Cynthia D. Nolan

Cynthia Diane Nolan (Cindy) passed away on Tuesday, August 20, 2024 at 6:10 pm. Heaven will enjoy her company! Cindy was born in Detroit, Mich. on December 20, 1947 to Lyle Meech and Norma (Martinelli) and was raised in Roseville, Mich. with her two brothers, Greg and Marty on Groveland Street during the “heydays” of Detroit post-war, baby-boom, suburban growth.

Growing up, Cindy had many close friends in the neighborhood that continued throughout her life. Cindy enjoyed music and performing from a young age. She loved Motown music, played the title character, Calamity Jane, in her high school play and volunteered as an usher at the Fischer Theatre.

She graduated from Roseville High in 1965 and Mercy School of Nursing in 1968 as a registered nurse. Inspired by the “Summer of Love,” Cindy moved to San Francisco in 1969 where she worked as a nurse, attended the Altamont Speedway Free Festival and enjoyed the sights of Northern California, but no matter how hard she tried to be a “groovy hippy” she missed her family and friends and returned home.

Cindy married Pat Nolan on August 1, 1970. Living on Homer Street behind the Roseville Theatre at Gratiot and Utica. She had three boys, Nathan, Aaron and Brandon. Cindy moved to Shawnee Street in Tecumseh, Mich. in 1977 and began working at Herrick Hospital, where they brought her in on a snowmobile to help keep the hospital running during the blizzard of ‘78.

In 1980, she moved to Macon, Mich. where she raised her family. Cindy went back to college and graduated with her BS-Nursing from University of Michigan in 1985. She worked at U-M Hospital in the Diabetes Care Unit and at Herrick as the diabetes educator for Lenawee County.

Cindy enjoyed helping others and was generous with her time. She volunteered as a catechism teacher at St. Elizabeth Catholic Church in Tecumseh, helped at local nursing homes and educated kids at diabetes summer camps. Those that know Cindy, understand that she was all about the “experience”— she was fun! She enjoyed hosting large parties and guests at her home in Macon where friends and family would dance, have bonfires, swim in the pool, play cards and socialize.

For years she hosted Super Bowl parties and her dear friends from nursing school would drive in from the Detroit area to attend. She loved a good Halloween party and would take kids to the cemetery to tell ghost stories. She was close to and loved her first and second cousins and hosted “cousin-a-thons.” Family birthday parties were known for using Chinese candles and having piñatas!

In 1995, she moved to the Irish Hills on Sand Lake. She continued to enjoy hosting friends and family and visiting them in the area and abroad. Cindy loved to travel and enjoyed learning new things. She firmly believed in Mark Twain’s quote, that “Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry and narrow mindedness.” She travelled to all 50 states and hauled her little trailer across the nation and down into Mexico numerous times.

Some of her favorite places were Lanai and the volcanos of Hawaii; Narita, Japan; Hong Kong; Victoria Island, B.C.; Halifax and the Canadian Maritime Provinces; Cotswold, England; the Blarney Stone Castle in Ireland; Innsbrook, Austria; Munich, Germany; Rome, Venice, and the Isle of Capri (the Blue Grotto) in Italy; Barcelona and Madrid, Spain; the caves of former Yugoslavia; Belize; the Bahamas; the Virgin Islands; Puerto Rico; the Atacama Desert in Chile and Peru; the Panama Canal; Cartagena, Columbia; and Kino Bay and the Mexican Baja. She was planning new adventures to the end!

In 2012, Cindy began wintering in Enchanted Shores in Naples, Fla. She loved being in Florida and continued to make new friends, host friends and family, play cards, eat out and participate in the many activities of the park community. The mottos she lived by were, “Live Aloha” and “When life gives you lemons, add salt and tequila.”

Cindy often referred to the heroes of her life — her aunts: Auntie Margaret (always her soft place to fall); Auntie Kate Yizze (proud that she went away to nursing school); Auntie Mac (best babysitter ever); Auntie Erie (unconditional love and support); Auntie Helen (so much fun to be around, model of what she wanted to be when she grew up); Auntie Annie Meech (playing cards in FL); Auntie Pauline (love & support); and Auntie Carol (the sweetest creature on Earth with two eyes). Above all else, Gramma Cindy loved her ten grandkids and taught them all how to play Texas Hold’em poker. Cindy is survived by her husband, Pat; sons, Nathan (Linda Brunzell), Aaron and Brandon; brother, Marty (Karen); and grandkids, Patrick, Kate, Charlie, Rose Marie, Lucy, Cameron, Marion, Anna, Henry and Mason.

A memorial mass is planned at St. Joseph Shrine Catholic Church in the Irish Hills on Saturday, Sept. 28 at 11 a.m. and a reception will follow. If you would like to attend, please RSVP Pat at sandlakecottage@yahoo.com., no flowers please. To leave a special message for Cynthia’s family, visit newcomertoledo.com.