Memories of Cindy

[figmo]

I still remember the first time I met Cindy McQuillin. I was at a combination Oakland in 87 bid meeting and house filk at the home of flower_cat and mdlbear; I think it was around 1984. There was a filk circle, and I couldn't help but try to sneak in some listening while my then-husband was busy telling everyone how great he was. Every time this one woman with a voice so smooth it could melt Antarctica opened her mouth to sing, I noticed. That, of course, was Cindy. My first reaction to her was "she 'feels' like family." Instant comfort.

Cindy and I got to know each other over the years. She got to watch me evolve as a person, and I got to learn more about her.

When she got her first iMac I was often over her place, playing "Good Software Fairy" or just showing her how to use the software she already had. Other times I was just plain hanging out. We'd geek over food, jewelry, religion, music, and commonalities in our childhoods. I learned a lot from Cindy about a lot of things.

A few months ago I shared one of my favorite Cindy stories with the folks in my comedy class, and one of the guys modified it for his own act.

Cindy was riding her scooter down the sidewalk not far from her house in (at the time) Berkeley when some obnoxious woman approached her. "Do you realize you're morbidly obese?"

Without missing a beat, Cindy looked down at her body, then looked up at the woman. "Why no! I had no idea! Why thank you!"

Feel free to share your own Cindy stories here. I'll collect them up and forward them to Dr. James.

Comments

[howeird]

I've been a fan for a long time, and was very sad to see her health failing with each successive Red Lion/Doubletree con, and to hear about what happened to her at Consonance. I don't know what year I first met her, but it was in a filk circle at the Red Lion, where she and Kathy Mar were trading tunes. I made a point of looking for both of them at cons after that night/morning. She will be missed, but she left behind a lot of fine recordings, so she will be remembered too.

"Why no! I had no idea! Why thank you!"
What? Not "No, but hum a few bars and I'll fake it."??? ;-)