Cynthia Ann (Barker) Sypkens went to the place the Lord prepared for her on March 14, 2024, at 2 p.m., during care at North Kansas City Hospital for complications related to juvenile diabetes.
She was born on October 19, 1963, to Robert Louis and Mary Lee Barker in Los Angelas County, California. Her family moved back to their hometown of Chillicothe, Illinois, after the 1971 earthquake damaged their home in Van Nuys.
Cynthia graduated from Illinois Valley Community High School in Spring 1981 and attended Iowa State University, initially as an Aerospace Engineering student. She met her future husband Steve, who was also an Aerospace Engineering student, at a Firkins House party her sophomore year. They were married in 1986 before he left to fulfill orders to the USS Constellation CV-64 as a Navy airman. She followed the next year after completing her Bachelor of Science degree in Elementary Education with a Mathematics concentration.
She and her husband had adventures around the world during his 20-year Navy career, teaching in schools in San Diego, Millington, Tenn., Pinole, Calif., the Springfield, Ill., area, Virginia Beach, and Bremerton, Wash., before teaching for 15 years at Penny Elementary School in Hamilton, Mo., as a special education teacher. She picked up her Special Education Certificate from Chapman University in Concord, Calif., and her Masters in Curriculum and Instruction and Administration from Chapman University in San Diego.
While working at Penny Elementary, she operated their annual Veteran’s Day celebration for 10 years, which led to her being awarded the 2017 VFW Missouri Teacher of the Year Award. She retired from teaching in December 2021 and was active in her local church as a Sunday school teacher and vacation bible school leader, was a member of the Plattsburg American Legion Auxiliary and the Kearney VFW Auxiliary.
She is survived by her husband of 38 years, Steven Sypkens, in Turney,Mo.; her sister, Tamara Hanley, of Hopedale, Illinois; her step-mother, Zoe Favors Barker, and many sisters (brother-in-law), nieces and nephews. She is also the teacher of hundreds of students all across the country. Please send any gifts to the Cameron Regional Medical Center Foundation and/or Wounded Warriors.
Healing farewell service will be held at noon Saturday, March 23, 2024, at the First Christian Church of Plattsburg. Interment: Log Church Cemetery, Plattsburg,Mo. The family will gather with friends one hour prior to the service at the church. Arrangements: Bailey & Cox Family Funeral Service, Plattsburg, Mo. Online obituary and guestbook at www.baileycox.com
