Diane Cynthia Townsend

Diane Cynthia (Staley) Townsend was born on August 20, 1938 in Brunswick, Georgia. Her parents were Dudley Cleveland Staley, Jr. and Mary Pearl (Ponsell) Staley. During her childhood years, she and her parents moved to Florida. Cindy appeared in a number of beauty contests and enjoyed posing for pictures. She always wanted to travel, and when she graduated from North Miami High School, she enlisted in the Air Force and became a flight attendant. When she left the Air Force, she returned home to Florida and began working at a department store. It was there that she met her husband, John, who was also working at the same place. They were married, and after a few years, decided to move to Baltimore to pursue a business. John took up work in Baltimore as a mechanic and Cindy raised their children and worked part time. Cindy was always an advocate for the disabled, and offered her help to a significant number of charitable organizations. She was instrumental in organizing the first Baltimore Special Olympics. As the children got older, Cindy went to college and got her Associates Degree and continued to pursue higher education. She also went back to work full time and ended up working for the State of Maryland as a purchaser. Tragedy struck the family, as John was shot in the head during an accident at the mall, and while he was able to survive the incident, he was eventually forced to retire due to the effects of the bullet that the doctors were unable to remove. Cindy continued to work to support the family. After both of her daughters had grown up and moved out, Cindy and John decided to move to Asheville, North Carolina to be closer to her sister, Barbara. Cindy went to work at various locations, and for a short time stayed in Asheville. She soon determined that she would rather live closer to her daughter Joy and their family, and picked up and moved to Indianapolis. Cindy and John moved into a home on the east side of Indianapolis and she again began working a number of short-term temporary positions. She also got involved in local organizations for the disabled, and resumed her role as an advocate. Over time, Cindy began to have issues with her memory and was diagnosed with dementia. She refused to allow this to affect her life and continued as long as she could without assistance. After many years battling this situation, she was forced to enter a nursing home. Even here, she endeared herself to the staff and refused to become bedridden. She remained active up to the last, and finally succumbed to the illness on the morning of July 3, 2014. She is survived by her husband, John, her sister, Barbara, and her children Royce, Joy, and Belinda. She has five grandchildren: Jonathan and James (Joy), and Kevin, Maria, and Jason (Belinda).