On this date (Dec 9) in 1944, my dad – Jack L Cunningham Jr – was born in Phoenix, AZ.
Son of a western hottie and a sailor-turned-pipeliner, my dad was one of those guys who moved all over the place when he was growing up. I think he went to something like 64,319 different schools before he was in the 8th grade (I never exaggerate!)… and then he ended up in a little town in southeastern New Mexico called Jal.
One afternoon, while cruisin’ with his buddies, he met a pretty young thing named Twilla. As soon as he could, he married her and took her away from that one-horse town to the bright lights of Albuquerque. It was in that fabulous hippie metropolis that they had me… one of the best things to come out of his college experience (if I do say so myself!)…
He’s an outstanding man – excelling at just about everything he puts his hand to (he still talks about a successful ceiling fan installation from more than a decade ago!) – he taught me most of the good stuff I know… and some of the not-so-good stuff too!
If you’ve had the chance to meet him, congratulations! If you haven’t yet, I think it might benefit you to put that on your bucket list!
Happy Birthday, Dad! I love you!