Bayou Icon | Cindy Foust

ARTICLE BY GEORGIANN POTTS
PHOTOGRAPHY BY KELLY MOORE CLARK

Life is always unpredictable – filled with both blessings and challenges (and sometimes they are the same!). Cindy Gist Foust’s life is a testament to her faith, strength, and resilience. She has overcome the deaths of loved ones, fought against a devastating illness, and yet has remained upbeat and ready to tackle whatever comes next. A naturally gifted writer, her words have graced the pages of BayouLife Magazine since January 2013, when her children’s column debuted. A few years later, Cindy became our copyeditor. Through these years, we have learned to appreciate her not only as a member of our team but also as a trusted and beloved friend. Because of her unbending spirit, her devotion to this community, and her example of a well-lived life, Cindy Gist Foust is our October BayouIcon.

What does one do when life throws a curveball? If you are Cindy Gist Foust, you find a way to hit it out of the ballpark. Cindy has managed to maneuver her way through life’s surprises with grace and courage – and a lifesaving sense of humor. In both good times and bad, Cindy has drawn on inner strength to work through the moment. Much of that inner strength originated in Cindy’s childhood through her parents’ influence.

Cindy grew up at the end of Ollie Caples Road, a dead-end dirt road in rural West Monroe, and compares her childhood to Mayberry. “My parents were the quintessential Ward and June Cleaver. Life was filled with idyllic, charmed days that never felt rushed,” she explains. “It felt like time moved at a snail’s pace back then compared to my life today!”

Tommy and Ruth Boles Gist provided a quiet, peaceful, and happy childhood for Cindy and her three siblings. Cindy’s dad worked offshore, and her mother was a homemaker who created a beautiful home that made her family feel safe and loved. Their children were Cindy (the oldest), Angel, Shelley, and John. Cindy was 11 when John was born and remembers being mortified that a new baby was on the way. “I threw a fit when I found out my mom was pregnant with him and wanted nothing to do with another baby,” Cindy admits. “With her usual patience, she let me be the brat I was being, and in the end, she knew I would fall in love with him, and I did. Big John became my first child!” The siblings were very close and enjoyed spending time with their maternal grandparents, Claude and Bitsy Boles, who lived next door and always welcomed their grandchildren with warmth, good food, and love.

Cindy’s parents taught their children the value of family traditions and the importance of family time. Holidays were especially meaningful, with Christmas being at the top. Cindy’s father would read the Christmas story (Matthew 1:18-25) to his family every year. He passed away two years ago, and Cindy wishes that she could hear him read it just one more time. 

Cindy continues many of those traditions today, combined with some new ones that she and her husband Scott have added. “I love the value in family time and being intentional about being together, over a meal, a card table, or a ballgame that we have always been at through the years,” Cindy says. “I write a lot about it in my column because I am deeply committed to family values and traditions.”

Education – A Journey
Cindy proudly remembers her years as a “Woodlawn Warrior.” She attended Woodlawn Elementary from 1st through 9th grade and then graduated from West Monroe High School. One teacher, Mrs. Sylvia Brass, was Cindy’s middle school English teacher and a major influence. Now a retired principal, Brass saw in Cindy a talent for writing and storytelling (Cindy believes they are essentially the same thing) and encouraged her to pursue it. “Because of Mrs. Brass, I fell in love with storytelling, and I still have that love affair after all these years,” Cindy explains.

It was when she was in the 4th grade that Cindy’s family enjoyed a year-long adventure living abroad. Her dad had a work-related assignment that meant he moved the family to Rome, Italy. She has many vivid memories of that special year. “I actually learned Italian, as it was taught at my private school,” Cindy explains. “Living abroad offered us rich experiences. We siblings learned about a different culture at a young age – an extraordinary opportunity!”

During high school, Cindy played basketball and softball. Her father had been a college athlete and had played semi-pro football for the Twin City Panthers. He was instrumental in cultivating a love for sports in all four of his children. 

When the time came to go to college, Cindy was ready. She had always wanted to be a teacher, and spent many hours playing school and “teaching” her sisters. Her grandfather even cut a piece of sheetrock for Cindy to use as a chalkboard. Following her dream, Cindy enrolled at La. Tech, later transferring to the University of Louisiana Monroe with an education degree as her goal. Cindy’s parents made sure that she had the opportunity and necessary support so that she could go to college.

Cindy has worked hard her whole life. Her parents instilled a work ethic in her at an early age, as did dear friend Charlene Smith, her first real employer, who taught her to work hard and treat everyone as you would like to be treated. At one point she had a newspaper route, cleaned houses, and tutored elementary school children.   

