Shirley Jean Cunningham

Shirley Jean (Heitman) Cunningham, “Gubbie” to many of those who loved her, passed away peacefully on Wednesday, June 19. She is preceded in death by her loving husband of 57 years, Raymond “Ray” Cunningham.

Gubbie is survived by her daughter Karen Rae, her son-in-law Ken, her grandchildren Erin Fleming, Shannon Deere, and Meghan Schaap (husband Niels), her great-grandchildren Raeghan, Will, and Ward, and many other friends and family who will miss so many things about her.

After graduating from Mineral Ridge High School (Mineral Ridge, Ohio) in 1952, Shirley attended the Youngstown Hospital School of Nursing. After she and Ray retired and not long after her only daughter moved to Marietta, GA, Shirley and Ray packed up and moved there themselves, as being near family was always their first priority. Her grandkids were lucky enough that for much of our childhood, Gubbie and Poppy were right down the street, and we will forever carry the memories of those years with us.

Time with Gubbie and Poppy meant staying up past your bedtime playing cards at their kitchen table or eating tomato sandwiches on the back porch. Gubbie could make a killer pie. We all have memories of standing in the kitchen as we watched her work her magic on her homemade pie crusts. She wasn’t afraid to get her hands dirty in the kitchen or behind the sewing machine - but she still always had the softest hands. Gubbie loved making things for the people she loved - clothes for new babies, outfits for our stuffed animals or blankets from our forgotten high school t-shirt collection.

Gubbie was endlessly kind and polite - as long as you didn’t give her a piece of sour candy. This was occasionally a difficult order to follow because according to Gubbie, everything was sour. As she grew older, she allowed herself to make some outspoken comments, but we loved her all the same. If anything, it just made being around her all the more enjoyable. She was never afraid to speak her mind.

Shirley and Ray loved to travel together, but in her later years, there was nothing she loved more than being around her daughter, her grandkids, and her great-grandkids. It was the simple things with Gub - and we are so lucky to have gotten so many years with her.

Gubbie, you will be forever missed, but your love and memory will live on in our hearts forever.