Cynthia J. Hahn

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Western Michigan University

Cynthia Hahn Obituary

April 26, 1953 - Oct. 28, 2005

Cynthia J. Hahn of Fairfield died Friday in her home after a four-year battle with complications of iatrogenic disease. She was 52.

Mrs. Hahn, or "Cyn," as she preferred to be called, was born April 26, 1953, in Kalamazoo, Mich., the daughter of Samuel and Barbara (Hare) Yennelli.

Her father was a Navy petty officer, and as a result, she lived a number of places in her younger years, including Chula Vista, and Green Bay, Wis. While she was still in elementary school, her family moved back to their hometown of Allegan, Mich., and Cyn spent most of her early life there.

She graduated from Allegan High School in 1971, then attended Western Michigan University in Kalamazoo, where she was awarded a Bachelor of Science degree in English, magna cum laude, in 1975.

Cyn and Kurt E. Hahn were married Oct. 25, 1975, in the home of Allegan Mayor Chuck Sagodic.

She worked a variety of jobs early in her marriage, but she devoted full time to being a mother and homemaker for many years following the birth of her first child in 1979.

The family moved to California in 1985, living first in Concord, then moving to Fairfield in 1987. During the late 1980s, Cyn worked as a substitute teacher for the Fairfield-Suisun Unified School District. She began freelance writing in the 1990s and wrote weekly opinion columns for several years, first in the Daily Republic and later for The Reporter.

She is survived by her husband, Kurt of Fairfield; son and daughter-in-law, Spencer and Marieke Hahn of Portland, Ore.; son, Alex of Fairfield; sister, Rani Johnson of Allegan; aunt, Beverly Nichols of Dearborn, Mich.; a nephew, D.J. Johnson of Michigan; and three cousins, Mary Vollman, Art Nichols and Gibson Nichols, all of Michigan.

She also leaves behind her beloved cats, Smoky and Zoe.

Visitation for family and friends will be today from 4 to 8 p.m. at the Bryan-Braker Funeral Home, 1850 W. Texas St., Fairfield. A private cremation service will follow.

To plant trees in memory, please visit the Sympathy Store.

Published by The Reporter from Nov. 1 to Nov. 2, 2005.

Memories and Condolences
for Cynthia Hahn

6 Entries

Bill and Cyndi Long

November 2, 2005

Our hearts and prayers are with you.

Pamela Johnson

November 1, 2005

My family's earliest memory of Cindy was provided by my brother, Philip. We had just moved across town and we were attending North Ward Elementary in Allegan. Philip came home and told Mama that there was a new girl in class who had the prettiest long brown hair. As I was a year older, it took a little longer for me to become friends with Cindy...we picked up on and off through the years, but when I returned to Allegan to begin our family, Cindy and I found ourselves pregnant with Spencer and Cameron at the same time. Believe me, it was definitely an oddity in 1979 to be stay-at-home Moms. We needed something outside family life, though, too and took a tax prep class together and formed H & J Tax Service (still in operation, although not as H & J since the H moved away). We spent many days together with my two boys and Spence, and then Alex arrived, and the Hahn household moved South...another chapter entirely. Anyway, you don't want a book here, but I know above all else, Cindy made her focus her family. She had definite thoughts as to how to capture "family life", and was going to do all she could to raise up her children in the best possible home she could provide. It wasn't about the financial end, though Lord knows we all got to have finances. She wanted her boys to grow up with a full view of what life expected of them. I think, or I should say I know, that one of Cindy's most admirable traits was her loyalty. All the girls she grew up with who became her best friends, all remained loyal to each other through thick and thin. Not being in the same school class, I was and am quite envious of that, although I know we were good friends, it wasn't quite the same. Cindy always had a compassion for a cause or project, and she had great tenacity for focusing on it and following through, another admirable trait. Another great trait, was her ability to tell you how it is whether you wanted to hear it or not. You needn't worry about something coming in the back door with her. It was all up front. I'm sure I'm not alone amongst her friends in wishing we all had that one last time together. Which reminds me of the time I visited the Hahn's in Fairfield. Cindy was determined that I was going to see Muir Woods before I left. Considering her physical being at the time and considering my "motion" sickness, as we were talking about what kind of nuts we had to be to be driving up and down and around all the curves, we decided the best way to handle it was to break out in song, songs from the Sound of Music. I often wondered what cars passing by thought of the women who were driving by mouths wide open in song with "My Favorite Things". In one of her last visits to Allegan, when Spence, Alex, Jason and Cameron were in South Haven, I have a picture of the four of them together in front of the "Cottage", arms wrapped around each other and smiling big for Grandma's camera. The photo currently hangs near my back door at the lake, and anyone who hasn't been here before, always comments on what a fantastic picture. It's not the quality of the picture, but what the picture captured...four young boys who looked happy and without a care in the world...and at that age that's what we all wanted for our kids.

Kurt, Spence, Alex, I wish I could be there for you, please know you're in my thoughts and prayers. And as I continue life looking through my rose-colored glasses, I hope we'll all meet again, Cindy included.

Love, Pam

Joy Schumack

October 31, 2005

REMEMBERING A FELLOW LIBRARY USER.

JMS

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