Cynthia L. Batson of Somersworth, N.H. peacefully fell asleep in Jesus on February 19, 2018, at Wentworth-Douglass Hospital in Dover, N.H. after a long and courageous battle with Multiple Sclerosis. She was born May 8, 1952 to Raymond and Dorothy (Knorr) Carter in Norwalk, Conn.

Cindy and Willie began their journey together when they fell deeply in love as students at Berkshire Christian College in 1970 and married on August 19, 1972. A faithful follower of Jesus Christ, she served alongside Willie as an Advent Christian Church pastor’s wife in South Carolina, Connecticut, New Hampshire and Maine. She read her Bible every day, volunteered in various church ministries and helped Willie lead Family Builders Ministries, a non-profit marriage and family ministry, for 30 years.

Cindy was a devoted mother and nana who enjoyed loving on her children and grandchildren. She found no greater joy in life than to spend time with family and close friends. Her grandchildren will always remember her having bubble gum in her pocketbook to give them.

She enjoyed playing various board games, but Scrabble was her favorite. Among her other personal activities, crafts, swimming, playing with her cats and baking desserts ranked high on the list. Cindy loved to bake/cook for others and often baked a carrot cake from scratch for Willie’s birthday. She was a quiet, unassuming and gentle person who constantly thought of others before herself.

Cindy earned her Bachelor of Science degree in elementary education and taught first grade for two years in Walterboro, S.C. before leaving the professional field to raise her two daughters. Once they were both in school, she began an 18-year career as a para-professional in special education at the New Franklin Elementary School in Portsmouth.

In 1991, Cindy was diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis. She fought hard to not let it keep her from what she enjoyed in life. When her legs became too weak to operate her car’s foot pedals, she had the car equipped with hand controls so she could continue driving to work and other places. Though she eventually had to depend on a wheelchair for mobility, she never gave up hope of being able to walk again. Her confident assurance was that someday she would walk again (and swim) when Jesus returns.

Over the past couple of years she fought hard against the complications brought on by the advancing of the MS. Many people commented that she was a “real trooper.” It was her strong and abiding faith in the goodness of God that sustained her.

She is survived by her husband and caregiver, Willie; her daughters, Courtney Pederson and husband Erik, and Cammie Gilchrist and husband David; her mother, Dorothy; and her brother, Raymond L. Carter, Jr. She had six grandchildren: Mollie and Nathanael Pedersen; and Alexi, David, Jonathan and Scarlett Gilchrist. She is predeceased by her father Raymond Sr.

Cindy’s husband and daughters want to express their grateful appreciation to the doctors and nurses who lovingly and graciously cared for Cindy over the past few years. The staff of the Emergency Department and Critical Care Unit at Wentworth-Douglass Hospital and the visiting nurses of Cornerstone VNA became something like a second family to Cindy.

The family requests that any donations in Cindy’s memory go to Family Builders Ministries (PO Box 321, Durham, NH 03824-0321).