Lucille Walker Cunningham, a warm, animated, inquisitive, intelligent, and generous mother, grandmother, teacher, and friend, died peacefully at home on Monday, July 15, 2024, at the age of 98. Lucille “Tudie” was born on June 13, 1926, on the cusp of the Great Depression, in Beasley, Texas to Glenn Howard Walker and Velma Sabina Moore Walker. Her mother sewed Lucille’s dresses from seed sacks and fashioned girls’ skirts and jackets from her uncle’s suits as she grew up on a small family farm co-owned with her father’s parents. As an adult, Lucille would remark that she did not realize they were poor – because no one told her. As a teen, she served shifts as an aircraft spotter for the WWII Gulf Coast civil defense. Lucille helped her parents bring in the cotton crop the year following her graduation from Beasley High School, but her horizons were always broader than her current visage. Lucille moved off the farm to Houston so that she could attend business school and then began working as a secretary. She met Jay Henry Cunningham, a strikingly handsome dark-haired young engineer, at a church function and, after a 2-year courtship, they married on February 18, 1949. Jay and Lucille were married 72 years and kissed after every dinner blessing until his death on November 9, 2021. Always ready for a new experience and challenge, Lucille followed Jay’s career to Dallas, St. Louis, Houston, Dallas, and Austin. With the other women of her generation, she was a stay-at-home mom to their four baby-boom children, Keith (1950), Mark (1951), Jan (1956), and Glenn (1961). She cooked a full dinner nightly, worked Little League concessions, sang and rubbed backs in bedtime rituals, nursed, tutored, disciplined, counseled into the wee hours of the morning, and inspired. In the next generation, “Tudie” was similarly always ready to listen and engage with her grandchildren and great-grandchildren.
When Glenn started to kindergarten, Lucille was without a preschooler at home for the first time in 16 years. That day, wiping tears from her eyes, she imagined re-inventing herself. On impulse, she drove to Houston Baptist College and enrolled in a freshman English course. Sitting in a class of 18-year-olds, she was the only 40s-age student. Six years later, Lucille graduated magna cum laude as an English major. For the next 27 years, she was a gifted English teacher in high schools and community colleges in greater Houston, Dallas, and Austin. Ever inspired to keep learning and growing, and with Jay’s encouragement, Lucille attended 4-6 week summer sessions at Cambridge University in England, earned a master’s degree in English from University of Houston, and completed most of the requirements for a doctorate. Her mind was sharp and active to the end, talking at the kitchen table with her children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren about their lives and activities the day before she died.
Jay and Lucille traveled widely and often, with trips throughout Europe, as well as Canada, Mexico, Australia, New Zealand, China, and Africa. Lucille had a deep and abiding faith and was always involved in her church community, most recently at First United Methodist Church of Coppell.
Lucille was preceded in death by her parents, older brother Ralph G. Walker and younger sister Phyllis Walker Gaidosik Bartels, niece/sibling Sylvia Walker Burnett Lauderdale Neilsen, daughter-in-law Melinda Brittain Cunningham, and husband Jay Henry Cunningham. She is survived by niece/sibling Gayle Walker Calnan; son Keith J. Cunningham and his spouse Sandi, son Dr. Mark D. Cunningham and his spouse Tiffany, daughter Jan E. Cunningham, son Glenn W. Cunningham and his spouse Suzanne; 10 grandchildren: Dr. Cory Cunningham, Caleb Cunningham, Jacob Cunningham, Benjamin Cunningham, Clay Cunningham, Dr. Cara Cunningham-Cockerill, Kristen Cunningham, Chloe Cunningham, Todd Reveley, and Edwin Reveley; and 8 great-grandchildren.
A memorial service for Lucille will be held Saturday, July 20, 2024 at 4:00 PM at First United Methodist Church Coppell, 420 S Hertz rd, Coppell, TX 75019.
In lieu of flowers, contributions in Lucille's memory may be made to Habitat Donation, https://donate.dallasareahabitat.org/campaign/fy25-imo-lucille-walker-cunningham/c602448
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