Cintra Crosby McIlwain

Cintra Crosby McIlwain was born in Pennsylvania on April 17, 1928 to Viola Beale and Knox McIlwain. Viola was of the Beale Family, Lafayette Square, Washington, D.C. Her great grandfather, Commodore Thomas Truxton, was appointed by George Washington to command one of four warships of the brand new U.S. Navy, the Constellation. As a very young man, he had sailed his own ship to China and, at Washington’s request, had brought a punch bowl back to him, which is now at Mount Vernon. In 1785, at Benjamin Franklin‘s request, he brought the great man home from France after his many years of labor there. On that voyage, they plotted out the path of the Gulf Stream by putting thermometers down into the Atlantic, and reaching home, were given a tremendous welcome by the Philadelphians. Then, Edward F. Beale, Cintra’s great uncle, along with Kit Carson, saved the beleaguered U.S. army, led by General Kearny, during the Mexican-American war, carried the first proof of gold from California in 1849 to Washington D.C., plotted out Route 66, and led the famous camel experiment across the southwest.

Cintra attended the Agnes Irwin school in Wynnewood, PA founded by the daughter of Benjamin Franklin. Graduated from Northwestern University in 1950 summa cum laude in English Literature and Philosophy. She married Forrest Williams and honeymooned in the Tower Beyond Tragedy on D.H. Lawrence’s ranch in Taos, went to Paris where Forrest was a Fulbright Scholar at the Sorbonne, and Cintra learned to cook and walk Paris.

In 1952 they moved to Boulder and lived in the potato chip factory, where McGuckin‘s now stands, and two years later in Fourmile Canyon with Cintra‘s magnificent Palomino, Copper. Shortly thereafter, Dylan, then Sukey, made their greatly loved appearances. In the summer of 1958, Mark Rothko and family, at C.U. for the season, came out from town every weekend to picnic.

In 1961, they went to Rome to live in Orson Welles’ apartment, while Forrest taught philosophy at the University of Rome. Cintra, Dylan and Sukey then spent two years in Greece, making lifelong friends there. On their return, Cintra worked at the High Altitude Observatory for two years and served on the Conference on World Affairs committee. She and Forrest divorced. She moved to D.C. and married Michael Michaelis, John F. Kennedy’s man for solutions to future problems. JFK told Cintra, “You are a far-out Democrat and keep it up!” Cintra ran the public relations for the Call for Action City Hall complaint center and had a monthly TV show interviewing complainants. After seeing Nixon go up in flames, Dylan, Sukey and Cintra returned to Boulder in 1975. Dylan and Sukey graduated from C.U., and Cintra went back to Astro Geophysics as editor on the Jupiter project.

In 1980, Cintra, married Warren Gillette, M.D., and they spent the next three months going around the world on Semester-at-Sea, the beginning of their marvelous married life together. They traveled extensively, stayed long periods on freighters and in Greece and France. They loved reading, painting and tennis. Cintra loved most of all Warren, Sukey, Dylan, daughter-in-law Kate Remley, her stepsons, David and Peter Michaelis and Owen Gillette, and all of her lovely friends. Cintra made creative independence a natural part of everyday life. She died in Boulder on September 7, 2023, with family at her side. A memorial will be held at Mountain View Memorial Park on Friday September 22 at 10 AM.

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