The years passed while we weren’t looking. Each day brought new people, new joys, and new experiences. We went to work a lot. We read new, and old, books. We watched movies evolve into CGI and AI marvels of technology that brought our childhood stories to life. We paid bills. We were late with some. We worked some more. There were new jobs with old problems and headaches. We grew older. In some ways we got more mature and settled. In other ways, we returned to our dark, sarcastic, selves when we felt the need. On and on, for twenty years, we lived our lives, every day, because that’s what you must do. At some point during each of those days we thought of you, Sam, and what our lives would’ve been like, had you been here to share it. Every day. And we missed you. Every day.
Cynthia “Sam” Stone was a tornado of a person. She was rarely quiet, in voice or mind. She was intelligent, witty, creative and possessed a beautiful soul. I met her in Mrs. Speigle’s Fourth Grade class and I’m pretty sure I loved her from the moment I laid my eyes on her. She was the “smart kid” and the “vocal kid” and the “hand-raising kid” that soaked up school, and learning, like a sponge. She was competitive, too. Being first was the only thing to be. Coming in second wasn’t an option. She was fierce and unashamed. And she had long pigtails and beautiful green eyes. I didn’t stand a chance.
Our four children, Chris, Candice, Micheal and Timothy, had a mom that played with them. She did crafts, came up with games, and loved to teach them as they played. She could be silly and messy and enjoy being in the moment with them. Her children were her crown. She loved everything about them. She home schooled them all, and never tired of teaching them, even after they started going to public school. She kept learning, right along side of them.
Sam never met a stranger. There were people who were her friends, and people she hadn’t met yet. She could find something in everyone to love. I’m grateful she found something in me to love. I wouldn’t be the same man today, had she not been such a big part of my life. She was my first love, and the mother of my four beautiful children. She was my whole world for nearly twenty years. Then she was gone.
February 19th of this year marked the twentieth year that has passed since she left this earth. We’re crossing the threshold of having more time after her passing, than we had with her, and it’s still surreal. A lifetime has passed and the feeling that she should still be here has never gone away. All the things we will ever do, she will have to watch from heaven. All the people that we wish she could meet, like her grandsons Sammy and Ian, she cannot. It’s up to us to tell them about her. It’s like trying to describe a beautiful painting by a famous artist. You have to be there to feel the intesity and the vibrancy of it’s reality. Such was the person that Sam was. You had to be there.
I live without regrets. There’s no purpose to them. I try to make good decisions, and live them out. We all must. My life is good. My wife, Laura Gail, holds my heart and is my life. God has blessed us. I love the people my kids have become, and I know Sam is proud of them, too. There will never be a day that goes by that I won’t think of her, because I see her in each of them. They shine. They are her crown.
Cynthia “Sam” Stone
July 28, 1965 – February 19, 2004
Rolling Stones 
Thank you
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