b. 1947

by the Landscape Committee of St. Paul’s Episcopal Church, Winston-Salem, NC, 2016

Cynthia, along with her husband, Edwin E. Bouldin, Jr., has been a member of St. Paul’s Episcopal Church in Winston-Salem since 1974. Her longtime involvement in church activities includes serving as a Cub Scout and Webelos leader, a member of the kitchen guild (to whom she has presented cooking classes and chaired and prepared the annual Episcopal Church Women Christmas dinners), a tutor with the Augustine Project and Kids Café, a volunteer with the St. Paul’s Summer Enrichment Program (for whom she has provided hands-on cooking classes for the youth), and a Sunday worship lector and chalice bearer.

Her greatest contribution, however, has been her participation in the creation of The Paradise Herb Garden. Serving on its 1996 steering committee, she helped plan, select plants for, and install this church garden, under the leadership of Nancy Sherk and Janet Doellgast, and assisted by Little and Little landscape architects.

The design of the garden was inspired by the National Cathedral gardens in Washington, D.C., the Cloisters monastic garden in New York, and by the writings of Ralph Adams Cram, the church’s architect. In keeping with the church’s neo-Gothic architecture, it resembles a medieval herb garden and uses plants—as well as other features—that were found in medieval gardens. Many of these same plants were also referred to in the Bible. Cynthia has continued to develop and maintain the garden since its dedication on June 8, 1997, drawing on members of the former St. Francis Fellowship for assistance.

She has also introduced the garden to the community through a multitude of garden club programs. David Bare, former garden editor of the Winston-Salem Journal, featured the garden in his weekly column on July 13, 2002.

A Master Gardener, Cynthia has served as an active member of the Landscape Committee under the leadership of Janice Lewis. Together, they assist in the maintenance and development of additional gardens on the church grounds. Such gardens include the adjoining St. Francis Courtyard, which Cynthia has maintained for the last ten years.