Cynthia Davidson Bend, whose twinkling hazel eyes conveyed affection and delight to family, friends and animals, especially dogs and horses, died in Stillwater, MN on April 9, 2024, stilling in person but not in memory her warm and loving presence. That warmth, that love and her ability to totally engage and delight in whatever she was doing live on in the family and friends she so powerfully affected.

Cynthia grew up in a large red stone house on the Summit Avenue bluff in St. Paul, MN, and graduated from high school at Summit School. Summit later merged with St. Paul Academy where her husband to be, Charles M. Bend, Jr., known as Meredith or Ned, went to high school. She spent winters in St. Paul but when she was young, her heart was at her grandmother Caroline Farnham’s house in St. Mary’s Point and later at her parent’s summer house on lake Edith in Afton where she swam, rode horses, skated on the lake in winter and delighted in the animals, birds and plants around her, all delights passed on to her children to her eight grandchildren and ten great-grandchildren.

The pace she set in her many activities was nurtured early during her competitive open water swimming career, once beating the Canadian national champion’s time on a course. An open lake was not the only open expanse Cynthia entered with purpose and a goal in mind. Time itself was a void she filled with goals and the efforts to reach them. Her pace in motion set an example for all, whether walking, weeding, writing, reading, swimming or on horseback, each activity in dramatic contrast to her immobility when lost in day dreams or in amazement at the nature in front of her living room window.

Cynthia was as intellectually active as she was physically, earning a BA in English from Carlton College and later as an adult, an MA in creative writing from Metro State University where she later taught creative writing. Interest in the occult let to a Canadian degree in paranormal psychology, followed by an interest in American Indian spiritual practices. Her compassion, care and desire to foster growth extended beyond family, friends and university students as exemplified by her teaching at a school for students with intellectual disabilities.

The drive and focus originating in athletics carried over also to her writing career, generating many articles and six books. She finished and published her last book at 90, then devoted herself to correspondence with far-flung friends and family. Her love of a book in hand and discussion of the latest article read continued, followed finally by joy in listening to someone reading the very stories she had once read to her children.

While writing, swimming and the companionship of dogs and horses were her diversions, her being and emotions were invested in the people around her, her family the constants while a bevy of friends orbited and others intermittently visited. All came to her and Meredith’s Afton home when near and joined her voluminous list of correspondents when away; none were ever far from her thoughts and heart. All were invited to breakfasts of pigweed and spinach omelets, the spinach from one of her and Meredith’s four gardens; luncheons of soups filled with vegetables from the same source, rice, grains and chicken, the latter sometimes home raised; and dinners with ingredients too diverse to list or from origins that sometimes puzzled diners.

Although Cynthia is gone, her accepting and engaging love of people and life’s challenges is imbued in and endures in her children and grandchildren. Her many endearing quirks, quiet daydreaming, snuggle-like hugs and expressions of fondness will forever warm the hearts of family, friends and acquaintances.

She was preceded in death by her husband, Charles Meredith Bend, Jr. her daughter, Katherine E. Bend and sister Kate D. Tanner (Davidson); survived by her sisters, Patricia D. Spadevechia (Davidson), Caroline D. Foster (Davidson); by children, Richard H. Bend and Harold P. Bend; by grandchildren Heather E. Warzecha (Bend), Jennifer K. Bend, Mary F. Bend, Torry Bend, Eric Bend, Merodie Leigh (Bend), Ayla Bend Rubenstein; and by great-grandchildren Isabelle Warzecha, Luke Warzecha, Oskar Doyle, Audrey Doyle, Linus Phillips, Felix Bend, Elias Leigh, Asher Leigh, Cassia Leigh, and Hazel Bend.

A memorial service will be held for Cynthia at 10:00 am on Monday, April 29th, at Unity Unitarian Church, 733 Portland Ave., Saint Paul, MN.

In lieu of flowers please send memorials to Belwin Nature Conservancy, 1553 Stagecoach Trail S., Afton, MN 55001