Article by Rachel C. Murphy | Photography Brian Turner
When one hears that someone wants to get into politics, there is generally one of two reactions—intrigue, or immediate retreat. For Cindy Lakin, it was intrigue when she met her future husband Scott while attending William Jewell College in the 1970’s. 32 years, three kids and a successful stint in the Missouri State legislature later, Cindy’s gut reaction was obviously correct.
Scott Lakin may be familiar to many because of his public service from 1993-2001, and his subsequent appointment by Governor Holden as the 44th director of the Missouri Department of Insurance. He is now serving as the director of the Mid-America Regional Council’s Regional Health Care Initiative, a position he is well suited to because of his extensive experience. But to many in the Gladstone area, where he grew up, Lakin is known as a family man, devoted to his wife and his community.
After growing up in the Northland, Scott attended William Jewell, where he met his future wife, Cindy. The daughter of a pastor, Scott had seen her singing on television with a Christian singing group when he was a teenager. When they met at school, he knew there was something familiar about her. “I used to joke that when we met, I was Presbyterian and she was Baptist. So we compromised. I became
Baptist,” says Scott.
The couple laughs easily and tells how they married before they even left college. “We actually lived in the married students dorm the last year,” says Scott. While Cindy always aspired to be a teacher, her first priority was to be a stay at home mom as much as possible. Soon after they married, they found out that they were expecting their first child, and Cindy’s plans for
teaching music where put on hold. Instead, she gave birth to Kyle, the oldest of their three children.
Caroline and Chris followed in the next six years. As a pastor’s daughter, who was moved around with frequency as a child, a sense of stability was
important for Cindy. “I wanted our kids to be able to stay in one place like Scott did, so we moved to the Northland, to Sherwood Estates,” says Cindy. All three kids attended Lakewood Elementary, Maple Park Middle School and Winnetonka High School. For Scott, an Oak Park High graduate, the
allegiance to Winnetonka was a tough pill to swallow, but he gradually adjusted.
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