her weeks spent at hunting camp created some of her favorite memories. One of her all-time favorite pastimes was fishing for brookies, even though she was terrified of all fish and no measure was too extreme to avoid an encounter with a fish, whether on TV, displayed on a wall or in nature.
Although the last few months presented unexpected and excruciating health challenges, Cindy’s faith never wavered. She developed a personal relationship with Christ nearly 40 years ago, laying the groundwork for her entire family’s salvation. This faith provides unspoken comfort that she is pain-free and reunited with her son, likely going on an early morning donut run.
Cindy is survived by her dedicated husband, Bill; daughters, Kendra Deal, Shawna (Brent) Berg, and Jolene Deal; grandchildren, Morgan (Erich) Hahn, Braden Praska, Dayna Berg, Natalie Markwardt, Nolan Berg, Jared Markwardt, Shanelle Deal and Landyn Markwardt; siblings, Scott (Sheila) Whitlock, Paula Whitlock and Linda (Dan) Denevan; as well as numerous nieces, nephews, cousins and other family members.
Cindy is preceded in death by her son, Shane Deal; parents, Dick and Sheila Whitlock; father and mother in-law, Pete and Anne Deal; sister in-law, Emma Deal.
On-line condolences may be made at TheDavisFuneralHome.com
Services are under the direction of Davis Funeral Home, Crematory, and Monuments.