Obituaries

Cindee Dean Pelton "The Silver Fox" passed away July 7th 2023 in her daughter Lisa's home in McKinney, Texas after a 3.5 year battle with esophageal cancer. She had been living in her beloved Brooklyn, NY for several years prior to her diagnosis and received the majority of her treatment at Sloan Kettering in Manhattan. We are grateful for the kindness and expert care given by Dr. Maron and his team. We are also thankful for the medical care in Texas by Dr. Juturi, her sister Dr. Susan Fesmire, Elysian Hospice and her caregiver Noy Sengdara - we are forever grateful for their guidance and compassion during these final months.

Cindee Lou Slaughter was born in Breckenridge, TX to Wanda Geraldine "Gerry" Guthrie and Eugene "Gene" Slaughter on April 2, 1949. She spent her early years very much in West Texas and was riding in rodeos with her grandparents Pappy and Ann Slaughter by age 5. When her parents divorced she divided time between Snyder, TX with her mom and stepfather Carl Fesmire and summers in Corpus Christi with her dad, stepmother Merlene and stepbrother Larry Willard. In Corpus she would often accompany her dad to work out on the oil rigs in the Gulf which entailed a two hour helicopter ride each way and a rope swing to land her on the rig. She maintained excellent sea legs for the rest of her life.

Cindee moved to Sherman during middle school where she was welcomed by her new town and classmates. She also became a big sister when baby Susan arrived when she was in high school. Cindee was well loved at Sherman High taking on such honors as Who's Who, Class Favorite and after reading the full page honoring her in her senior yearbook her lifelong love for Barbara Streisand was already in place. She always spoke fondly of her 1967 classmates.

After high school she went on to Texas Tech, but not too long after moved to Austin to be with her high school sweetheart Mike Dean who was playing National Championship football for the Texas Longhorns. They were married in Sherman TX in 1969 at St Stephen's by Father Garrard. The following year they welcomed daughter Lisa Kay in 1970 and daughter Jennifer Irene in 1974.

The family returned to Sherman in 1975 where Mike began his dental practice and Cindee worked, volunteered with the Service League and later opened a designer clothing store Papillion in the 1980s. She loved dressing women of all ages and going to market in NYC each year -- one of her favorite moments was introducing her grandmother Irene to designer Albert Nipon in his NYC showroom. Cindee was always the most stylish person in the room with zero pretense. Throughout her life she loved fashion and could make grocery store clothes look like Neiman Marcus.

After her first marriage ended and her daughters had graduated from Sherman, she moved to Dallas and pursued a career in marketing with Willis-Rollinson. With her work she traveled and especially enjoyed her time in London. She married her partner Charlie Pelton after he was diagnosed with cancer and they spent ten peaceful years in Fort Lauderdale, FL living steps from the beach. The ocean was always a favorite place for Cindee.

One of her proudest accomplishments was running the Los Angeles Marathon in 2006 with daughter Jennifer. A favorite quote she held onto was "some days I can't do much, but I can always say I ran a marathon". Jennifer remembers so many shouts of encouragement that day from spectators "Silver Fox you own the streets of LA today!". It was quite an accomplishment for a 56 year old with severe back pain and scoliosis to cross that 26 mile marker.

But the love of her life was certainly her granddaughter Eleanor Lonergan . After Charlie passed she moved to Brooklyn with her yorkie Okie to help take care of Eleanor at her Montessori and later was a daily helper at her elementary school PS 321 in Park Slope. She was so loved by teacher Julie Sebunya and so many of the parents and students alike. Covid and her cancer treatment disrupted this happy time but we are thankful for those years in NYC with Jennifer, Dan and Eleanor.

There was no one quite like our mother Cindee Lou. She had that "it" factor where people were just drawn to her. She could turn every head in a room, but as glamorous as she might look she was always the West Texas kid from Breckenridge who treated everyone the same. She will be missed dearly.

And finally, here were a few of her favorite things:

Eleanor, her family, Marlboro 100s, Diet Dr. Pepper, Queen Elizabeth II, Paris, Coco Chanel, Barbara Streisand, Robert Redford, Archie Bunker, Andy Griffith, Chuck Yeager, "Out of Africa", crab claws from Campisi's, steak tartare from Balthazar, Oysters Rockefeller at the Oyster Bar, cupcakes, a very sweet Cosmo, anything her grandmother Irene cooked, any beach, all dogs, the State Fair of Texas, Lauderdale by the Sea, sitting on a stoop in Brooklyn and all of the sounds of NYC.

Cindee is survived by her daughter Lisa Dean and her fiance Kyle Graham of McKinney TX, daughter Jennifer Dean Lonergan, her husband Dan Lonergan and granddaughter Eleanor of Brooklyn, NY; her step-children CJ Pelton of Houston, TX and Nicole Best of Toronto, Canada; sister Dr. Susan Fesmire of Southlake, TX, cousins Alieca Hux of Sulphur Springs, TX, Boyd Richie of Wichita Falls, TX and Stephen Richie of Graham, TX; nieces Simone Macdonald Gonzalez-Carreon of Austin, TX, Julia MacDonald-Ward of Dallas, TX, Catherine Sheffield of San Diego, CA, Rachel Schilhab of The Colony, TX, Hannah Hamel of Chicago, IL and Elizabeth Hamel of Syracuse, NY.

Cindee was preceded in death by her ever-doting grandparents, her parents, husband Charlie Pelton, stepbrother Larry Willard, cousin Petyon Hudlow and nephews Christian Macdonald and Daniel Willard .

Please join us for her memorial at Dannel Funeral Home on Saturday, September 23rd at 2pm:

Dannel Funeral Home 302 S Walnut St Sherman TX. 75090

A reception will follow Cindee’s service.

In lieu of flowers, any donations could be made to The Salgi Esophageal Cancer Research Foundation:

https://salgi.org/ways-to-give/