Cynthia Kelley Nordby Prescott, 72, of 1326 Evans Rd., Aiken, SC, died at Greenville Memorial Hospital on November 1, 2011.  She was born in Buffalo, NY on May 10, 1939, to Joseph C. Kelley and Beatrice D'Alton Kenyon, who predeceased her.

Cynthia is survived by her husband, Melvin Alexander Prescott, whom she married on September 30, 1989.  She is also survived by her sister, Pamela Kelley Raney (William) of Cortland, NY; son Christopher K. Nordby (Ynes) of Columbia, MD; son Eric C. Nordby (Kathleen) of Syracuse, NY; daughter Jennifer Nordby Spina (Mark) of Daniel Island, SC; and many children of the foregoing relatives.

Cynthia graduated from Brockport High School in 1957, and Syracuse University in 1961, where she majored in Journalism and was a member of the Kappa Alpha Theta sorority.  She raised her three children with her first husband, Dag Nordby, in Short Hills, NJ, and re-located to Cortland, NY in 1982. Cynthia was a creative and dynamic woman who held a variety of positions in her career including at Chubb & Son in Summit, NJ, and Bankers Trust in Manhattan.  At the time of her retirement in 2004, she had served for 20 years as the Director of Administrative Operations for the School of Architecture, Art & Planning at Cornell University in Ithaca, NY.  In addition to managing a $20 million budget, she oversaw the historic Miller-Heller House.

Above all, Cynthia was a devoted wife, mother and grandmother, and she loved interior decorating, flower gardening, cooking, and reading to her grandchildren.  She strove to enrich the lives of her family members, in particular by teaching them about their ancestry and family traditions.  Cynthia was a member of The General Society of Mayflower Descendants and a relative of Mayflower passenger George Soule.  She had a wonderful sense of humor with a hearty laugh like her father, and she was a family grammarian like her mother.

Calling hours with light refreshments will be held from 4-7 p.m. on Sunday, 11/06/11, at Bellevue Country Club, 1901 Glenwood Ave., Syracuse, NY 13207.  Cynthia's ashes will be buried in a private ceremony in the Kelley family plot at Lakeview Cemetery in Skaneateles, NY on Monday, 11/07/11.

Gifts in memoriam may be made to the Miller-Heller House, c/o Cornell University, P.O. Box 223623, Pittsburgh, PA 15251-2623 (Memo: "AAP - Miller House").

Cynthia and her family are extremely grateful for all those who helped to make her life so rich and rewarding.