thoughts of a fondness for turtles

shared by Marlo R. Beall, her sister

Cyn possessed many gifts and talents. Other posts have talked about her interest and skill in cooking, sports, braiding hair, flower arranging, and other forms of arts and crafts. Below are some pictures of a little turtle magnet that she made while in high school or college.

I believe it is made of some type of molding clay. In terms of actual size, it is about one-and-a-half inches long and a little less than one inch wide. I remember that this magnet, along with a couple of other "Cyn-made" turtles, used to reside on our kitchen refrigerator in our apartment in Culver City.

As far as I know, she didn't make it as part of a class, or for a special occasion, or to serve any specific purpose. Most likely she just made it because she wanted to, because she just felt like it, and she had probably thought to herself that she figured she could make one, and wanted to prove to herself that she could.

Turtles were undoubtedly Cyn's favorite animal. At one time, I believe toward the end of high school, she even had two pet turtles. They were named "Grubb" and "Ellis", after the name of a realty company for which she had been working. So turtles always make me think of Cyn. My sisters and I each have a turtle tatoo in Cyn's honor.

And as for the little magnet, it can usually be found on our refrigerator. But every so often it ends up being played with by our daughters Cynthia and Ava. It makes me think that Cyn is smiling down from heaven saying, "You see, that's really why I made it."