Ronald
‘Bud’ Cunningham, 89, a retired pharmacist from Cut Bank, passed away
January 7, 2008, at the Glacier Care Center from natural causes.
Visitation is scheduled for
January 11 from 1-4 pm at the Whitted Funeral Chapel in Cut Bank.
Funeral services will be
January 12 at 1:00 pm at the
First Presbyterian Church with burial to follow in the
Crown Hill Cemetery.
Bud is survived by his sons, Mike (Krista) Cunningham of Great Falls and Robert (Jackie) Cunningham of Billings; his daughters, Donna (Phil) Youngken of Bethlehem, PA and Stephanie (Jim) King of Cut Bank; and his brother, Grover (Faye) Cunningham of San Antonio, TX; as well as 5 grandchildren and 11 great-grandchildren. He is also survived by stepsons, Sam (Priscilla) Robinson of Belgrade, Brad (Vickie) Robinson and Jim Robinson both of Great Falls , Chris Robinson of Cut Bank and stepdaughters, Robin (Guy) Bradley of Cut Bank and Maxine (Jim) Eckness of Billings. He is preceded in death by his wives, Patricia in 1981 and Myrtle Robinson in 2006; brothers Duane and Bob; and an infant son, Richard Allen.
Bud was born in Windham , MT to Don and Emma (Demar) Cunningham on October 9, 1919. He was raised in Sunburst graduating high school there. He entered the Army Air Corps at Ft Missoula in 1940. The first week of December 1941 he was on a troop carrier in the Pacific headed to Pearl Harbor . One day before the bombing they were diverted to New Guinea where he spent the next 3 ˝ years of the war in the jungle. While there he contracted malaria and spent the last year in the US at Las Vegas , NM where he was stationed. While there he and Patsy Crockford married in November of 1944. After his discharge, he attended 5 years of college in Missoula Pharmacy School . He worked at Dave’s Public Drug and later partnered with Norm Anderson and they then purchased the drug store changing the name to Public Drug and Bud retired in 1982.
Bud was a member of the VFW, NRA, Elks, Glacier Wildlife Assn, American Legion, Ducks Unlimited, Rocky Mountain Elks Foundation, and the Chamber of Commerce. He was also a Hunters’ Safety teacher. Bud was an avid outdoorsman loving to hunt, fish, ride snowmobiles and tie flies. He also enjoyed photography, reading, picking on his children and spoiling his dogs.
In Dad’s own words – “I’m going over the Great Divide”.