Cynthia Lou Layton
January 25, 1950 - October 22, 2022

Cynthia Lou Layton nee’ Bryce passed away on October 22, 2022 at home in Maynard, Arkansas. She was 72. Cindy was born January 25, 1950 in Staples, Minnesota, to Daryl and Evelyn Bryce. As a child, she was happiest on her grandparents’ farm. Cindy grew up on Clark Lake near Nisswa, Minnesota, and graduated from Washington High School in Brainerd, MN in 1968. She married and moved to St. Paul, MN. She raised a daughter, owned a business, and worked in the payroll department at Graybar. After too many cold winters, Cindy finally followed her dream to move to a warmer place and be back on a farm. She lived in Mountain Home and then Maynard, Arkansas for over thirty years, raising pedigree goats, growing lilies, and enjoying her porch’s warm weather. Cindy became a ‘Nana’ when she met her newborn grandson on her first trip to Egypt where her daughter was working. She enjoyed annual Christmas trips to Cairo, Egypt, collecting adventures and stone camel statues every year, for seven years! She loved the Red Sea beaches, visited a monastery near Mount Sinai, camped in the desert, and even found her way to realize a dream of seeing Anne Frank’s House on a long travel layover in Amsterdam. Every summer, Nana met her returning ‘kids’ with a memorable ‘Welcome to USA’’ sign. Cindy happily retired as a case manager from the Doni Martin Center in Pocahontas, AR after many years. She enjoyed Friday country music dances, Tab, everything the color red, and life in her quiet, rural community. She continued making frequent trips to spend holidays with her grandchildren, now growing up in Minnesota. Labor Day weekends included nostalgic day trips back to her grandparents’ farm, an Amish pie stand, the corner candy store she and her granny once walked to, and sometimes, even an ice cream reunion with the Nisswa Girls. Cindy is survived by her daughter Darby Ahartz and two grandchildren, Ziyad and her namesake, Lucinda, of Minneapolis, Minnesota, and her Great Uncle and Aunt Donald and Lydia Rieck of Mountain Home, Arkansas, as well as many friends in many places. Cindy will be laid to rest privately at Immanuel Lutheran Church Cemetery near Bertha, Minnesota, along with four generations of maternal grandparents, her mother, and younger brother. Donations can be made in remembrance to the Doni Martin Center in Pocahontas, Arkansas.