Cynthia Dunlap
Cynthia May Roby Dunlap, West Plains, 97, died peacefully at her home on Saturday evening, November 7, 2015, from the rupture of an abdominal aortic aneurysm.
Cynthia was born in New Orleans, Louisiana, on April 8, 1918, to Houston Strode Roby, a Southern Pacific Railroad executive, and Irene Hanisee Roby, originally of Vicksburg, Mississippi. A graduate of Eleanor McMain Secondary and Sophie Newcomb College of Tulane University, New Orleans, Cynthia also studied at the Texas School of Mines, El Paso (now known as UTEP) during her father’s assignment there. On May 15, 1946, she married her life partner James V. Dunlap, Jr., a U.S. Navy officer and sixth-generation Missourian then stationed in New Orleans. When her husband reentered civilian life as the manager of a University of Missouri research farm, Cynthia managed the sudden transition from a world of southern mansions to one of backwoods outhouses. A later move brought the Dunlaps to Columbia, Missouri, where their eldest son was born, then to Lincoln, Nebraska, where Jim taught at the University while managing his own family farm. Two more sons were born to the couple during the Nebraska years. In 1960, when the family established permanent residence in West Plains, Cynthia entered a lifelong participation in the affairs of the First Christian Church, the P.E.O. Sisterhood, and the Womens’ Library Club. Thoughtful and sociable by nature, she attracted a wide circle of friends who will remember her in many different ways and for many different reasons. Following their mother’s instruction, the family leaves these friends to their personal remembrances, with a private interment to be conducted at a later date.
Cynthia Dunlap is survived by two sons, David, of West Plains, and Robert, of Ottawa, Kansas. Other survivors include daughter-in-law, Debra Sue Dunlap; granddaughters Melissa, Tessa, Erin, and Callie; grandson James and wife Lauren; three nephews, one niece, and their many children. She was preceded in death by her parents, her husband, one brother, Col. H.S. Roby, Jr. and one son, the late Kevin Dunlap of West Plains.
Memorial donations may be delivered to Robertson-Drago Funeral Home for benefit of the First Christian Church or the Multiple Myeloma Research Foundation.
Jean & Jan Thompson
November 11, 2015 @ 6:57 am
Dave ,
We express our sympathy to you and at the same time celebrate your mother’s life. It sounds like she was quite a lady! Well educated, hard working, tough, resilient and still independent…at 97! Wow, we can only hope to be that tough. We know you and your family will miss her. Please know we’re thinking of you.
Tom Phillips
November 12, 2015 @ 4:54 pm
David and Bob:
We are so saddened to read of your mother’s passing in today’s Lincoln paper. She and your dad played special parts in the lives of my parents. Jim was my dad’s boss at the University of Nebraska Farm Department but the relationship transcended work; from the beginning, they were close friends. My mother relished her friendship with Cynthia and treasured it throughout her life. I have so enjoyed the newsy Christmas letters from your mom and looked forward to them very much. She was such a special person. There never seem to be the right words to say in occasions like this, but hope you will know how much she meant to us and how much she brightened so many lives. Best wishes, always, to the Dunlap family.
Lavon Sumption
November 17, 2015 @ 11:20 am
With the spirit and caring Cynthia expressed at our Univ Nebraska social gatherings, I”m confident that your family will be supported by friends and extended family and sustained by great memories of your lives with her
Cynthia would frequently refer to the sign Jim had displayed prominently in his office—“Vast projects cannot be accomplished with half vast ideas and equipment” Then she’d toss in “…and that applies at our home too Jim!”. Peace and good cheer.
Susan Bedford Joslyn
December 1, 2015 @ 12:26 pm
David and Bob,
I am saddened to learn of your mother’s recent passing. My family moved to West Plains in 1963 with the opening of the SMS campus in the high school during evening hours. My father William (Bill) Bedford was the director of the campus. Mother, Mary Alice, and your mom became instant friends through the First Christian Church and P.E.O. I remember your mom picking up mother in a red truck heading off to their P.E.O. meeting. The four of them became great friends over our short time in West Plains but remained friends through the years after we moved to Springfield.
I have been corresponding with Cynthia since the death of my mother in 1993. She was a delightful person to know and be around. I always loved her red hair! What a great picture of her.
Please know I am thinking of you and your families and will miss getting her short hand written notes. May the many memories you hold dear bring joy this holiday season to you and yours.