"Cynthia Atkins, Cindy, aged 77, died in April 2026, following a long-running history of melanoma with recent aggressive advancement. Her daughter will observe a private memorial at a later date following interment of her cremains alongside her husband's in the family plot in West End Cemetery in Wytheville, VA.

Cindy was born in 1948 in Wythe County, VA, the third child of Ethel Virginia (Crouse) Johnson and Willis (Will) McTeer Johnson, and she was raised on the family farm located off Slate Spring Branch Road, until the death of her father when she was 14, which caused the family to move to Wytheville after the Hugh Spraker family purchased the farm and her Aunt Iris (Johnson) Jackson helped them find a new home in town. Cindy graduated from George Wythe High School in 1966 and began working for United Telephone Company (UTC), a career she maintained until 1984, when the settlement of the federal lawsuit against the AT&T monopoly affected UTC as well, and Cindy, a senior manager, accepted a settlement instead of relocation to Knoxville, TN. She subsequently pursued a degree in Accounting, graduating from Wytheville Community College in 1986. Following that she worked for a variety of businesses in the New River Valley from 1986 to 2002, when she moved with her husband, Don Atkins, to Knoxville, TN, where he pursued a Bible Studies degree at the Southeast Institute of Biblical Studies, which offered complimentary courses for Church of Christ preachers' wives. Cindy and Don moved to Washington, NC after his, graduation in 2004, and later to Salisbury, NC in 2021.

Cindy is survived by her daughter, Jill, son-in-law Richard, and granddaughter Ginny, as well as siblings, JR Johnson (Judy) and Kathy Ritchie (Allen), and several nephews, nieces, and cousins. Donations in her memory to the Fort Chiswell Church of Christ in Max Meadows, VA, to support the needs of transient, ill, and hungry people who pass through, and of those in need in the community, or to your preferred charity that supports a food bank or services to needy people, will be appreciated." Expressions of sympathy may be sent to the family at www.grubbfuneralhome.com

Grubb Funeral Home is in charge of the local arrangements.