Ellen V. Cunningham

Ellen V. Cunningham, age 93, of Pequannock and formerly of Paterson, passed away peacefully on Tuesday, December 25, 2018, while in the loving presence of her family.

The youngest of seven children, Ellen was born and raised in the coal mining country of Archbald, Pennsylvania. She was a graduate of Archbald High School with the Class of 1943. After graduating, she initially took a job as a seamstress in a local clothing factory.

One night while at a dance in her hometown, Ellen’s eyes were drawn to a very handsome young man in a U.S. Navy uniform. His name was James Cunningham and, home on leave from service, he decided to attend the dance. God smiled on Ellen and James and a long and beautiful relationship began that evening. The two lovebirds, as the saying goes, ended up tying the knot on Wednesday, December 17, 1947 at the Roman Catholic Church in Archbald. There is a saying that a chord of three strands is not easily broken – the three strands of the chord, in this case, being made up of Ellen, James and God. James and Ellen included God in their lives and in their marriage and He blessed them with a beautiful family consisting of five daughters and one son. They initially lived in Archbald where they welcomed their firstborn – a baby girl which they named Donna Lee. In 1952, like Ellen’s sister and brother-in-law before them, Ellen and Jim moved to Paterson, NJ where Jim found work in the Curtis Wright Corporation’s Aeronautical Division. Once in Jersey, the family grew with the welcomed births of Linda, James, Debbie, Mary Ellen, and Susan.  They were married for 44 years until James’ passing into glory in 1991. Ellen remained in Paterson until 2008. Then she moved to Totowa for a while with her grandson Scott, before coming to live with her daughter Mary Ellen and son-in-law Warren in Wayne. When they later moved to Pequannock, she joined them there also to live out her final years.

Ellen was a strong woman who managed her household with excellence while lovingly raising her family. Unafraid to take on any project in the house, Ellen could lay carpet, install linoleum flooring, hang wallpaper like a pro, and even change an electrical outlet if necessary. Her children will always cherish special memories of Christmas. Every Christmas Eve, once the kids were in bed, she’d put up and light the Christmas tree, decorate the whole house, and wrap all the gifts. In the morning, they would wake up to a house transformed into quite the magical Christmas spectacle. While primarily a homemaker when her children were young, Ellen once landed a part-time job in a factory in Little Falls. In order to get that job, she had to hide the fact that she was pregnant. Later, when her youngest, Susan was old enough, Ellen returned to work fulltime as a physician’s switchboard operator for the Professional Answering Service in Paterson. She worked there for 20 years until retirement.

Always on the go, Ellen had many interests. She bowled every week in a league with coworkers from the answering service. She made beautiful quilts and, to this day, her countless creations keep many of her children, grandchildren and great- grandchildren plenty warm and cozy on a cold winter’s night. She was also into ceramics and some of her beautiful creations, including a handmade ceramic church with real stained glass windows and electric lights, a ceramic Christmas tree, and a figure of Santa Claus reading a naughty and nice list with all of Ellen’s children’s names on the nice list (of course), served as beautiful decorations in her house throughout the years.

When her hands were idle, it was usually because Ellen was reading one of her “Book of the Month Club” books – usually a good murder mystery by Sidney Sheldon, Danielle Steel, or Mary Higgins Clark. Ellen simply loved murder mysteries! In fact, she was often jokingly quoted by her family for saying “I love murder.” She loved to watch the I.D. Discovery Channel – Channel 171 on cable television, which featured documentaries on famous murders and missing persons. And speaking of television, Ellen also liked to watch, of all things, UFC fights, with her grandson Chris. A force to be reckoned with herself, when she was watching the fights, you could hear her shouting at the TV, “Pin him down!” and “Go you red head!”  Oh yes! Ellen was very, very proud of her Irish heritage so if an Irish guy was boxing, you bet she was rooting for him.

Ellen found the genealogical study of her family roots to be a fascinating pastime. She would spend hours researching her family tree on Ancestry.com and discovering family members she never even knew existed. In fact, some of those discoveries included unknown cousins who she connected with and who came to visit in just the past year. Ellen recently took one of those spit-in-a-jar DNA tests and was proud (and relieved) that the results indicated that she was 99% Irish. Of course, no matter what she was doing around the house (did we mention that she was also into crocheting afghans?), you could always count on the fact that one of her faithful cats were by her side keeping her company. She had many feline friends throughout the years including Mikey, George, Tommy, Sheba, and Bentley (aka “Benny”) to name a few. Those kitties were always happy when she returned home from one of her trips abroad including trips to Aruba, Canada, twice to Ireland where she got to kiss the Blarney Stone, and one trip with her niece Shirley to Fatima and Lourdes where she returned home with holy water.

While Ellen embraced all of her life’s endeavors with great enthusiasm, the two most important things to her were faith and family. Devout in her relationship with God, she attended Blessed Sacrament Church in Paterson for many years. Upon moving to Wayne and Pequannock, she became a parishioner at St. Mary’s Church in Pompton Lakes. She prayed the rosary every night and always faithfully prayed for her family and friends. They say that kissing the Blarney Stone endows the kisser with the gift of gab, eloquence and flattery. Well, for Ellen, kissing that stone really seemed to do the trick. Ellen was the greatest story teller! Her grandchildren loved to sit near Nana as she shared accounts of funny things that she experienced, tales of her childhood, and even growing up during the depression. They came away with a real sense of gratitude for the blessings that they experience in their own lives.

Ellen was the beloved wife of James, blessed in marriage for 44 years until his passing in 1991. She was the loving mother of Donna Lee Hughes of Spring Hill, FL, Linda Milligan of Totowa, her late son James Cunningham who passed away in 2017 and his wife Donna of Margate, FL, Debra and her husband Gregory Cinnella of Maywood, Mary Ellen and her husband Warren Hilla of Pequannock, and Susan and her husband Timothy O’Keefe of Oakland; cherished grandmother of Eric and his wife Alison, Clifford, Keith, Scott - who passed away in 2018, Gregory and his wife Josephine, Lisa and her husband Anthony, James, Danielle, Devin – who passed away in 2012, William and his wife Delaney, Christopher, Allison, Katelyn and her husband Jasser, Colin, and Hope; adoring great-grandmother of Sarah, Breanna, Haley, Adriana, Carmelo, Joseph, and Gabriella; her dear late sister and brothers: Mary Lyons, John Manley, James Manley and his wife Sophie of Ledgewood, Gerald Manley, Robert Manley, and Donald Manley; and numerous nieces, nephews, and cousins.

In lieu of flowers, those planning an expression of sympathy in Ellen’s name are asked to consider Autism Speaks, 1060 State Road, Second Floor, Princeton, NJ 08540, or at www.autismspeaks.org