Ozark Profile: Cunningham still active at work, church as she turns 83
Posted on Monday, November 24, 2008
ANDY SHUPE Northwest Arkansas Times Joyce Cunningham is the organist at the United Methodist Church in Prairie Grove. She turns 83 Friday, and no one else has been a member of the church longer.
Joyce Cunningham turns 83 Friday, and she still gets up and goes to work five days a week and plays organ every Sunday unless she out of town visiting family.
She still lives in the same house she was born in on a 40-acre tract on Little Elm Road in what is now Prairie Grove. The road is paved now and lots of neighbors have built houses nearby. The many fruit trees and berries that once grew there are mostly gone.
She remembers her sister driving her to Prairie Grove for first and second grade in a Ford Model T. Her father, Maynard A. Dorman, used a team of mules to pull the car though a muddy spot on rainy days, she said. The car served as a bus because three or four of the neighbor kids always rode along.
The old car broke down, and her father could not spare his truck. So she was forced to move to nearby Bethel Grove School from third to eighth grade.
She laughed as she recalled being mad at her sister for letting a neighbor boy drive the car because she always thought it was somehow his fault the car quit running.
She returned to Prairie Grove for high school.
Her home is not the only thing familiar in her life. She’s stuck with the same church, job and organizations for decades. Friends say she’s someone to count on. When she’s not at work or church, she might be spending time with her two children, eight grandchildren or four great-grandchildren. She’s got plenty of pictures nearby.
Church organist
Cunningham is not the oldest member of the Prairie Grove United Methodist Church, but no one else has been a member longer. She’s been there her whole life.
The bell in the tower was donated to the church by her grandfather, E.H. Dorman. He made monuments in Prairie Grove, where the local hardware store is now located.
She started playing piano for the church between 50 and 60 years ago and most of those years she’s played organ. She served as choir director for a couple of decades. She continues to sing soprano for the choir’s anthems and plays organ during hymns and other songs. She’s also served in several leadership positions in the church.
Prairie Grove Mayor Sonny Hudson said that Cunningham is a big part of the church and its music. Before the church added an early morning service, Hudson came early to open the church to make coffee and get everything ready.
Cunningham was either the first or second person to arrive so she could practice. They visited a lot back then.
“I always enjoyed visiting with her. She’s sharp," Hudson said. “What she does is very important. She’s been a big part of the church for a long, long time.”
She also had close ties to another church near her home.
In her younger years, she also attended Sunday evenings and played piano at Little Elm Baptist Church. Her family could not afford to drive back into Prairie Grove, she said.
Insurance veteran
She’s been working at Washington County Mutual Fire Insurance Co. since 1928 — for 60 years. The company was formed six years earlier, and during those days it was difficult for farmers to get affordable insurance for their barns and outbuildings, she explained.
She pointed to a picture of Benjamin Franklin on the wall and said that he started the nation’s first mutual insurance company. Mutual stands for Many United Together Unselfishly Against Loss.
Her father was named manager during the 1930s, and Cunningham followed his footsteps, taking over as manager during the 1970s. Her son, Robert “Tony” Cunningham, has been in charge since 1999. She’s still working because she enjoys being with people.
She contributes to several other organizations, including Altrusa. She’s a longtime member of this women’s service organization that promotes literacy and other causes. She’s also the longtime secretary/treasurer of the Arkansas State Association of Mutual Insurance Companies and enjoys the fellowship at the annual conventions.
Fair board treasurer
She served as treasurer of the Washington County Fair for 22 years, beginning in the late ’70 s. She remembers the years when they used to stay up until the early hours of the morning to count the money and settle up with the carnival. Even when she got home at 4 a.m., she always managed to make it to church.
"I never missed a Sunday through all those years,” she said.
She enjoyed helping with the fair, but mostly she enjoyed getting to know the kids and watching them grow up.
“We really had some great times. Even though we’d get so tired,” Cunningham said. “It was just great to see them grow into young adults.”
Longtime fair board member Roy Hummel said that Cunningham was a tireless, dependable worker who could always be trusted.
“You knew if she said it, you don’t have to go look it up. It was the gospel truth” Hummel said.
She was always one of the biggest supporters at the annual premium livestock auction for 4-H and Future Farmers of America kids and still is, he said.
“She really believes in helping the kids. That was her main focus,” Hummel said. “She’s really a good lady.”
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