Cyl Adams Reed

Cyl was born Ethel Cylvesta Adams on January 1, 1937, at the family home in McCurtain County, Oklahoma, the daughter of Thomas Lewis Adams and Olive Eloice Beggs. Her father was a farmer, and Cyl was the eighth of their nine children. The family soon moved across the state line to DeKalb, Texas, where Cyl grew up and attended school.

After graduating from DeKalb High School with the Class of 1955, Cyl wasted little time beginning the next chapter of her life. The very next day, her father drove her to Dallas, where she was preparing to start her first job as a secretary at an insurance company that Monday. It was there, in the building elevator, that she met her future husband, Chester Reed, a structural engineer.

Cyl and Chester married in 1957 at Central Christian Church in Dallas, where they would remain lifelong members. Their life together was soon marked by a significant challenge when Cyl suffered a stroke in 1958 that left her permanently paralyzed on the left side of her body. She had to learn to walk again and lived with the effects of the stroke for the rest of her life. Her resilience and determination carried her forward, and she and Chester later welcomed two sons, Tom, born August 8, 1962, and Clay, born July 21, 1965.

Never one to stop learning or growing, Cyl continued her education, graduating from Arlington State College, now the University of Texas at Arlington. She later earned a master's degree in psychology from Southern Methodist University in 1975.

Cyl found her life's calling in helping others through some of life's most difficult moments. She began with Suicide Prevention of Dallas as a volunteer answering crisis-line calls and went on to make a lasting contribution to crisis intervention and mental health, including service on the organization's Clinical Advisory Board. In recognition of her work, the Cyl Reed Award was established to honor outstanding voluntary contributions to the Dallas Suicide and Crisis Center. Fittingly, Cyl was its first recipient.

Throughout her professional career, Cyl was a licensed professional counselor and a licensed marriage and family therapist. Her work extended beyond the counseling office, including helping the DeSoto Police Department develop a handbook for police officers. She also had extensive experience in grief work and served as a facilitator for the Widowed Persons Support Group, where her own experience with loss informed the understanding and guidance she offered others navigating life after the death of a spouse.

Away from her professional life, Cyl had passions all her own. She was a devoted Dallas Cowboys fan, and throughout the 1970s she could often be found at Texas Stadium alongside Chester and their sons, cheering on the Cowboys beneath the famous roof with a hole in it that Chester designed. Cyl and Chester also shared an affinity for antique collecting, and Cyl was never known to drive past an “Antiques” sign without wanting to stop and see what treasures might be waiting inside.

Earlier in her life, Cyl also worked at the Dallas advertising agency Tracy-Locke. At the time, Mrs. Baird's Bread had recently expanded into the Dallas market and was a Tracy-Locke client. Through that connection, one of the Baird sons gave Cyl a kitten. She promptly named him “Mr. Baird.” He would be the first of many cats to share her home, beginning a lifelong love of feline companionship that remained with her for the rest of her life.

After Chester's passing, Cyl continued to discover new interests and experiences. She developed a passion for birding and travel and treasured time at the family lake house, where she found peace in its quiet and solitude.

And then there were the familiar pleasures and routines her family will always associate with her: meals at Highland Park Cafeteria, her almost nightly bowl of Blue Bell Homemade Vanilla ice cream and watching the Dallas Mavericks. Both of her sons remember the evening phone calls asking the same important questions: Were the Mavericks playing tonight, and what channel was the game on?

To her grandchildren, she was known as “Mimi” to some and “Mimi Rocks” to others. The latter came from her collection of rocks gathered during her travels and displayed along the windowsill of her dining room. Those small souvenirs became such a familiar part of her home that, for some of her grandchildren, they became part of her name as well.

In a final and especially meaningful turn in Cyl's life, she became a great-grandmother just hours before her passing with the birth of her great-grandson, Sullivan Reed Kratofil.

Cyl's life was marked by perseverance, curiosity, compassion, and service. From the young woman whose father drove her from DeKalb to Dallas the day after high school graduation to the counselor, volunteer, mentor, mother, and grandmother she became, she continued to grow while helping others find their way through life's challenges. She will be remembered for the lives she touched and the lasting difference she made through a lifetime of caring for others.

Cyl was preceded in death by her husband, Chester Reed; her parents, Thomas Adams and Eloice Adams; her brothers and sisters, Porter Adams, William Adams, Celaska Beggs, S.L. Adams, Cathyrine Maze, and Tom Adams; and her grandson, Brayton Reed.

She is survived by her sons, Tom Reed (Jennifer) of Decatur, Georgia, and Clay Reed (Susan) of Farragut, Tennessee; her grandchildren, Alex Kratofil (Thomas), Berkeley Reed, Drake Reed, Ben Reed, and Elizabeth Reed; her great-grandson, Sullivan Reed Kratofil; her sister, Bertha Hall; her brother, Harry Odell Adams (Nelda Ann); and numerous nieces and nephews.

Cyl's family is deeply grateful that she was able to remain in the comfort of her own home throughout the final three-plus years of her life. That would not have been possible without the extraordinary care and compassion of her caregivers: Esmeralda Cabrera, Isatu “Tutu” Deensie, Rashida Gamanga, Keith McNeal, and Debra Taylor. Their kindness and dedication allowed Cyl to remain where she most wanted to be through the end of her life, and her family will always be grateful for the care they gave her.

A graveside service will be held at 11:00 a.m. on Wednesday, September 2, at Hillcrest Mausoleum and Memorial Park, 7405 W. Northwest Highway, Dallas, Texas 75225.

In lieu of flowers, memorial donations may be made to the Gladney Center for Adoption in Fort Worth, Widowed Persons Services of Dallas, or the Suicide and Crisis Center of North Dallas.