A Lifesaving Decision: Cynthia Tebbetts

Cynthia Tebbetts is a die-hard, lifelong Beatles fan. Both her email address and her car license plate bear the name “sgtppr” in appreciation of the Fab Four’s iconic album. She is named for John Lennon’s first wife—a name she chose for herself.

“I eat, drink and sleep the Beatles,” says the 48-year-old Goffstown resident, who was seized by Beatlemania thanks to an older brother who was an avid music fan.

So who’s her favorite? “George would be right up there,” Cynthia replies. “George was the quiet one, but was also known for his sharp humor when you least expected it. He never got the credit John and Paul did, but he was the backbone of the band.”

Despite her devotion to the Beatles, Cynthia does find time for other pursuits. She’s worked in sales and customer service at Hooksett’s Cummings Printing for 25 years. She’s a huge Bruins fan, volunteers at a local animal shelter (preferring cats to dogs), and has been involved with modified auto racing since 1980. She retired as race director for the Northeastern Midget Association in 2007, but remains active in the community.

In fact, when she traveled to Canada to undergo gender reassignment surgery in 2008, Cynthia was accompanied by a group of women—dubbed the “Mod Chick Mafia”—she met through their mutual love of racing. Their journey was chronicled by the Nashua Telegraph as part of an award-winning series of stories on the transgender community.

The support she received from the Mod Chick Mafia reflects the broader support Cynthia, a libertarian-leaning Republican, received from people in her social circle. “My friends who were the staunchest conservatives—the ones who are more conservative than I, the ones I thought for sure I was going to lose—are the ones who stuck by me,” she says.

Cynthia’s transition came after decades of struggling to suppress her female gender identity. She told the Telegraph, “This is the best decision I’ve ever made in my life. It literally has saved my life.”

Cynthia has found tremendous support in her professional life as well as in her personal life. She recalls how the president of her company responded when she began transitioning from male to female more than six years ago. They agreed there might be some good natured teasing, which Cynthia anticipated. “If people stopped teasing me, then I’d know something’s wrong,” she says. But the president also told her, “If anybody crosses the line, I want to know and I want to know immediately.” She learned later that he said the same thing to the vice president of the company.

From there, Cynthia worked with her employer to develop a timeline enabling her to transition gradually, beginning with the use of her chosen name and ending with her presenting full-time on the job as a woman.

“It was euphoria,” she says, when asked how she felt about the response from the higher-ups at Cummings. “A huge pressure off my shoulders.”

She adds, “When the company you’ve worked for and been loyal to for 20 years stands behind you, that’s a big help because you really don’t want to start from square one.”