Mother requested me to jot down dad’s obituary. I did a whole lot of analysis on the style and located three classics.
So the concept was to jot down one thing with clear construction and style expectations, however with some improvements, that I do know had been achieved elsewhere. Earlier drafts leaned a lot tougher into the financial historical past, however I selected not to try this. It’s there, however it’s a lighter contact. I wouldn’t say I’m notably sturdy at this fashion, however I attempted to cowl the suitable issues to assist somebody perceive him and his life course, in addition to bits of his internal life.
Prologue
Joseph (“Joe”) Claymon Cunningham was born on December 6, 1941, in Baldwyn, MS to Evelyn and Purple Cunningham. He died on the morning of October 27, 2025, at his house in Cordova, Tennessee, along with his spouse of sixty-one years, Priscilla, his son Craig, and his grandson Allen at his facet. He had lived with Parkinson’s illness for twelve years; the ultimate 12 months left him largely motionless and soft-spoken. He died quietly and with out ache, 5 weeks wanting his eighty-fourth birthday.
He’s survived by his spouse; his kids Craig, Cathy, and Scott; his son-in-law Jeffrey; his daughter-in-law Honey; and his former daughter-in-law Paige. He additionally leaves 9 grandchildren — Lucy, Jeffrey, Bedon, Jamie, Allen, Joseph, Miles, Willow, and Ren — alongside along with his beloved nephews Jerry and Mike and his niece Tammy, and their households.
Act 1. Baldwin Mississippi to Starkville Mississippi
Joe grew up in Baldwin, Mississippi, the youngest of three boys in a close-knit household that ran Cunningham’s Grocery, a Primary Road establishment. His brothers, Jimmy and John, stayed within the enterprise, however Joe took one other highway.
He was athletic and aggressive, taking part in level guard in basketball, quarterback in soccer, and catcher in baseball by highschool—traits that later surfaced in his love of tennis, working, and boxing. Even into his eighties he carried the posture of an athlete, lean and disciplined.
As an alternative of becoming a member of the household retailer, he grew to become the primary in his household to attend faculty, incomes a arithmetic diploma from Mississippi State College. It was the early Sixties, a time when the South was starting to vary, and Joe’s selection pointed towards that wider world. He stayed loyal to his Bulldogs all his life, quiet however devoted, the best way he was about most issues he cherished.
Act 2. Marriage and the Leap into Computing
Joe met Priscilla shortly after graduating from Mississippi State. They married within the spring of 1964 and moved to Memphis, the place a pal’s referral landed him a job at Roadway Specific, a freight firm booming with the brand new interstate system.
He started on the management-training observe, rotating by dispatch, billing, and payroll—studying every desk so he might in the future run a terminal. It was reliable work in a rising trade, however inside a 12 months enterprise itself started to vary. Corporations had been shopping for their first mainframes, and virtually nobody knew learn how to program them.
Sensing alternative, Joe wrote to Roadway’s headquarters asking to be skilled. They mentioned sure. In 1965 he and Priscilla packed up their residence and moved to Akron, Ohio, the place he joined a small class studying to code the RCA Spectra 70/25 in meeting language. Programming then meant pencil, paper, and punch playing cards—work that demanded the precision, logic, and quiet persistence that got here naturally to him.
After a number of years in Indiana—first with Indiana Nationwide Financial institution, then Honeywell—Joe introduced his younger household house to Mississippi. In 1977 he based Information Programs Included in Brookhaven, taking out loans for a big pc and huge high-speed printer to course of property-tax rolls for counties throughout the state. He constructed a thriving enterprise, bidding county by county, till binders of green-bar stories stuffed the workplace.
Priscilla managed the books, helped run the machines and helped Joe handle the small variety of staff at Information Programs. Joe additionally ran the machines in addition to moonlight as a guide who wrote code for hospitals, docs’ places of work, and small companies that wanted his assist all around the state. To them he was greater than merely a “knowledge man.” He was a peaceful, dependable man with a problem-solver mentality who irrespective of the issue, made their methods work.
Act 3. Resilience and Return
The story of the late 20th century and computing appears to be like precisely just like the story of Joe’s profession as a programmer. Because the expertise Joe had helped pioneer grew cheaper, counties started shopping for their very own computer systems. Bids for out of doors providers disappeared, and inside a couple of years the enterprise he constructed might now not compete. One morning he locked the Brookhaven workplace door for the final time and easily mentioned, “We’ll begin once more.”
He moved Priscilla and their youngest, Scott, to Cordova, Tennessee, the place he began over as a programmer at forty-eight—precisely the place he had begun twenty-five years earlier. It wasn’t defeat; it was life classes and continuity. He saved a full work document, by no means missed a fee, by no means left a niche. His steadiness grew to become the household’s basis.
Evenings had been quieter now: bridge, Trivia Pursuit, politics on tv. He was ruthless in playing cards, unbeatable in trivia, however by no means unkind. His household doesn’t recall him ever speaking trash regardless of dominating his video games. He favored contests the place the result relied on reminiscence, logic, and nerve. No playing, no bluster—simply the clear satisfaction of getting it proper.
At his core, Joe sought order and concord, in folks as in code. He was a household man and a person of religion, dedicated to the idea that life reached past what the attention might see, and {that a} loving God had guided him all alongside. He advised his spouse and youngsters he cherished them daily—and meant it.
In 2006, Joe and Priscilla had been founding members of Redeemer Presbyterian Church of Memphis and have remained loyal congregants in that loving physique for nearly 20 years.
