Cynthia Hecht was possibly the youngest member of the Burlingame High School Class of 1955. She was a product of McKinley Elementary School. A good (make that excellent) student, she enrolled in summer school after completing the 7th grade, and, passing the 8th grade graduation exam that summer she enrolled at BHS, having skipped the 8th grade.

Cynthia recalls, "Obnoxious Miss Bundy, my advisor, told me that skipping the 8th grade was a big mistake. But I got nearly all A's and did the same in college, so I guess she didn't know what she was talking about. But being the youngest in my classes most of the time wasn't easy."

Grey remembers Cynthia in his Spanish class. "Those of us who took three years of Spanish wound up with two semesters in Senor Beltran's third year Spanish class. Two students, Cynthia, and Nancy Nyeland, could speak almost like natives."

After graduating from Burlingame High School Cynthia enrolled at Scripps College in Claremont for her freshman and sophomore years as an art major. Cynthia recalls, "I continued my Spanish for a year in college. In my Freshman year they skipped me to conversational Spanish with the Juniors and we read Don Quixote in the original old Spanish [like old English]. I can't even remember it any more. They offered me a Junior year in Spain if I'd change my major, but I transferred to Mills instead.

Cynthia's passion in high school, and, indeed, all her life has been, and continues to be, horses. She writes, "After two years I left Scripps College and transferred to Mills College in Oakland. My horse was in training at the Stanford Red Barn and I missed riding a great deal. I had been accepted at Stanford, but since my horse was there, my father was convinced I'd be spending all my time at the barn and not studying, so he decided I'd have to go somewhere else."

After graduating from Mills, Cynthia attended the California College of Arts & Crafts in Oakland to study painting and was the only woman in the graduate painting program. It was, again, a very difficult time for her!

On leaving CCAC, she then worked for the Ferry-Morse Seed Co. in Mountain View for a couple of years, designing their catalogs and working as assistant to the advertising manager, Jim Wilson. In later years he moved to the southeast and for many years was the host of the PBS television program Victory Garden. He also worked in an executive capacity at the famous Callaway Gardens, a premier resort in the Atlanta environs.

Cynthia continues, "I also worked as a book designer and paste-up artist for Sunset Books and for a couple of advertising agencies. I began to train horses on a part-time basis, training in the morning, doing my book and advertising jobs in the afternoons and the artwork at home in the evenings. All that time I was also doing portraits of pets and horses on a professional basis."

"In 1968 I flew to Kentucky to see the American Saddlebred World's Championship Horse Show at the Kentucky State Fair, and in 1969 I moved to Kentucky. I worked at various horse farms and show stables as a caretaker and then as assistant trainer. This was at a time when women did not hold such jobs, again very difficult times for me. In fact, I was one of only two women assistants in the entire country in the American Saddlebred industry that were not working for their families!"

"Some of the horses were quite good and I gave the first lessons to several young horses who went on to be World Champions. I had to stop riding in 1985 due to arthritis. I then worked for a prominent horse-breeding farm as secretary/bookkeeper."

"In 1991 I moved to Lexington KY and went to work for the American Saddlebred Museum. I was the assistant curator for several years and the curator for 5 years. With arthritis worsening so that I had to walk with a cane, I was no longer able to safely handle the precious artifacts of the Museum and took a job as historian/archivist with the American Saddlebred Horse Association (ASHA), a position that I still hold."

"I am also a contributing writer to the ASHA magazine. I am still able to draw and paint and do a couple of commissions a year. My office window looks out on the gorgeous Kentucky Horse Park, as we are located in their grounds. I drive by fabulous Calumet Farm every day on the work commute. No better place for a horse lover!

From the Stanford Red Barn website: The Stanford Red Barn, home of the Stanford Equestrian Center, was one of the original barns of the Palo Alto Stock Farm, Leland Stanford's trotting horse establishment. Most of the Stock Farm's acreage is now occupied by Stanford University. The Red Barn remains as an active horse facility.

From the Kentucky Horse Park website: Located in Lexington, Kentucky, the heart of the Bluegrass, the Kentucky Horse Park is a working horse farm with 1,200 acres surrounded by 30 miles of white plank fencing. The park is like none other in the world. Dedicated to man's relationship with the horse, the park features two outstanding museums, twin theaters and nearly 50 different breeds of horses. All of these elements combine to make a visit to the park an enjoyable learning experience for everyone - from those unfamiliar with the horse to the horse expert. The Kentucky Horse Park is a fascinating place to visit, a place that's "always in season". The familiar sight of horses in the fields throughout the park is a constant reminder of their beauty and strength. For anyone who admires horses, a day at the park is the experience of a lifetime.