~By Robbie Snow

Cindy Wackerbarth

It has been Cindy Wackerbarth’s faith and her sense of adventure that has led her around the world.

Cindy was born into a family of Reformed Church members in Patterson, NJ. The family moved to Washington NJ when Cindy was in 8th grade. Washington didn’t have a Reformed Church so the family started going to the Presbyterian Church.

Cindy graduated from high school in Washington and decided on Hope College.

She met Paul Wackerbarth at a get together for new freshman before attending Hope. However, they wouldn’t get married for another nine years.

After college Cindy had wanted to join the Peace Corps, but that move wasn’t in the cards, so she signed on with the Presbyterian International Schools and set off for Iran for the next three years. While based in Iran she traveled to Lebanon, Ethiopia and various other mission stations in the region. Also, while in Iran she started receiving letters from Paul who was a graduate student at the University of Indiana.

“We actually got engaged by mail, “ laughed Cindy. They were married in August of 1969. They left soon after to begin a career in the US Foreign Service in Barriquilla, Colombia. The northern most city in South America.

Cindy, who had graduated in education from Hope, taught second grade at the American School.

At the end of that posting, Cindy was pregnant and she and Paul came back to the United States where their daughter Susi was born. Ten weeks later the family was in Brazil where it rains 330 days a year. They stayed there for two years, and Cindy taught in a co-op nursery school.

Next they settled in Silver Spring, MD and joined Northwood Presbyterian.

Throughout all of her travels there have been two things consistent in Cindy’s life -- her teaching and her involvement in a church.

Christmas at Knox A playful moment in costume with husband Paul as a Wise Man and Cindy as a shepherdess.

“Being involved in a church has always been an important part of my life. It has always been a way to be involved with the community. I have always kept my teaching certificate up to day and taught as much as I could.,” She said after a long day of teaching at Daniels Run Elementary in Fairfax County.

     After a few years in Silver Spring The Wackerbarth’s were off to Bonn, Germany for two years. Then it was off to Honduras, where Cindy admits she played for the first year. Honduras was big year for Cindy and Paul. They adopted Beppe and soon after the adoption Cindy discovered she was pregnant with their son James.

“We had decided to adopt since I had had several miscarriages,” she says. “ And then I became pregnant. Jimmy and Beppe are 11 months apart”

They came back to Silver Spring and stayed there until Susi graduated from high school. Then Susi went off to college and the rest of the family went to Poland.

“We were in Poland for the last months of Communism. Our phones and house were bugged. If Paul and I wanted to talk we had to go for a walk. It was pretty creepy.”

Next was a corporate exchange in West Chester, NY and then on to Brazil. Cindy started work on her Masters Degree while in Brazil and finished it up at Marymount University in Falls Church.

The family moved to Falls Church in 1996 after checking out schools and deciding that the Falls Church schools were the best fit for their diverse family. They also found Knox Presbyterian as a good fit.

Today, Cindy is Board Member of the Foreign Service Youth Foundation. She stays busy with gardening (something she has also done everywhere they lived) walking to Leesburg (in individual stretches) going to art museums and walking the woods.

~~Thanks to Robbie Snow for the above interview.
Robbie will be reporting each month of the life of one of our Knox women.