Less than seven years ago, the Rochester Town Board was faced with a serious problem – as our town’s assessors kept resigning after only a few months on the job.

Then a sweet, wonderful lady – Cynthia Stokes – applied for the assessor’s position. Cindy had the inner strength and the professional guts to take up a tremendously difficult task, best described later by my fellow Councilwoman Lynn Archer: “You don’t fix 20 years in one year, but Cindy has got a good handle on it now… “

Only one year and a half on the job, Cindy was praised because “the property revaluation was ‘a little ahead of schedule’ with the completion of residential property inspection, and that commercial property inspection had begun.”

Despite huge personal challenges, Cindy became an accomplished professional recognized the way she fully deserved.

I saw and hugged her last on February 13; she was so focused on a deadline that she didn’t even attend the Valentine’s Day luncheon at the Recreation Center. Six days later I was shocked to learn she unexpectedly passed away. It’s hard to accept that I would never see her wonderful smiling eyes, admire her courage, dedication, professionalism, determination, and kindness. It’s way too little to say I would always miss Cindy, she was beyond special; we lost a real treasure, and it hurts a lot.

Manuela Michailescu