Lucinda J. McBurney

1950 - 2016

September 19, 1950 - July 5, 2016 Cindy, 65, passed away peacefully with family at her sides on July 5th in San Clemente. From Alaska since 1976, she was seeking treatment "Outside" for a very aggressive rare cancer. Born in Los Angeles and raised in Long Beach by her parents Doris and Howard who predeceased her, Cindy graduated from Wilson High, UC Berkeley, and the University of San Francisco School of Law. She volunteered summers during law school representing the poor on the Navajo reservation in New Mexico and Arizona. Upon graduation, she signed up with VISTA, which brought her to Alaska. She worked for Alaska Legal Services until the Alaska Court System hired her as Judicial Education Coordinator in 1981 and Standing Master four years later. Cindy continued in her judicial capacity until she retired in 2011. A playmate's father coined the word "cindygraph" to capture her childhood capacity for phonograph-like nonstop chatter, a quality that served her well in her profession, on the bench and with family. Cindy did not shed this trait until cancer took her speech days before her death. Her passions were her family, her second career as a violinist for the Anchorage Symphony, mystery novels, and her beloved multi generational Labrador Retrievers and grand dogs/cats too many to name. Cindy leaves her husband of 28 years, Ron Wielkopolski, her stepchildren and extended family, Ron Jr., Nicole and Blayre, Blayre's children Tristan and Killian, Cindy's sister Meredith, daughter-in-law Magda and Magda's parents Basia and Marek from Kraków, Poland, and others across the miles. Cindy leaves many friends near and far, from court and musician colleagues to restaurant servers she befriended in her third "career" as caretaker and dinner escort to her elderly mom. Cindy's love and care helped her mom thrive at her own Anchorage home until her death in 2014 at the age of 101. A tiny example that spoke volumes of Cindy's capacity for love is a gift she gave a stranger in a hotel lobby. Cindy overheard a young "very nervous" appearing woman tell another she was waiting for her job interview. Cindy told her stepdaughter: "She is very cute. Tell her she will do just fine, and I cannot imagine anyone not hiring her." When Nicole told her what Cindy said the woman exclaimed "Oh, thank you. Thank you. You cannot imagine how much better I feel." The young woman never knew her complimenter would pass away in six weeks from a disease she knew to be terminal. We will miss her genuineness, kindness, generosity, empathy and intelligent quips and sense of humor regarding both events of the day and timely retorts to others' comments that begged reply. We plan to celebrate Cindy's life in Anchorage at a September memorial. We ask that anyone so inclined to send flowers instead donate to the Anchorage Symphony, animal rescue, Hospice or cancer research.