Cindy DuPuis, 64

Cynthia Anne DuPuis, 64, of Spirit Lake, Idaho, passed away from leukemia at Hospice of North Idaho on the morning of Aug. 14, 2023.

Cindy was born Jan. 26, 1959, to Phillip and Shirley Potts in Farmington, N.M.

She attended Ceres High School, Calif., and transferred to Argus Alternative School, where she graduated. During these years, she met her first husband, Rick Avery, and was blessed with her first child, Christopher Michael.

Later, she attended a trade school where she planned on being a flight attendant. This started a lifelong love of traveling.

At a Sambo's restaurant where they worked together, she met her future husband, Gary DuPuis. They moved to Lee Vining. There they worked, traveled and camped in and around the Yosemite region and brought into the world their two sons, Aaron Jason, born in June Lake, and James Seneca, born in Bishop.

She spent time in Arizona near the DuPuis family of Scottsdale and Tucson. This is where she started a 20-year career with JC Penney Co. She relocated to the California Central Valley, settling in a home in Ceres. She and Gary divorced after 15 years of marriage and this is when she moved to North Idaho, where she would remain.

Gary passed away later in 2016.

In North Idaho, she worked for a number of years at Post Falls Templin's Red Lion and seven years at Super 1 Foods, Hayden. She grew to be a light in this community where everywhere she went she would say hi with a smile, remembering everyone's names and their parents and their children's.

You couldn't go anywhere with her without her stopping and talking to someone she knew. She was active in BABS groups in Bayview and Athol, played Bunco with the senior ladies and supported various charities throughout her life including United Way, Girl Scouts and St. Vincent de Paul and was a Team Coordinator for Relay for Life Cancer Foundation. One of her most endearing qualities was her care for the young ones.

She was a great mother, grandmother and nanny for many children. She made it a focus to raise any child in her life with great love and God-fearing faith. She worked in foster care in Idaho and took in several youths into her home. Always bright, hardworking and faithful, she will be dearly missed by all.

Cindy is survived by her three sons, Chris Avery of Cheney, Wash., Aaron, Post Falls, Idaho, and James, Coeur d'Alene; siblings Joan, Mary, Jim, Karen and John; parents Phillip and Shirley of Spirit Lake East; and many grandchildren.