Cynthia Jeanette Grubbs' Obituary
Cynthia Grubbs, a friend of Jesus, a loving wife to John Grubbs, a mother to Cheryl and Marc and a grandmother to 4 grandkids, one of whom she finally had the privilege of meeting in Heaven when Jesus brought her home on November 29, 2019. A daughter, a niece, a sister, a sister in law, a cousin and a mentor and friend to so many.Cynthia Jeanette (Swearingen) Grubbs was born in Port Arthur, TX on August 16, 1941. She was the third daughter born to Norman and Edna Swearingen. Cynthia grew up as the youngest of two sisters, Norma and Sylvia. She attended The First Christian Church in Port Arthur Texas with her family and was baptized by her father in the Church. Growing up she loved going to McFadden Beach with her family and Church. She loved to go fishing & crabbing with her Daddy at Pleasure Peer close to home and her Mother would make the best Gumbo from their catch. As a child Cynthia loved to read (even after lights out with her flashlight). In the summer times she and her sisters enjoyed staying with her Grandparents in Woodville TX, and learned to love the country; riding horses and tending to their Grandfathers cows and chickens.Cynthia learned to cook various beloved recipes from her mother, and she would bless many with over her lifetime. Her mother hosted many friends, church members and hosted family Christmases to enjoy homemade treats, including fudge, brownies, cakes and so much more. Cynthia carried on that tradition and has passed those recipes on to her children and grandchildren today. Her Mother also taught Cynthia how to knit and sew. She has blessed many family and friends with her home-made quilts and blankets.As a young adult, Cynthia was active in Young Christian Activities. In the summer her youth group would attend summary camps at TCU. She played the French Horn in the high school marching band and would continue playing at through college. One year, her high school band marched in the Cotton Bowl parade in Dallas. After graduating from Thomas Jefferson High School in 1959, Cynthia followed her sister, Sylvia to North Texas State University in Denton, TX. It was there she met John Grubbs in her first year. She claimed to not like him at first, but we all know how that turned out, a 57-year love affair. John and Cynthia courted until they married in 1962. When Cynthia’s dad passed away suddenly in January of 1962, John started working full time to allow Cynthia the opportunity to finish college, which she did, with her teaching degree in 1963.John and Cynthia settled in to married life with John working and Cynthia teaching English in a high school. They bought a home a year into their marriage in Farmers Branch, an up and coming town at the time. They loved their home and lived the rest of their married life together in this house. The first 5 years of their life, Cynthia and John enjoyed traveling with John’s racing club and this is where Cynthia found her love for racing! There are stories of them cruising across the desert in their Corvette at triple digits.in 1967, John and Cynthia welcomed their beautiful adopted baby girl, Cheryl Jeanette, born on July 2nd. She was perfect in every way and they felt blessed to start their family. In 1969, they welcomed another baby into the family! John Marc was born on January 28th, making their family of 4, complete. Cynthiawas a wonderful and loving Mother to Cheryl and Marc. She never missed an opportunity to shepherd her kids towards Christ and she loved them unconditionally.The family enjoyed summer vacations together, traveling the United States in the famous 1973 black Impala station wagon. Cynthia was a master at figuring out each and every detail of their two-week summer holidays. Some destinations include Hollywood, Disney, San Francisco, Vancouver, New York City, Vegas, Niagara Falls and many more. She would start packing weeks in advance, anticipating all the provisions. She also loved being able to include her own mother on family journeys. They also enjoyed packing up the station wagon every year for Thanksgiving with most of the meal already prepared to drive to Brenham, Texas to celebrate Thanksgiving. Cynthia and John continued traveling as much as they could after Marc and Cheryl were grown, and have visited almost every state with the exception of Hawaii.Cynthia and John joined a small startup church early in their marriage, located on Valley View Lane in Farmers Branch ,Valley View Christian Church. Cynthia is a member today and will be always. She and John poured themselves into this beautiful Church and served as much as possible. Cynthia cooked meals at the church every Wednesday evening and would help make a feast as the church hosted the annual Thanksgiving meal. Cynthia also used her love for cooking to feed the children at church camp every summer. She and John sang in the church choir and loved being part of the annual Christmas Cantata’s, lead by Ron Key. Mom and Dad helped build the church as it grew, both physical, financially and spiritually. As the Church continued to grow so did Cynthia’s faith and her desire to serve. For so many years she helped plan and teach Vacation Bible School as well as the Fall Festivals. She loved to serve the community through those outreaches and many others. She and John joined a Sunday school class early in their church tenure and that group has continued to prosper even today! The name of the group has changed many times over the years but this “Life Group’s” strong love for Christ continues to grow stronger. The group faithfully continues to love and care for one another today. Simply put, Cynthia loved serving others including family, friends and strangers. Even as recently as a few months ago Mom could be seen helping greet people Sunday mornings at Church services. Many people found comfort in her loving arms.Cynthia enjoyed many hobbies:She loved cats, primarily Siamese, and bred them for many years. Fun fact; she loved naming the kittens after ski runs. She would collect ski maps from church ski trips, save them, then use names of the ski runs usually the favorites from John, Marc and Cheryl. She had one extra special Siamese cat, Tulane that she took to cat shows and together, they won many blue ribbons. One-year Tulane and Cynthia received the Champion award. Cynthia enjoyed this hobby to its fullest and maintained her affection for cats her entire life.Cynthia loved to sew and knit and did so beautifully. She spent uncountable hours sewing patchwork quilts and knitting afghans. She even won a blue ribbon for a patchwork quilt she entered in Texas fair! She has blessed many over the years with her beautiful pieces of art. Many times, she would spend her sewing hours while attending family sporting events or in comforting family and friends who were sick in the hospital.Cynthia was an avid reader and thoroughly enjoyed having a book in hand. She and her sister Sylvia and many of her friends enjoyed discussing books they read and often traded their favorites. One of herfavorites books was the Bible which she read and from start to finish a few times. Her bible today has many notes, highlights and underlines, identifying versus and words that she lived her life by.Mom loved racing! Horse racing, cycle racing (Tour de France) and especially NASCAR racing! One of her favorite drivers was Jimmy Johnson. She enjoyed watching these events all throughout her life. She loved to go fast! Her favorite race car driver was her Husband.Christmas in July…… Cynthia had an affinity for Missions. For many years she collected presents donate by the church, wrapped them in Christmas paper and sent big, heavy boxes filled with “Christmas wishes” across the seas. Missionary families (and those they were serving) were blessed by her efforts and gifts. She also traveled to Mexico, Ukraine and Guatemala to spread the gospel and care for those in need. One-year, Cynthia and John traveled to Joplin, Missouri with the church to help those in need after a tragic tornado left many people helpless.Later in life, Cynthia embraced the role of being a wonderful grandmother and she gave her whole heart to all of her grandkids. She took it as a privilege to watch her twin grandsons, Michael and Matthew while their Mom, Chris worked during the day. She loved baking cookies and playing fun games w/ her granddaughter Grace. She and John attended as many of the grandkids events as they could and loved to capture many special moments on video. Cynthia loved them all well and left them with many memories they will cherish for a lifetime. Cynthia loved Ashleigh Lynn Grubbs whom she never got to meet face to face due to a tragic event in Cheryl’s life. Cynthia would visit Ashleigh at the Cemetery often to tell her she loved her.Cynthia was a friend to all. Her love for Jesus showed in how well she loved and cared for others. Countless friends and family can attest to her generous heart.“Well done, good and faithful servant.” Matthew 25: 21In lieu of flowers, please make donations to Valley View Christian Church Missions Ministry.
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