Cindi Crosslin Beadle died on December 24 at UAB Hospital in Birmingham following a short illness. She was 63. Above all, Cindi was a nurse. In unexpected moments, she would tell you that it was the only vocation she had ever wanted since she was very small—and it was the job she had to be literally pulled away from the night she took ill. It had seemed out of reach for most of her life. Cindi finished high school a semester early at the age of 17 and immediately started work at a garment factory. It was the only job she thought she would have after she married and had two sons. However, her husband died suddenly when her sons were eight and two. She said she realized that she would need a stable, good-paying job to support herself and her sons and looked back to her childhood dream. She enrolled in nursing school at University of North Alabama two decades after she finished high school. It was a hard and made harder by the emotional, financial, and time demands of a single mother. She worked nightshift as a nursing technician alongside her studies—at one point, six nights a week at two different hospitals. It took her longer than she cared for to finish, but she graduated at age 45, earned her license, and went back to work. She was beloved by her work family at Helen Keller Hospital in Tuscumbia. She was known for her humor and forthrightness, and young nurses she helped train speak highly of what she taught them not just about nursing but the broader practice of medicine. Her medical team at UAB was impressed by her ability to talk shop while she was ill, and it was only after she became incapacitated that she stopped offering directions on treatment and critiquing her blood draws and medline. A part of Cindi never recovered from the death of her husband, Roy, whom she met when he asked her to dance at a rollerskating rink. For several years, she labored to turn the headstone marking where they both will rest into a monument to their love. She would often spend hours on weekends landscaping and decorating their plot while talking to Roy. Shortly after he died, she had his and her name tattooed over a heart on her arm, and it remained there until her death. Cindi and Roy’s sons Nick and Lee came after much struggle, and she was extraordinarily protective of them—and especially concerned when they walked through dark parking lots. Even while she was in school, she never seemed to miss a band concert, banquet, or football game, albeit while bleary eyed and a touch ornery. She was proud of all her sons’ accomplishments, even if they seemed less understandable the older they got. Cindi often said that she had always hoped to have a girl too, and Cindi was delighted to meet her granddaughter shortly before Cindi’s death. Cindi sometimes said she liked animals more than most people, although that was most likely because animals loved her more than they did other people, perhaps as an extension of her caregiver’s soul. Over the course of her life, Cindi’s menagerie included several dogs, innumerable cats, multiple hamsters, two rabbits, one parrot (named “Moose”), and a lizard. However, she thoroughly disliked snakes. She adored “Star Trek” and British period dramas, having watched “The English Patient” so many times that science may never deliver an accurate count. She was a master of giving everyone and everything a nickname, although she herself struggled to explain the origins or logic of each nickname she chose. She had lifelong love affairs with Alabama football and Dr. Pepper. She is preceded in death by her husband Roy, parents Cloyd and Juanita Crosslin, and brother Donnie Crosslin. She is survived by her sons Nick (Amanda) and Lee, sister Mary Sue (Charles) Elledge, nephews Ben (Mandy) and Alan (Christy) Elledge, granddaughter Leah Beadle, and her beloved dog Ella Rose. Visitation with the family will be held on Tuesday, December 28, from 12–1p.m., at Richardson Chapel Cemetery, located off County Road 619 in Lexington, Alabama. A graveside service will follow, at 1p.m., at the cemetery. The family requests that all attendees wear masks and socially distance during the service out of respect for health care workers such as Cindi, for whom the pandemic took a significant mental and physical toll. In lieu of flowers, the family requests donations to The Cindi Beadle Memorial Fund at the University of North Alabama, which will provide support for nontraditional nursing students such as Cindi. Checks to the UNA Foundation, with “Cindi Beadle Memorial Fund” in the memo line, can be mailed to UNA Office of Advancement, UNA Box 5113, Florence, AL 35632. Additionally, contributions can be made at https://www.una.edu/give/give-now.html by selecting “Other” under the Designation prompt, then entering “Cindi Beadle Memorial Fund.” Greenhill Funeral Home is in charge of arrangements.
