Cynthia Benavides

On December 23rd 2025, Cynthia (Cindy) Lee Benavides passed away at Sacred Heart Hospital in Spokane, Washington.

Born in Kentucky while her army officer father was stationed at Ft. Campbell, Cindy was the youngest of two daughters to mother Patricia Nadine (Davis) and father William Henry Gnadt. Cindy spent her childhood with her parents and sister Cheryl Ann (Cheri) traveling the world as a military "brat," remembering living in France, Austria, Italy and Vietnam, before finally settling for her high school years back in her father's US home state of Washington.

After high school in Vancouver, WA, Cindy married and had two daughters, Lynn Marie and Lori Ann, who remember their mom as providing popsicles with every scrape of the knee and teddy bears "just because" even though finances were always tight. She raised her daughters with their grandparents Pat and Bill after moving to live with them in Spokane in 1980. Cindy worked in medical billing in Spokane while raising her daughters and stayed in Spokane while welcoming her two grandsons and her granddaughter.

Cindy adopted and was adopted by an additional family after meeting her husband Vern Bendickson, and becoming close with his daughters Tris and Tonia. She is remembered as quick to make new friends, and a great lover of the many dogs and cats she adopted over the years. Cindy is survived by her husband Vern Bendickson, daughters Lynn Marie Chapman and Lori Ann Benavides, son-in-law Thomas Chapman, her grandchildren Jesse, Jacob and Jenna Chapman, and daughters Tris Kellogg, Tonia Lyon and their families.