Cyndi Yates Barrett never settled on one career. “I’ve always been a drifter,” she said. “I get bored so easily.”
But her boredom has led her down interesting paths — from being a professional musician to an x-ray technician, a stay-at-home mom to a soapmaker, Barrett enjoys the thrill of learning something new.
Barrett graduated from Dublin High School in 1981, and went to Cisco Junior College on a music scholarship. She never took lessons growing up, but found she had a talent for singing.
“I was raised Church of Christ, so we were acapella all the way,” she said. “You know how that goes — you just have to have a really good ear.”
After graduating from college, Barrett moved to Austin, where she sang in several country bands.
She got married in Austin, but ended up getting divorced after four years and moved back to Dublin. Shortly after, she moved again, this time to Cleburne. “Looking back now, I think, ‘Man, I was just jumping around,’” she said. “But God has a plan, and it all worked out.”
She did some singing in Cleburne, and got certified to become an X-ray technician. She began working at a local chiropractors office, which is how she met her current husband Dell Barrett. Dell’s aunt was a patient, and played matchmaker.
“She said, ‘I want you to meet him,’” Barrett remembers. “And I was really gun-shy. I was like, ‘I don’t know…’ But we met, and after that we never dated anybody else. It turned out really good. We’ll have been married 37 years on December 22.”
Barrett and Dell had three children together. She spent several years as a stay-at-home mom, and then went back to work, trying her hand at different businesses in the area.
“I worked in Dublin schools when the kids were growing up,” she said. “I worked at the cafeteria for a while. I worked for the funeral home.”
Barrett also spent time working at the cheese plant in Stephenville, but her time there left her with a disability and chronic pain. “I’ve had to have several neck surgeries,” she said.
Barrett also devoted much of her time to caring for her father, who was ill. “Me and my dad were buddies,” she said. “We were really close. I took care of him the last eight years of his life. He lived with us, and that was truly a blessing.”
After Barrett’s father passed away in 2013, she and her husband moved to Weatherford. There, she worked at a florist for a few years, and then struck upon a new passion: making things. She has a small shop in her yard, where she makes goats milk soap and wax candles, and crafts mugs and tumblers out of resin.
She sells her work in a local restaurant, Mary’s Brazos Cafe in Weatherford. “I’ve been selling a lot there,” she said. “Customers see them and they call me for special orders. I’m very, very happy about that.”
Barrett enjoys her work, and finds it to be a satisfying creative outlet. She also enjoys not having to work set hours. “I can come out to my shop and work all day, or work an hour,” she said.
She hopes to continue making mugs, soap and candles as long as it is still an enjoyable pastime.
When she’s not working, Barrett enjoys spending time with her husband Dell and her family. Barrett and her husband have three grown children, Cody, Tyler and Bailey. Her parents, Bill and Durelle Yates, have both passed away, her mother in 2003 and her father in 2013.
Since her time at the cheese plant, Barrett has struggled with the pain of her disability. “People that are not in constant pain don’t really totally understand this,” she said. “Most people, when they have a pain, it’s like, ‘Oh, this will be better in a couple of days.’ It’s not like that for me. I wake up every morning and know that it’s going to be the same thing. People in debilitating, chronic pain have to have a different mindset and that was the biggest challenge for me. I still stumble a lot with that, but the biggest thing is just getting over that and accepting that this is your life now.”
In facing her new reality, Barrett turned to God. She still struggles, but her faith helps her through it.
Barrett’s advice to Dublin high school students is to keep a sense of perspective. “Just know that these are not the best years of your life,” she said. “Your best years are still ahead. High school is so much drama, and it doesn’t teach you anything about real life. Tomorrow is another day. This is not permanent here — just look to the Lord.”
Editor’s Note: This column chronicles what Dublin graduates have done since high school. If you have any suggestions for other grads, email publisher@dublincitizen. com.