Cynthia Vernon Warren

CYNTHIA VERNON WARREN (Frank), 1938-2022

Cynthia Vernon Warren (aka Cynthia Frank) of Albuquerque, NM passed away on July 27, 2022. Cynthia led a life well-worth celebrating that centered on family, friends, and community. She was born November 9, 1938, in Springfield, Illinois, where she lived until her family moved to Edwardsville. She attended Edwardsville High School where she made lifelong friends, several of whom she continued to visit and travel with over the course of her life. After she graduated in 1956, Cynthia left the Midwest to attend University of Colorado in Boulder where she studied until she married and had her three daughters. She first came to northern New Mexico in 1958 and fell in love with the place and the people. In 1970, she divorced, left Colorado and moved with her children to Albuquerque. Despite short stints living elsewhere, including seven years in College Station, Texas, Cynthia forever considered New Mexico her home.

In 1973, she attained her BA in Education from the University of New Mexico, graduating Phi Kappa Phi, a member of the Mortar Board Society, and first in her class of over 1000 students. Education remained a lifelong passion for Cynthia. She taught English and reading, and, as a fluent Spanish speaker, initiated and taught in the first English as a Second Language Program at Rio Grande High School. She also served as Chair of the Rio Grande Reading and Modern and Classical Languages Department, all while raising her daughters and continuing her own education. After she retired, she continued to tutor children and share her love of learning. She was proud to be a teacher and was a true professional striving to meet her own high standards and working to improve the lives of her students through literacy.

Another of Cynthia’s passions was politics and in 1978, while attending a rally sponsored by the teacher’s union, she met Bill Warren, a New Mexico State Legislator. In 1989, they were married in her home in Albuquerque and began over three decades of adventures together.

Cynthia loved to travel. Whether on her own, with family, or friends, she took every opportunity. In the mid-1950s, she made her first trip to Mexico with her parents and over her lifetime she returned many times. In 1963, traveling on the back of a motorcycle, she made her first of several visits through Europe. Other trips included travels to Norway, Sweden, Holland, Belgium, France, Italy, Austria, Germany, Spain, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary, Canada, Cuba, Chile, Argentina, and Brazil, where she and Bill spent New Year’s Eve on Copacabana beach in Rio de Janeiro with 7 million people all dressed in white. She also made many trips to England, Scotland, and Ireland. While in Ireland in 1988, she met with the Minister of Education to gather information about education in Ireland for an article she later published in the The New Mexico Journal of Reading. In 1991, she traveled to China as a delegate of the Citizen Ambassador Program for Children’s Literature & Language Arts. When Bill received a grant to study at the Danish Technical University in 1996, they lived for seven months in Copenhagen. Cynthia borrowed a bicycle and explored the city and surrounding countryside and came to love Denmark as a second home. She returned for extended periods of time over the years. Closer to home, she visited at least 26 of the US contiguous states. She explored gold mining towns in Colorado, lived for a while in a mountain cabin with no running water or electricity in Truchas, NM, and rafted the Colorado River through the Grand Canyon.

Cynthia will be remembered for many things; her genuine love of people, generous and adventurous nature, passion for the arts and humanities, gift for story-telling, and her vivacity and strength. Her legacy lives on through her daughters and granddaughters, who along with all of her extended family and friends will miss her deeply.

Cynthia was preceded in death by her parents, Dr. George Heywood and Ruth Vernon, and her grandsons, Frederick and Ely Baltz. She is survived by her husband of 33 years, Dr. William E. Warren, and daughters, Suzanne Ziarnik (Al), Dr. Jaffa Frank (Dale Baltz), and Eliza Frank (Dr. Jeremy Kulisheck). She is also survived by her grandchildren, Keziah and Rachel Baltz, her brothers, Paul Vernon (Lisa) and George Vernon (Nancy Baker), and her in-laws, nieces, and nephews.

The family would like to thank the many special staff and residents at La Vida Llena Retirement Community who cared for Cynthia over the past seven years. We also extend our deep gratitude for the loving care she received at UNMH during her final days.

To honor her commitment to education, in lieu of flowers, donations can be made in Cynthia (Frank) Warren’s name to Horizons Albuquerque. For online donations go to https://horizonsabq.kindful.com/ or donations can be made to Horizons Albuquerque at PO Box 6066, Albuquerque, NM 87197 (Memo line: “In memory of Cynthia Warren”)