With tremendous grief and heartbreak, it is reported here that Cynthia Marie Miller, 68, of Myrtle Road in Gardner Massachusetts, beloved mother and wife, died unexpectedly on January 15th after complications during emergency surgery to treat a stomach infection. She is survived by her son Andrew Michael Lindskog, husband Leonard Miller, sister Charlene Cwalina, nieces Chelsea and Nicole Cwalina, and a large and extensive French Canadian family of cousins, most notably her best friend Kay Richard, Tammy Nonni, and Donna Jameson.
Cindi was born on October 14th 1957 to Doris and Francis Leblanc and raised in Gardner on Pearl Street. She attended Sacred Heart Perocial School and graduated from Gardner High School in 1975. Her advanced studies were matriculated at Fitchburg State University, where she earned a Bachlor's Degree in early childhood education. After graduation she met her first husband, Donald "Mike" Lindskog and had a baby boy, Andrew. They later divorced but stayed close and amicable, raising their son until he left home to study at UVM in Burlington, Vermont. She remarried in 1998 to her current husband, Leonard Miller, in a beautiful ceremony in Orlando, Florida.
In her professional life, Cindi had a career as a pre-school teacher and child welfare advocate before leaving to pursue her interests in business, sales, and management. She worked for Horn Packaging, Home Depot and Staples before finally settling into a management position with the Dollar Tree Corporation, where she dutifully served for over a decade before retiring in 2025.
Cindi cared deeply for her community and all its residents. She was noted as an active community participant , walking in the Relay For Life, raising money for Gardner youth hockey, voting in every local election, and selflessly volunteering at Heywood Hospital.
Cindi's hobbies and passions were diverse, whether it was interior design, murder mystery novels, nightly Jeopardy!, British television, or cheering on the Red Sox and Patriots. By far her biggest passion was her art, mainly drawing, sewing, and cross-stitching. She could most often be found in her recliner watching reruns of West Wing, with a stitching project in hand, chatting with her "stitchy" friends online. She routinely escaped the bustle of work to frequent art and sewing retreats and loved the people she met there.
It must also be mentioned that Cindi's most cherished memories were formed during her yearly summer vacations to West Harwich on Cape Cod. There she rented a property with her friend and closest confidant, Pamela Troccia, everyone's second mom. In a house full of life and laughter, chaos and music, Wiffle ball and ping-pong, dueling guitars and heated card games, Cindi lived her best life basking in the summer sun and nightly ocean tides. Everyone was invited to Cindi's party but her favorite characters included Brett, Lauren and Bill Casavant, Grandma Dot and Auntie Kelly, the Daly family, Landon, Michael John, Josh, Carlos, and Stevan (with an A!).
In conclusion the author of this obituary, her son, Andrew, local writer and musician, would graciously ask that you indulge him in one of his saccharine poems.

To me heaven is a place that you be
Not a place that you go
A flower that blooms from the ice and the snow
Hold me close and then you'll know
This was the heaven scriptures foretold

How a mother gave birth to a son
First he crawled and then he did run
Time made us old but the magic remains
Things are different but exactly the same

And now your memory is a dream that I'll follow
Sometimes the earth can feel empty and hollow
What's now ancient once sparkled like new
Beneath every lie is a kernel of truth

An everyday angel but where were her wings
Sometimes late at night she whispers and sings
I think that heaven may be so close
We were already there and just didn't know