Steve Cunningham, 72, of Santa Maria, California, passed away on Oct. 8, 2015.
Steve was born in Great Bend, Kansas, on Dec. 8, 1942. He moved to Wheaton, Maryland, where he grew up. He graduated from Wheaton High School in 1960 and was part of the Civil Air Patrol.
He joined the U.S. Air Force in 1961, and worked as an electrical communication and cryptographic equipment systems supervisor for 18 years. He cross-trained into weather for his final two years of service.
During his time he served in Vietnam during the war as well as many places around the world: Thailand, Philippines, Germany, Texas, Ohio, and California.
He married his wife, Virginia, in 1968. While he was serving, he also obtained his MBA IT and MS, software engineering degrees. He retired as a SMSgt in 1981 from Travis AFB, California.
Upon retiring from the Air Force, he and his family moved to Santa Maria in 1981. He worked at the 30th Weather Squadron on Vandenberg AFB as a systems engineer and meteorologist for 34 years, working for several companies — ITT, Raytheon, Lockheed-Martin and InDyne, Inc. He retired in April of this year.
Steve loved working on computers, golfing, traveling and reading. He was often seen with a book or Kindle in his hand as his goal was to read every book in the library.
He was always eager to solve problems and issues and could often be heard saying, “The word can’t is not in my vocabulary,” and “Solve problems before they become problems.”
Steve is survived by his wife of 47 years, Virginia “Cuellar” Cunningham. He is also survived by his son, Stephen Cunningham, Jr., wife Alicia and four granddaughters, Abigayle, Amie, Ariel and Ashley of Prescott, AZ; and his daughter, Judy King, and grandson, Bryce, of Camarillo; one sister, Mary Marvel (Woody) of Lexington, KY, and two brothers, Michael Cunningham (Elena) of Palm Coast, FL and Howard Cunningham (Brenda) of Frederick, MD.
Steve was preceded in death by his mother, Miriam Sharp, her husband, Jim Sharp, and his father, Howard Cunningham
Visitation will be held Thursday, Oct. 15, 2015, from 3 until 8 p.m. at Dudley-Hoffman Mortuary, Crematory and Memory Gardens in Santa Maria. A Rosary will be said at 6 p.m.
A funeral Mass will held on Friday, Oct. 16, 2015, at 2:30 p.m. at St. Louis de Montfort Catholic Church, followed by a reception at the parish hall.
In lieu of flowers, the family requests contributions be made to a Diabetes Foundation in memory of Steve.
To leave a condolence for the family visit www.dudleyhoffmanmortuary.com.