It was always apparent that my sister Cinda was a brilliant artist and scholar. She would have gone on to great things in life, that is, if life had not been cut short when she was 20 (brain tumor) and I was 18.

Growing up we were best buddies. I worshiped her abilities and she was my first art teacher. I tried to emulate her by the time I was 3 and she was 5. I saw her painting and had to do the same. I loved painting immediately. I love her.

For her High School Senior project in 1965 she painted this copy of a Renior vase of flowers still-life in oils. It is a perfect copy.

I helped her get ready on Prom night in 1965. She had sewn her own dress, also by her choice, for a school project because she wasn’t satisfied with the commercial offerings.

Cinda was named after our Great-Grandmother, Lucinda Maria Parsons, and called Cinda for short. She passed on in 1967, more than 50 years ago and is still missed by all who knew her. A few years ago, during a particular time of being flooded with her memory, I painted this oil painting ‘Iris For Cinda’. – G.P.L.