The Cindi Turnbull Endowed Scholarship
The University of Texas at Austin
Cinci spent her life helping young artists become themselves.
For more than thirty years as a professor of costume design — twenty-four of them at Denison University — she mentored students, designed more than 2,300 costumes, and built confidence in people who didn’t yet know what they were capable of. She earned her own MFA at The University of Texas at Austin, and it shaped the artist and teacher she became.
The Cindi Turnbull Endowed Scholarship continues that work in her name. Because the scholarship is permanently endowed, that support will continue for future generations of students.
How It’s Funded
100% of profits from Baseball as Therapy During Grief support the Cindi Turnbull Endowed Scholarship in her honor at The University of Texas at Austin.
Every copy of the memoir contributes directly to this fund. When you buy the book, you’re helping a young artist stay in the program and keep going — the most fitting tribute imaginable to a woman who did exactly that for so many.
She saw people. Now, through her legacy, more of them get to be seen.
In Her Own Right — A Note From Dana
My wife was Cynthia Turnbull. To the world she was Cindi. To me she was Cinci. And she was someone who saw people.
She helped young theater students find themselves. She could put a costume on someone shy and suddenly they stood differently. She could find the right fabric for a character no one else could fully see yet.
She had a way of naming what she loved. She always called me by my full name — “Dana Berry.” Never shortened. Never rushed. Said like a small ceremony every time.
She had a sharp, warm sense of humor — the kind where she’d tease you about something silly for years, but you always knew you were loved. She was generous without pretending to be perfect. She would take a friend out for a birthday when no one else remembered. She loaned money to people in trouble. She could tell off a lifelong friend when he deserved it, then sit with him for hours afterward and work things through. She didn’t pretend to be nicer than she was. She was genuinely kind — and genuinely direct.
If she asked how you were doing, she meant it. She gave great hugs. She loved deeply and forgave quickly.
At The University of Texas at Austin, where she earned her MFA, she became part of the artistic lineage of costume historian Lucy Barton and was deeply influenced by her mentor, Dr. Paul Reinhardt. She was a proud member of United Scenic Artists Local 829 and was honored as the first Jonathan R. Reynolds Distinguished Chair of Theatre at Denison.
I created the Cindi Turnbull Endowed Scholarship in her honor at the university where she earned the degree that shaped her life’s work. The scholarship supports students in the field she loved and gave back to for the rest of her life.
If you’ve been moved by her story and would like to add your gift to hers, the donation link sends your contribution directly to the scholarship in her name.
She would have loved knowing she was still making space for students to find their way.
— Dana Berry