Cathyrn Elizabeth Hinshaw

Cathyrn Hinshaw, 72, died of natural causes at her home in Little Rock and will be returned to Tontitown, where her presence will endure on beloved family land.

She was born Oct. 1, 1951, in Jacksonville, Fla., the second daughter of Jerrold and Elizabeth Brockmeyer Hinshaw. She was named Cathy Elizabeth but chose to be called Cathyrn.

She was preceded in death by her father and older sister Sunny Hinshaw.

She is survived by her mother Betty, of Tontitown; brother Ross Hinshaw and his wife Vivian, of Brentwood; sister Dawn Hinshaw and husband Michael Latham, also of Tontitown; three nephews, Waylon Hinshaw, of Fayetteville, Elijah Latham, of Tontitown and Graham Latham, of Greenwood, S.C.; a niece, Carrie Lamb and husband Ryan, of Fayetteville; cherished family and friends.

Cathyrn was a wild card, a big flirt, sweet and feisty. She insisted on smoking. Much of her life was devoted to good government.

When she was a child, her family moved to Tontitown, where her education began at a two-room schoolhouse in the countryside, Stoney Point. Her parents faithfully took their four children to services at Springdale First United Methodist Church, where she developed a faith in God that quietly sustained her through life.

A 1969 graduate of Springdale High School, she had studied for many years under jazz pianist Pat Lewis. She enrolled at Southern Methodist University, working to become a concert pianist, but it was not to be.

After a stint with the Women’s Center at the University of Arkansas, she entered the political science program at the University of Wisconsin, where she lived in a co-op and pursued a doctorate. For the rest of her life, she talked about brutal Madison winters.

Cathyrn returned to her home state in 1978 to conduct research for the Arkansas Constitutional Convention, which sought to modernize state government. The failed initiative placed her within a cadre of young, progressive movers and shakers in Arkansas politics and government, where she thrived.

She soon went to work in the first Bill Clinton administration, supporting local government programs. She would become the founding director of the Local Police and Firefighters Pension Fund, serving until 1990.

She suffered dual brain aneurysms in 1989 and miraculously survived. Still, her life was forever changed. A favorite t-shirt pronounced how she’d given her doctor “a piece of my mind!”

No one was more gentle and charitable to loved ones than Cathyrn, or more dismissive of those she found tedious or rude.

A service is planned for 10 a.m. Wednesday, Aug. 14, at the historic Lakeview Bible Church, 2379 South Barrington Road, Tontitown. The Rev. Judy Van Hoose will officiate. At a later time, the family will spread Cathyrn’s ashes at nearby Rocking Chair Ranch, as she wished.

Memorials may be made to: Bread of Life Food Pantry, 206 W. Johnson Ave., Springdale, Ark., 72764

Arrangements by Arkansas Cremation, 10515 W Markham St, Ste B1, Little Rock, AR 72205. 

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www.arkansascremation.com