1940 – 2015
DELTA, Alaska — Alfred “Al” Cunningham Jr. passed away on Tuesday, July 7, after a brief illness.
He was born in Mexico on March 5, 1940, the son of Alfred “Fred” and Narissa Brown Cunningham. He attended public schools in Mexico, graduating from Mexico High School in 1958. He enlisted in the U.S. Air Force and was stationed in Germany in the Canine Corps.
After his discharge and after attending Eastern New Mexico University for a year, he met and married Barbara Fournier of Livermore Falls. They moved to Fairbanks, Alaska, where Al went to the University of Alaska, graduating in 1968.
They bought land and built a home on a hill overlooking the Alaska Mountain Range, where they raised their two children, Dain Eric and Erin Lynn.
After having various jobs, Al worked for the Bureau of Land Management as maintenance manager for Alaska’s Northern District until he retired.
Over the years, he enjoyed hunting, fishing, riverboating and canoeing in the land he loved. After he and Barbara were no longer together, he built a small log home near Delta, Alaska, where he lived during his final days.
He is survived by his mother, Narissa Cunningham of Gorham; brothers, Bruce Cunningham and wife, Susan, of Fairbanks, Alaska, and Wayne Cunningham and wife, Denise, of Oakland; son, Dain Cunningham and wife, Caroline, of Parker, Colo.; daughter, Erin Dueber and husband, John, of San Francisco, Calif.; twin grandsons, Conor and Liam Cunningham; granddaughters, Natalie and Daphne Dueber; and numerous nieces and nephews.
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