Cynthia Jayne Quackenbush

Cynthia Jayne Quackenbush, 74, died on February 17, 2025, at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston, Massachusetts, after a heroic, year-long battle with leukemia. 

Cindy was a true example of what it means to have strong character. She was loyal above all else, as demonstrated by the hundreds of friends and family members whose lives she touched over the seven and a half decades of her life. She was a mother to everyone she met, always ready with a hug, a warm meal, or a fresh-baked cookie. Cindy was fun. She loved music, she loved to dance, she filled the room with laughter wherever she went. She never arrived anywhere empty handed and loved to give gifts, often hand-knit or attached to a funny story, and celebrate the achievements of loved ones. She was ready for a party at a moment’s notice and traveled with birthday candles and party hats in her purse, just in case the need to celebrate arose. Cindy was charming to the end, making friends with the nurses and doctors who cared for her in her illness and showing her gratitude for them by bringing them treats and making them smile with her love for storytelling.   

Cindy was born in Saranac Lake, New York, in October 1950, surrounded by the Adirondack Mountains that she loved. She was the middle of nine children born to Henry and Marion Brennan, and from birth loved to be the center of attention. Her family moved to Natural Bridge, New York, when she was young, and there she spent a magical childhood with her beloved siblings playing in the woods near their home, building forts and campfires, collecting tree sap to boil for syrup, roller skating through the neighborhood in the summer and ice skating on the pond in the winter. She attended Carthage High School in Carthage, New York, where she was a member of the Girls Athletic Association, played the saxophone in the high school band, and formed many lifelong friendships. Her competitive and energetic spirit led her to excel in any activity and she was the life of every group she joined. 

After high school, Cindy graduated from SUNY Canton and SUNY Potsdam, where she studied to become a teacher for young children, a career that matched her bright and compassionate nature, her love for play, her appreciation for humor, and her enduring passion for learning. Through teaching, Cindy found an outlet for her creativity and vitality. She cared for her students as she would her own children, quick to comfort them and wipe away their tears, eager to find and nurture their own particular interests and passions, and ready to buy winter coats and boots for students in need. She had a flair for the dramatic, and loved to put on plays with her fellow teachers that brought to life important lessons for her students, demonstrating for them that school could be fun and that learning could be a life-long pursuit. Over her decades spent teaching, Cindy’s many colleagues became her best friends with whom she spent vacations and holidays and whose families became intertwined with her own. 

Early in her teaching career in Ogdensburg, New York, she met her husband, Arthur Quackenbush, who she always said she loved right away because he was smart and looked different than everyone else in the room with his clean, light blue oxford shirt, tidy haircut, and glasses. The two married after just six months and spent the next 49 years of their lives dedicated to one another, to their teaching careers, and most importantly, to their children. They raised their four children, Jay, Katie, John Henry, and Meggie, first in Ogdensburg before moving to Canton, New York, in 1987. Cindy imbued her children with the same enthusiasm for life with which she lived, and spent the hours she was not teaching driving her children to basketball, soccer, and lacrosse games, swim and track meets, ice rinks and skating competitions, and school plays and concerts. She was the number one cheerleader for her children and the many teams and activities with which they were involved, always ready with words of encouragement and a tray of cookies for their teammates. With Art, she raised her kids to value loyalty, hard work, honesty, and fun. Her children were the pride of her life.   

Cindy was a dedicated member of the Canton and broader North Country community for 40 years, joining book clubs and knitting groups, throwing herself into art classes, and giving back through her participation in the E.J. Noble Hospital Guild (now known as the Canton-Potsdam Hospital Guild). After retiring from teaching in 2006, Cindy did not slow down. She became interested in conservation, with a particular interest in advocating for pollinators like the monarch butterfly, and planted several pollinator gardens in her community, including a butterfly garden at the Canton-Potsdam Hospital where patients can enjoy nature and seek peace. In her retirement, Cindy loved to visit her many friends across the country, traveling to national parks, hiking in nature, wandering beaches up and down the East Coast, and flying abroad to Italy, England, Scotland, and Ireland, where she was able to celebrate her own Irish heritage and visit her father’s homeland. In retirement, she also enjoyed the arrival of grandchildren, with whom she spent as much time as she could, traveling hours by car for birthday parties, hockey games, and holidays, and hosting them in Canton for visits filled with ice skating, horse-drawn carriage rides, apple picking, sledding, movies, trips to local farms, and tea parties on the front porch. She loved being their “Gaga” and they brought her much happiness and pride.   

Cindy leaves behind her husband Art Quackenbush; son Jay Quackenbush, his wife Sarah, and their children Evelyn and Thomas; daughter Katie Spiegel, her husband Matt, and their children Billy and Mary; son John Henry Quackenbush and his wife Lauren; and daughter Meggie Quackenbush, her husband Rick Ducott, and their daughter Molly. Her surviving siblings and extended family include Brian and Karen Brennan, Suzie and Bill Ryan, Michael and Jackie Brennan, Tony and Kathy Brennan, Kim and Jim Costello, Duffy and Vicki Brennan; her niece Kristy Cumoletti and her husband Steve; beloved sisters- and brothers-in-law; and her many, many nieces and nephews to whom she served as a cherished maternal figure. Cindy is predeceased by a son, Brian Quackenbush; parents, Henry and Marion Brennan; sister Linda Aubertine and her husband Walt; and brother Craig Brennan and his wife Rose. 

At her request, the family will host a celebration of Cindy’s life in the spring of 2025 when the flowers in her butterfly garden are in bloom and when her many, many, friends and family members can come together to share stories and honor her incredible life. In the meantime, her family hopes that those whose lives she touched will remember her by doing the things she loved most: hug your children, spend time in nature, and share a laugh with friends. 

Instead of flowers, Cindy’s family encourages donations to the Canton-Potsdam Hospital Guild in Cindy’s name: https://www.cphguild.org/make-a-donation

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