A Test of Faith
The family’s peace was shattered when their daughter Angel was killed in a car accident when she was 19. Cindy describes her sister as “… brilliant, beautiful, and completely devoted to her Lord Jesus Christ.” The family leaned on their faith to work through the trauma. “I had never felt hurt that deep and wouldn’t again until I lost my own child,” Cindy remembers.

After Angel died, Cindy moved back home to live so that she could help her parents work through their grief, and with her younger brother John, who was 12. Eventually, she went back to school, but there were many times she wanted to quit. She found the strength to continue through encouragement from Dr. Dwight Vines, who helped her believe in herself. In what would be a rather unconventional path, she finished her undergraduate degree in General Studies, Business and when she was 56 years old, Cindy earned her Master’s of Public Administration degree in 2023. When she walked across the stage at ULM to accept her diploma, her father was seated near the stage. “I will never forget his fist pump as I walked by; he was beaming,” Cindy remembers. “That was right before he died, and I’ll treasure it for the rest of my life.”

A Reunion Brings Love 
Ten years after she graduated from high school, Cindy decided to attend her class’s 10-year reunion.  She was still struggling with Angel’s death and wasn’t interested in a relationship. At that reunion, Cindy saw Scott Foust, a classmate from her high school years. “I actually knew Scott in high school, but he was popular and fun,” Cindy jokes. “I played sports and was kind of unfortunate looking.”

Cindy says that Scott stayed close to her during the reunion, and a few weeks later, after he had moved back home from Texas, he called her for a date. They married one year later to the day. Cindy had decided that she would never have children because of the experience she had watching her parents go through Angel’s death. After marrying Scott in 1995, she changed her mind. Scott and Cindy have three children — Robert Scott (now 27), Samuel (2 forever), and Angel Grace (now 20). Robert Scott and his wife, Gracie, have Britton Scott (17 months old), who is Cindy’s first grandchild.  

In 1992, Cindy began working as a paralegal for the late Haynes L. Harkey. While she didn’t know a plaintiff from a defendant, Harkey was a patient teacher who took time to mentor her. “He was such a principled person, with high integrity, and at a time when my personal life was flailing due to the loss of my sister, he instilled in me the self-confidence that I had lost,” Cindy explains. “He believed that I could go to law school or become governor! Working for him was a true gift, and it righted my ship, so to speak.”

Cindy would spend over 20 years working in the legal profession. There, she improved her organization, discipline, and listening skills. It was when her second child, Samuel, needed her to be at home that she decided to leave the office. Only one week after she had come home to work, Samuel unexpectedly passed away. Scott and Cindy were thrown into a black abyss of grief, unlike anything they could have imagined, even the loss of her sister. “It hasn’t been easy, but we found a way to pull in closer and wade through the grief,” Cindy says. “Losing your child is the worst pain this side of heaven. There is nothing physical or emotional that will ever be worse for us, as parents, than losing Sammy. But Scott and I, through the urging of my daddy, allowed one another to grieve in the way we needed to, and I believe that made it possible to push through together.”

Boredom, a Pencil, and Magic 
One summer after she went to work at the law firm, Cindy was bored with watching “Family Feud” with her parents. She bought a black-speckled book, a pencil, and began writing rhyming stories. These books would eventually morph into a series, written by a woman with zero experience and no idea how to publish.

The year after Samuel’s death, Cindy decided to pursue writing by starting a business that she named Alpha-kidZ. She chose the name because her book series would be based on the alphabet. The marketing tagline was “Reading Adventure A-Z.” Though she was still deep in grief, Cindy was determined to move forward. Her business began with the publication of Austin Alligator, I’ll See You Guys Later. Soon a second followed – Benny Bear, Having a Baby Sister Isn’t Fair (which was written for her brother, John).

After she had published five books, Cindy realized that she needed to publish all 26 of the books to really sell her series. “I saw the need to have all the books published, as they don’t teach half the alphabet in school!” Cindy says. “I knew these books made a natural fit in pre-K and kindergarten classrooms as supplemental reading resources because that’s when we learn the alphabet.”

“Alpha-kidZ saved me. It allowed me the outlet I needed to write and include stories to memorialize Samuel,” Cindy says. “I wrote my ‘M’ book for and about him, to tell my grief journey with Robert Scott. Melanie Mouse, It’s a Very Sad Day at Our House, was my way of remembering Samuel. It also created a resource that families can use after their children/grandchildren have experienced a loss. It is the most important book I have or ever will write.”

