Cynthia Ellen Palmer (Flintom)

Cynthia was born on June 8, 1932, to parents Harry and Fanny Palmer in Schenectady, New York, where she grew up as an only child. She attended Scotia High School where she graduated Valedictorian. She went on to attend Pennsylvania State College, receiving a Bachelor of Arts in Architecture in 1954, one of the first women to receive a degree from Penn State in that field. A favorite memory of her college graduation was taking a celebratory trip to Europe with her parents, sailing over on the HMS Queen Mary and returning on its sister ship, the HMS Queen Elizabeth.

It was perhaps this early encounter with the names of British Royalty that ignited her lifelong passion for the British Isles. She traveled there frequently throughout her life and took up many hobbies related to her love of the UK: knitting Irish wool sweaters, sewing Scottish tartan skirt and scarves, and collecting any ceramic items that featured the English Royal Family, terriers, or hedgehogs.

Cynthia was a self-taught and very talented seamstress, skilled at sewing, knitting, crocheting, needlepoint, and quilting. If you were close to her, she would create something warm and fuzzy and comforting for you to wear. Or, she would paint you a picture: from simple acrylic still-lifes, to pastel and charcoal sketches, to complex oil portraits, Cynthia had an artistic ease, a wonderful gift and talent. One of her original paintings of a steam engine still hangs in the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts.

As if that wasn't enough, you could give her any musical instrument with strings or a keyboard, and she could give you back a concert-quality performance, most notably on the banjo, mandolin, piano, and organ. Cynthia's musical abilities usually went hand-in-hand with her devotion to her church, playing most hymns from memory on Sunday mornings, either sitting at an organ or standing and singing in the choir.

A mother of five, Cynthia was the quintessential loving, nurturing, giving, and forgiving matriarch. She was preceded in death by her sons, John-Michael and Charles Woods, and she is survived by her eldest daughter Sara Flintom Sweeney, her daughter Rachel Flintom Smethurst, and her youngest son, David Sidney Flintom. Sara and her husband, Robert Sweeney gave Cynthia two grandchildren, Megan Kathleen and John Michael, and Rachel and her husband, Jeffery Smethurst gave her four, Kyle, Sarah Kate, Scott, and Jacob. Son Charley married his wife Sandra who was welcomed into the family with loving arms along with her two children, Heather and Paul. Cynthia was also preceded in death by her first husband, John Flintom, and she later married Russell Harris of England. She spent her final years in Williamsburg, Virginia, in a home that was filled with love and pets and memories of a full and well-lived life, surrounded by friends both here and around the world.

A celebration of Cynthia's life will be held in Waynesboro, Virginia, at Riverview Cemetery (420 Rosser Ave) beginning at 11:00am on Friday, September 7th. In lieu of flowers, the family suggests that donations may be made to the Heritage Humane Society of Williamsburg.

A word of sincere thanks to the special caregivers from Agape Home Health Care who helped to make Cynthia's final days as pleasant and comfortable as possible, and most importantly allowed her to remain in her home until the end - you are indeed angels.