Donald Merel Cunningham (68) passed peacefully from this life to his eternal home with his Savior on Saturday, September 14, 2024, at his home in Oklahoma City.
Born in Athens, Greece, on May 31, 1956, while his father served in the U.S. Air Force, he moved in 1961 with his family to Alva, after his father retired from military service. In Alva, he attended Washington Elementary, Alva Junior High and Alva High, graduating in 1974.
Before long, he started his life-long career in the oil field. This was the perfect place for a rough and tumble guy to start at the bottom as a roughneck and steadily move up the ladder until his independent and self-reliant nature compelled him to start Red Fork Mud through which he very successfully provided mud engineering services to the oil and gas drilling industry for over four decades. Don was greatly blessed with not only business success but lifelong friendships he made within the industry. He was admired for his dry humor and incredible work ethic. He loved to cook for friends and spent as much time as possible outdoors, especially with his beloved black lab, Roxanne. The capstone of his career was selling Red Fork Mud to a large exploration company in Houston, Texas. For most of his life, he lived in Oklahoma City, where his friends called him "Don" and close friends called him "Donnie." He often told friends everything he knew was from Drilling 101.
Big-hearted throughout his life, his character was to be generous to everyone who he could help. He felt blessed that he was a small-town guy who did well for himself, so he wanted to share his blessings with others. Before his cancer diagnosis, Don enjoyed his time volunteering at the Veterans Affairs Medical Center. Later, because he greatly appreciated the nurses in Alva who cared for his parents when they were ailing, he made a significant donation to the Nursing Program at Northwestern Oklahoma State University to provide scholarships for nursing students.
Donald's Christian faith and overall spirituality were essential parts of his life. Throughout his difficulties over the past four years of battling cancer, his faith was regularly tested, but he never wavered in his belief of Life, Death and Resurrection. He was a good and faithful servant.
Donald was preceded in death by his parents, Walter C. Cunningham and Fotini (Kouvelopoulos) Cunningham. Donald is survived by his sister, Audrey Piersall of Edmond, her daughter Ashley Sherwin, husband Mark and son Rowan of Oklahoma City; his brother, Myron Cunningham and wife Maxine of Norman and their children Jared Cunningham and wife April of Perry and sons Walker, Jaxson and Daxton; and Kendall Woodruff and husband Kevin of Norman. Don retained a close friendship with Courtney Cunningham of Oklahoma City and her sons Jeb Shadid of Loveland, Colorado, and Sam Shadid and Michelle Salgado of Coachella, California, and their daughter Aiza, who blessed and brightened the final two years of Don's life.
In accordance with Donald's wishes, the family will not have a funeral service.
Contributions may be made in Donald's name to NWOSU.
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