In the beginning, Cindy ran her business out of her garage with 6,000 books sitting on pallets. She had no business plan, no distribution plan, and was undercapitalized – but she had a really good idea! In 2007, Cindy started her own publishing company. Through this, she learned how to grow her business, manage employees, control inventory, and the value of luck. Before long, Cindy had five employees and was distributing through Walmart to nearly 200 stores. Through schools, independent bookstores, and her Alpha-fest annual book reading festival, Cindy’s business grew.

A Pandemic and a Diagnosis
Cindy has had several opportunities to complete her book series since she began it 20 years ago, but several catastrophic events have postponed it.  One happened when her office flooded in 2011, and she lost 25,000 books. For the next 11 months, Cindy and her staff worked to get back up to speed. 

Exactly one year later, in 2012, Cindy was diagnosed with breast cancer. The diagnosis marked the beginning of another of life’s challenges. As Cindy put it, “On the one day with bluebird skies, I left my office with orders faxing in from Wal-Mart,” Cindy says. “The next day, that same fax machine was floating down the hallway. But an illness? That was different, and my life shifted in those next two years…I just wanted to live.”

Cindy decided to have a double mastectomy, which required a nearly two-year recovery. There were physical and emotional issues that Cindy managed by using her faith and support from family and friends. Just when she was strong again, Cindy was diagnosed with a cancer recurrence in 2020. The pandemic lockdown was underway, so getting treatment was challenging. Scott took Cindy to M.D. Anderson in Houston to get treatment at a research center. There was a no-visitor policy in place, so Cindy had to undergo scans, testing, and meet with her doctors alone. 

Cindy underwent chemotherapy, but didn’t have to have additional radiation. Today, she travels back and forth to Houston every six months for follow-ups. Each time, Cindy tells her doctors that there is nothing wrong with her. “I believe I’ve been healed, and for as long as I need to take these cancer-targeting infusions, I will. And I will only complain a little,” Cindy says. “Well, I’ll complain a lot but not very loudly!” she adds.

An Unusual Therapy Animal
Cindy’s neighbor owns a donkey that lives in a beautiful fenced-in pond area behind Cindy’s house. The donkey was originally named Glen, but that was changed to Glendsy when it was discovered that “he” was a “she.” “She bays at the fence for me and I take her carrots and honeybuns and whatever I feel like she might be in the mood for,” Cindy explains. “People have therapy animals, and Glendsy is mine. She sat at the fence with me after my cancer diagnosis and during treatment, and let me cry and scream and seek solace from her. I have also written a children’s book about her, which I hope to publish,” Cindy says.

Writing Remains Passion
Today, Cindy has published over 23 books and has six more to come, has written a monthly feature column for nearly 13 years, and has written countless projects and assignments. Cindy thinks that it would be fascinating to copyedit for a publishing house and to work through the writing process with writers.

She acknowledges that technology has been a game-changer for her. When she started, she had to have her books physically on the shelves of a bookstore – shelf space that was coveted and competitive. Today, she can market her books online and use social media feeds to find potential customers.

These days, Cindy is enjoying working for the ULM Foundation, putting her writing talents to good use. She has been there for nearly eight years and today serves as an Advancement Officer. She spends her days fundraising for the needs of ULM through generous financial contributions of alumni, the community, and businesses. “Watching the impact of these gifts on our students, our faculty and staff, our coaches and student athletes sends me to work every day with a skip in my step,” Cindy says. “I work with a wonderful team that shares my enthusiasm and zest, and I feel fortunate that I landed in this position.” 

For Cindy, the primary satisfaction that her work for ULM — as well as her many volunteer efforts on behalf of non-profits – brings is seeing the impact that such work makes on the lives of so many. Over the years she has served on a number of boards – at one point she was active on five non-profit boards at once! “Non-profit work is critical to our communities; whether it’s arts, support for children or mothers, insuring people have food, or making sure little children have Christmas gifts, it’s all vital to this community,” Cindy says. “None of the work is easy, and it takes your time and your resources, but the lives it impacts allows you to be part of something that is bigger than yourself.”  

Cindy and Scott adore their family and are besotted with their new grandchild. While she intends to complete her book series in time for her grandchild to read them, Cindy is devoted to her family before her career. Her long-ago desire to become a teacher has been realized, but not in a traditional classroom. By writing stories for children, Cindy is teaching children valuable life lessons – the same ones her parents taught her.

Lee Iacocca (1924-2019) was an imminently successful businessman best known for his leadership of Ford Motor Company (1970-1976) and Chrysler Corporation (1978-1992). But Iacocca was also known for his salient comments and valuable insights which he shared often. One of those insights describes Cindy Foust’s life journey to date. Iacocca wrote, “In times of great stress or adversity, it’s always best to keep busy, to plow your anger and your energy into something positive.” Cindy has always lived her life that way.