Cynthia Petti died in her home on Lewis Point Rd. in Damariscotta, where she lived with her husband Robert and their beloved dog Clara. She died in her sleep on Aug. 7 after a long and courageous struggle against lung cancer.
Cindy retired from Great Salt Bay Community School when school ended in June, 2006, where she had served for many years as a math teacher, and for the last few years as the assistant principal. Even as assistant principal, she kept some math teaching responsibilities in order to stay in closer touch with her pupils and because she simply did not want to give up teaching. She is widely known in the area served by GSB School to parents, students, former students, and to some of her former pupil’s children for her high teaching standards; and her way of dealing with students with love, stern discipline, and good humor. She was widely admired by her many friends and colleagues in School Union 74 for her experience, kindness, lack of pretension, and her reliably good natured enthusiasm.
Cindy was born in Port Chester, N.Y., and spent her childhood in Rye, N.Y. with her parents, Donald and Catherine Blanke, both of whom predeceased her. She graduated from Rosemary Hall and attended Lake Erie College in Ohio and Windham College in Vermont. Cindy maintained close relations all her life with the Kalinen Family of Chester, Vt., where she lived while at Windham.
She was married to James Hawkins in 1964, and the two of them eventually moved to Tokyo, Japan, where they both taught at the Nishimachi International School, a highly respected private school, which taught Japanese children as well as children of diplomats, business people, and other westerners living in Tokyo. In Tokyo, the Hawkins had a daughter, Karen Green, and adopted a boy, Jonathan James. Karen is currently living in Brooklyn, N.Y. and is employed by the Eurasia Group, and travels frequently to Japan. Jonathan lives in Portland, where he is widely known as a disc jockey and an extremely knowledgeable promoter of hip-hop music. Cindy and James Hawkins divorced in 1980.
After 13 years in Tokyo, Cindy and her children returned to the Washington, D.C. area, where Cindy taught initially at the Washington International School, and later for several years at Green Acres School in Rockville, Md. During this period, she married Robert Petti, a retired CIA Operations Officer. In 1987, the couple moved to Westport Island, and Cindy soon began work at Great Salt Bay School. She worked closely with the other teachers and staff at Great Salt Bay, and was very interested in and supportive of the school’s Special Ed programs, and the teachers and Ed Techs who worked on those programs.
During the couple’s Westport days, Cindy was strongly involved with the Wiscasset Yacht Club, and established a summer program of sailing classes for young people. In Damariscotta, she began playing tennis again and stopped only when a knee problem took her off the courts. She was a member of the Vestry at St. Andrews Episcopal Church in Newcastle, where she worked on the Sunday School program. She was a team captain for several years with the Damariscotta Women’s March for Breast Cancer.
Services 2 p.m., Sun., Aug. 13 at St. Andrew’s Episcopal Church on Glidden Street in Newcastle.
A memorial will also take place the following day, 6:30 p.m., Mon., Aug. 14 at the Great Salt Bay School on Business Rte. 1, Damariscotta.
In lieu of flowers, donations may be made in the name of Cynthia H. Petti to The American Cancer Society, 1 Main St., Topsham, ME 04086-1240, specifying that the donation be for Lung Cancer Research, or for Damariscotta Making Strides Against Breast Cancer.