I had the tremendous honor of leading a Celebration of Life for my dear friend, student and sister, Cindy Davis.
A community of over 50 friends and family gathered around a bonfire at Moonlight beach in Encinitas for a multi-denominational ritual and to share memories and stories of how she touched our lives. Since Cindy is so humble and a better listener than speaker, many of us had never heard her amazing life story. For this reason, I intend to immortalize her legacy by publishing her brief biography Here. (Even if you didn’t know Cindy, read on as this is an unbelievable life story!)
A devoted wife to Keith Davis.
Sister of Three, Mother of Two, Grandmother of two (ages 12, 10.)
A life-long animal lover, currently raising: 2 horses, 2 cats, 2 dogs, 1 parrot.
A student of Charles Muir & Shawn Roop.
An active community member, and friend to so many.
I always knew there was something special about Cindy, but I had no idea her life story was so exceptional:
61 years ago, on Jan, 30th 1954, Cindy Davis was born in Germany to an unmarried woman. During this postwar time it was illegal to be a single mother, so at 2 weeks she was taken by the police to an orphanage.When she was just a few months old, an American soldier saw her and selected her out for adoption. He proceeded to go through months of challenging bureaucracy, during which time they mistreated her and cut her food ration.
Finally, when she was 6 months old, her adopted parents Edward (Ned) and Nancy Froning took her to San Mateo, California where she was raised with her 3 siblings and tons and tons of Mormon cousins! She attended Kerry private school for girls. Her father was an orthopedic surgeon doing pioneering work in surgery which inspired her to want to become a nurse.
At age 16, her mother helped her start an animal grooming business and despite severe learning disabilities, she was able to complete nursing school and began doing specialized one-on-one care for elders. She got to travel the world including Australia doing this work.
In her late 20’s she met Keith Davis while he was on his back in the hospital recovering from surgery. She must’ve liked the way he looked in his hospital gown, because she accepted his invitation to fly to Phoenix, where he was living and working as a Costco supplier. The story goes that she had to take her nursing test there anyway, but after the first time they went out to dinner, they both knew it was true love.
Keith’s son was 4 at the time and she took to him like her own. He was the best man at their wedding when he was 7 years old and they got married.
Cindy and Keith were determined to have a child together. They didn’t know, however, that she had been chemically sterilized as an orphan, so they suffered 7 tragic miscarriages. Despite all their difficulty, they were able to conceive a miracle son!
Cindy was determined to be the best mother she could and moved to a 5 acre farm in Prescott, AZ where she could work from home. She started an organic tomato farm selling up to 40 cases of tomatoes a day. They had a dry lake bed where she would play with her son until he was around 6 years old.
They moved to San Diego where she started working with special needs children in Ramona school district where she worked for about 11 years.
About 10 years ago, Cindy’s blood brother Leroy (who was adopted out of Germany into texas) found her and told her that she had 13 siblings. She traveled to Germany to meet her family, but mother passed 2 years prior. She learned that her birth name was Karen and that after she was take away, her mother gave that name to one of her sisters. This is also how she learned about the chemical sterilization, because her brother was also mistreated at the orphanage.
After her own kids grew up, Cindy and Keith spent time re-discovering each other and themselves. They enjoyed each other’s company, they started new adventures and began the exploration of Tantra.
I personally got to witness them during this powerful awakening. About 7 years ago, they had a new infusion of love when they met and fell in love with Ruth. Cindy loved Ruth and loved how Ruth loved Keith. Despite her insecurity or programming, Cindy loved big and had the courage to live her life by her own design.
Cindy was also truly gifted with energy, animals and children. There are incredible stories about how Cindy learned to harnessed the healing power of OM and magnify it into her hands to help the children of special needs. There are numerous accounts of her actually stopping seizures without medication.
Cindy was also a humble and powerful business woman. For the last 4 years she was the CEO and president of Harmony Environmental, a company that has had a 300% annual growth rate.
About 4 years ago she started getting headaches and slurred speech so bad that at work she was accused of drinking, but Cindy was not a drinker. After several visits to the doctors, she was diagnosed with a brain tumor. The tumor was small and inoperable so, Keith and Cindy decided to keep it secret for about a year before telling anyone. They let the doctors keep a close eye on it, and learned to cope. The pressure on her brain sometimes caused cindy to get confused, or lost and slurred speech.
However, the tumor is not what took her life. On Jan. 18th. around 3:30am she passed away in her bed due to Low blood sugar incident. Keith was away on a job in Palm Desert but rushed home in time to say goodbye to her body before her body was cremated.
In Keith’s eulogy entitled “I’m the lucky guy who got to spend 30 years with Cindy” he shared with us the last words he spoke to her:
“Honey I love you and always will, you don’t have to worry about sore knees or anything else, you will be safe here in my heart.”
As for me assisting Cindy thru trials and tribulations of life, she is with God now, she got a total upgrade. I know as love travels in circles, I will see and know her love again and again in another form. I also know she will be a subtle reminder to be aware of this love when it presents itself… And so it begins… Sweet goddess. God is love, you are goddess in Heaven, Thank you Cindy for sharing your all with me ..I love you always.”
The ritual concluded with a slide show and ecstatic drum circle on the beach lead by Robert Hensley.
Cindy Davis– we will miss you!
