Cynthia Boudloche Conklin

Cynthia Boudloche Conklin was born in Houston on November 16, 1942 and raised in Baytown, Texas. She graduated from Robert E. Lee High School in 1960 and attended Lee College in Baytown for two years. Cynthia was very involved at Lee College: she worked in the college library, she was elected Class Favorite and the First Lady of Lee College, and was a sweetheart for a fraternity. Cynthia completed her education at the University of Houston, where she received a degree in history in 1963. After graduation, Cynthia was employed as a stewardess for Pan American World Airways. She was based in New York City and primarily worked on flights to South and Central America. From 1967 to 1970, she worked for Quintana Petroleum, which was owned by the Cullen family, as the office manager for Quintana's chief airplane pilot. After leaving Quintana, Cynthia stayed at home to raise her two daughters, Kelly and Casey. In the mid-1980's, Cynthia began planning for a return to the workforce by taking computer formation systems classes at Houston Baptist University. Cynthia started with BASIC and moved on to DOS, COBOL, and systems analysis. She was always the top student in every class; her professors recognized her natural abilities and sometimes gave her extra assignments after she completed the class assignment first. In 1986, Cynthia returned to the workforce by going to work for Continental Airlines. After initially being employed to take reservations over the telephone, Cynthia moved to Continental's corporate offices to work in marketing and technology for Continental's OnePass program, Continental's frequent flyer program. At OnePass, Cynthia's team managed the interface between the marketing managers that developed the marketing programs and the computer programmers at Electronic Data Systems. In 2002, Cynthia retired from Continental.

Not only was Cynthia talented at computer programing, she had a natural ability to learn new languages. Cynthia studied French in college and learned Spanish from the fellow stewardesses she lived with in New York. While she was flying for Pan Am, her language skills were essential. When she was promoted to purser, she would give the informational speech over the cabin at the beginning of each flight in English, Spanish, or French. Remarkably, Cynthia was still able to recite the flight attendant announcements in Spanish in recent months. Cynthia also loved to travel internationally and learn about other cultures. Aside from her travels with Pan Am, Cynthia traveled for business and pleasure and enjoyed traveling to many European countries. Cynthia also loved going on cruises, as she loved the water.

Cynthia enjoyed sewing while her daughters were young, and she often made clothes for them. She was an excellent cook and was also fond of gardening. She cultivated an impressive herb and flower garden on the patios of her condo. Among the plants she was caring for at the time of her death was an ivy plant that belonged to her mother, who passed away in 1992. After she retired from Continental, Cynthia began following politics and often wrote letters to the two Texas senators to give them her opinion on a compelling issue.

In 1971, Cynthia was diagnosed with scleroderma, an autoimmune disease. As the disease progressed over the years, Cynthia took an active role in educating herself about scleroderma and in working extensively with her team of doctors to help them best treat her. Cynthia often read articles in medical journals and would discuss those articles with her doctors. On several occasions, she suggested a treatment to her doctor based on an article she read for a medical issue she was having, and the treatment she proposed solved the problem. Cynthia also enjoyed taking the time to talk to new physicians that were doing their residency with one of her doctors to educate them about scleroderma. By being a dream patient, Cynthia lived long past the life expectancy that was given to her when she was initially diagnosed.

The most important thing in Cynthia's life was her family. She was very active in her daughters' lives when they were growing up, and she never missed a dance recital, gymnastics meet, sporting event, or high school football game when her daughters were on the drill team. On more than one occasion, Cynthia commented that if anyone tried to harm her daughters, she would become a "momma bear" to prevent them from being hurt. Cynthia later showed the same devotion to her grandchildren, Hallie and Blake. She volunteered to babysit them as much as possible when they were young so as to spend more time with them. When Blake became interested in computers, she did everything she could to encourage his learning and spent hours with him discussing his latest endeavor on the computer.

Cynthia is predeceased by her parents, Lydia Boudloche and Junius Peter Boudloche. Cynthia is survived by her daughters, Kelly Conklin and Casey Conklin Rowland; her son-in-law, Coleman Rowland; her grandchildren, Hallie Rowland and Blake Rowland; her sister Karen Trimble; her sister Maria Smith and her husband Mark; her brother Larry Boudloche and his wife Rene; her brother Paul Boudloche and his wife Sandy; and numerous cousins, nieces, nephews, and friends.

The family wishes to thank Cynthia’s amazing caregivers, Felicia Zeno, Helen Daniels, and Roselyn Gaye; the staff at Parkway Place; the wonderful doctors that cared for her over the years, including Dr. John Burpeau, Dr. Bindu Akkanti, Dr. Ramesh Hariharan, Dr. Lauren Byers, Dr. Mona Iversen, Dr. Erik Maus, and Dr. Maureen Mayes; and Michelle Bua of Bua’s Bistro for her delicious meals.

The family is planning a private burial with a celebration of life to follow on July 18, 2023 at 2:00 p.m at Chapelwood United Methodist Church, 11140 Greenbay Drive, Houston, Texas 77024. In lieu of flowers, donations can be made to the National Scleroderma Foundation, the M.D. Anderson Cancer Center, K-9 Angels Rescue, Inc., or the charity of your choice.

Fond memories and expressions of sympathy may be shared at www.memorialoaksfunerals.com for the Conklin family.