TV ads are outlet
for actress inside ,
of Cindy Wanek
By Mick Dyer
Staff Reporter
Her blue eyes sparkle and laugh
when she talks. She speaks with
enthusiasm and pride about her
family and career. And it almost
seems that she is living out a fairy
tale dream existence.
Cindy Wanek is in love with life.
The story began when Cindy
was 14 years old -- the year she
started working at Wanek’s of
Crete. That’s when she met her
husband, Alan. Her first job was
selling beanbag chairs at the furni
ture store.
“Alan likes to say our first date
was on a mattress,” Cindy said.
“We were sitting on a mattress in
the warehouse and Alan’s father
was giving us a lecture on sales.”
“Hewas 17andlwas 15. Hesaid
I had such beautiful blue eyes and
he kissed me. It was then I figured
we were probably going to get
married,” she said with a smile.
Cindy and Alan celebrated their
ninth anniversary Wednesday.
They have two children: Lisa, who
is 5 years old, and Thomas, 20
months old.
You may have seen Cindy sing
and play the guitar or wear outra
geous costumes and assume un
usual personas in television ads for
Wanek’s. It’s the natural thing for
her to do.
Cindy graduated from the Uni
versity of Nebraska-Lincoln in 1980
with a degree in broadcast journal
ism. She said majoring in broad
casting was an easy choice for her
to make.
“I was always attracted to the
performing arts,” she said. “Jour
nalism seemed like more of a meat
and-potatoes approach to the arts.”
Today, she uses her broadcast
training to write and produce
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Suddenly, I turned into o teenage girl who wore
too much makeup. I was writing a poem about New
Kids on the Block when Sigmund Freud told me he
would make me Miss America if I took care of his
baby. He held a glittering tiara in his hand: then I
Trealized it was the baby from Eraserhead
l&JJt
I looked down and suddenly I was myself again,
put I was wearing a crown, a banner and an ill-fitting
sequmed gown Then I realized I was standing in the
Jhniddle of Sesame Street Oscar tne Grouch told me
'itshould shop al better stores I was really