Cindy West Obituary

Cindy S. West, 72, beloved wife, mother, grandmother, godmother, friend, neighbor, Realtor and nurse, died peacefully at home on Tuesday, April 22, following heart complications and three months of hospice care. While her physical heart may have failed her, her heart-focus toward everyone she cared for and about never failed.

Memorial services will be Saturday, April 26, at 9:30 a.m., at Plymouth Congregational Church, 925 Vermont St., in Lawrence. The family will greet visitors before the service and afterward in the Mayflower Room for coffee and donuts. A link to the service can be found on the Warren-McElwain Mortuary Website.

Cindy was born Oct. 11, 1952, in Muncie, Kansas, to Doris LaOpal Hartman and Jewell Franklin West, Jr. After graduating from Washington High School in 1970, she went on to earn her nursing diploma at Bethany Hospital in Kansas City, Kan. Her medical career really started at Bethany in 1966 when she was a high school candy striper and professionally progressed to her work in Bethany's ICU and emergency units.

During her Bethany years, she served as vice president of the Kansas State Student Nursing Assoc., and as a director for the national office of the Student Nursing Assoc., with its ties to the Health Manpower Project. She participated in citywide inoculation programs for infections such as measles, and in 1981 was on the triage team during the walkway collapse at the Hyatt Regency hotel.

In 1983, she moved to New Haven, Conn., to take a position in the Yale University Hospital's cardiac care unit and joined its cardiac research team-a move she hoped would then open doors to medical school.

Those plans changed when she moved back to Kansas in 1985 to start her life with Judith Galas, her wife of 40 years. Except for a one-year stint in London, England, the couple has spent all their years in Lawrence.

In 1988, Cindy joined Douglas County Visiting Nurses. She loved her work, always saying what a privilege it was to care for people in their homes. She helped bring the hospice program to VNA and served as the first director of nursing for the agency's newly approved hospice program.

Cindy greatly enjoyed her sideline occupation as a licensed Realtor, working in the Gill Agency, Re/MAX and finally Lawrence Real Estate Connections. Helping families find their next right home was a joy, she said.

In 2005, Cindy left VNA and with her friend and business partner Alan Campbell opened Hearth House. Their care approach for elders was based on the Eden Alternative model, which promotes home settings to support elders and their care givers. Hearth House was among the first care homes in Lawrence caring for elders in a supportive home atmosphere.

Following Cindy's stroke in 2007, Cindy and Alan sold Hearth House to VNA. Eventually the home, with its concept of supportive elder care in a home setting, became the first home in what is now Lawrence's Bridge Haven community.

A series of strokes in late 2018, disabled Cindy further and she spent the last five years of her life living quietly at home. Judith's and Cindy's home became a hospitality hub for family and friends.

Cindy is survived by her wife, Judith, of the home; daughter Amy Dorsey (Craig Mays) of Overland Park; grandson Gabe Owings (Lyss Bezner) of Lawrence; goddaughters Zoe and Ava Graber-Weickert and their moms Deb Graber and Katharine Weickert of Lawrence; close friend Helen Warren of St. Paul, Minn.; sister-in-law and brother-in-law Peggy and Blaine Sampson, Montgomery, Texas; sister-in-law Diane West of Kansas City, Kan., Aunt Carol and Uncle Jim Replogle of New Oxford, Penn., and numerous east coast cousins; and Aunt Sharon Norris and several cousins in the Kansas City area.

Preceding her in death was her nephew Jack West, Kansas City, Kan., her parents "Joe" and Doris West, Lawrence; and her brother Jewell F. West III, Kansas City, Kan.

In lieu of flowers, Cindy asked that contributions be made to Douglas County Hospice, of Douglas County Visiting Nurses Assoc. The family extends their deepest appreciation for the care Cindy received from the VNA care team that embraced her as one of their own.

For more information or to post a condolence go to warrenmcelwain.com.