Cindy Lou Furst

Cindy Lou Furst passed on to her heavenly home on September 20, 2020 being visited by family and friends. She had spent the last years of her life in a courageous and optimistic fight with various cancers that had plagued for 16 years. Cindy was born on March 25, 1951 in St. Joseph, Missouri, the middle child and only daughter of Earl and Evelyn Furst, rural farmers from Cosby, Missouri. She grew up a farm girl and was always proud of that. She was an excellent student, and an extremely active participant in almost all school activities, especially vocal music, cheerleading, speech, girl’s sports, etc. She graduated from Savannah High, and then attended Northwest Missouri State University at Maryville where she immediately joined the Alpha Sigma Alpha Sorority, and those sisters remained close her entire life. In 1971 she came to Colorado for the summer, decided she loved it, transferred to CU Boulder , and graduated there in 1972. She loved Colorado, its air, its mountains and its active lifestyle. She remained in Colorado the rest of her life. Her career began in 1973, at 22years of age at Climax Molybdenum Mine near Copper Mountain and Leadville. She donned steel toed boots, a hardhat, overalls, and a respirator and went underground to document job responsibilities for upcoming union/labor contract negotiations. After that, she moved to the Henderson Mine near Empire to handle all hiring for one year (over 3000 people) and later to Golden to handle benefits, compensation and other HR areas. She worked at this company for five years. In late 1977, she was hired by Hewlett Packard’s HR department in Loveland, Colorado; and she stayed there most of the rest of her working life - over a 31 year period. She stayed in HR for six years, returned to school in Computer Science, and transferred to Marketing where she had various roles in almost all businesses in Northern Colorado for another 25 years. Her style and values were a great match for HP given the values of Bill and Dave, and she blossomed in that environment for many years. Her colleagues, team members, employees and managers all became family as well, and many remained close friends for decades. Cindy married Hoyle Curtis and together they had a son, Christopher. Even though they divorced over a decade later, Cindy and Hoyle remained close friends and co-parents to provide caring, support, companionship and love for each other through the rest of her life. They both became caregivers for each other during both of their long cancer battles. She is survived by Hoyle Curtis and Christopher Dylan Furst Curtis; her Mother, Evelyn of St. Joseph, Missouri; her two brothers: Ray (Janet) of Cosby, Missouri; and Ken, of Dubuque, Iowa; seven nieces and nephews, nine great nephews/nieces, and her many long time friends. In 2004, she was diagnosed with Waldenstrom’s Macroglobulinemia, a slow growing blood cancer. That created a bleeding disorder, eye cancer, and other issues that she continued to battle the rest of her life. She had few problems relative to most, and became an active volunteer with International Waldenstrom’s Macroglobulinemia Foundation helping others advocate for their medical problems. Staying healthy and active became a critical part of her life, plus helping those less fortunate than herself. She became a Trustee with IWMF, focusing on cancer patient advocacy, support groups, helping the newly diagnosed, and those needing treatments. Cindy spent her life being active. She walked three+ miles/day, was a sailor, a bicyclist, a skier, a scuba diver, a yoga enthusiast, and hiker. She loved the Islands, and had visited most of the beautiful ones several times in her years with the various “Cheap Thrills” yachts she shared with others. She spent her post career years volunteering for cancer advocacy, trying to stay healthy, and learning. She was a member of the Loveland First United Methodist Church. Cindy has been cremated, and a memorial service will be held to celebrate her life at the Loveland First United Methodist Church at a later date, post Covid restrictions. Cindy’s ashes will be buried at the Loveland Lakeside Cemetery. That Loveland burial service will be completed with close friends and family. There will also be a Missouri Celebration of Life service at a later date. Please go to www.viegutfuneralhome.com/obituary-listing to sign the family guestbook and send memories and condolences. Memorial contributions can be made in Cindy’s honor to the International Waldenstrom’s Macroglobulinemia Foundation at iwmf.com; or the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society at lls.org. She would want everyone to live life to its fullest with enthusiasm, optimism, and compassion for others less fortunate than themselves.