Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year

New House

We found a new house in Universal City, Texas. It is five year old, 4 bedroom, 2 bathroom house. We looked at a lot of houses on September 21, 2006 and like this one and made a offer on September 22, 2006 and they accepted it almost immediately.

Have a home inspection scheduled on September 29, 2006 with the closing on October 27, 2006. I have to be out of my apartment on October 31, 2006. The address of the new house is 8810 Tavern Trail, Universal City, Texas 78148.

I will be going back to Nebraska on November 4 ,2006 to help Danae move from Bellevue, Ne to Texas.

The outside of the house is completely brick and in good shape except for the yard. Due to the hot summer and water resistance in Texas the weed have taken over.

House Hunting

Danae is flying in tonight from Omaha to due a house hunting trip over the weekend. We have an appointment with the realtor tomorrow to start showing us houses. Hope we can find a house quick. We'll let you know how it goes.

Pictures Of The Inside Of The Bellevue House

This is the living room looking toward the front door. Stairs on the left

Looking from the living room into the dining room to the back door and back yard

This has been a very good home for us and we have lived here since May of 1998

Trials of the Move

One of the many trials that goes with moving is the packing out of the furniture and the selling of your home. Had to fix many things that I have been letting go over the past few years. Boeing will be packing the household goods and shipping them to Texas. This is our house in Bellevue, Nebraska and it is finally on the market to sell as of September 8, 2006.

Danae will be come to Texas on September 20 for a house hunting trip. We (Danae, myself and the cat) will be living in my one bedroom apartment for the first couple of months until we can get the house sold and the furniture moved to Texas.

San Antonio

I have accepted the job as Site Manager of the Boeing/Air Force T43 Program at Randolph AFB, TX. It take affect on September 29, 2006. Danae will be moving to San Antonio in the October time frame.

Job Offer

Boeing has offer me a permanent job transfer to San Antonio, Texas. The offer is for the Site Manager position for the T43 Trainer Program. I have until August 23 to make a decision. Got to think about where we want to retire. This program has only two years left on the contract and the Government is talking about move the program to Florida in 2008. We do not want to move to Florida and replace our house every two or three years due to Hurricanes. Do we want to mover to Texas for two year?
More to come on this big decision.

A Brief History of the Cunningham Name

The Scottish surname Cunningham is local in origin, being derived fom the name of the place where a man once lived or where he once held land. In this case, the surname derives from a place called Cunningham in the northern district of Ayrshire on the west coast of Scotland. The name is now widespread throughout Scotland and elsewhere, its old families having divided into many branches. It is even quite numerous in France, where it was carried at an early period by Scottish emigrants.

There are several variant spellings of the surname, including Cuninghame, Cunninghamme, Cunnyngham and Coninglants. It first appears in Scottish records during the twelfth century, when a person by name of Wernebald obtained the manor and vill of Cunningham from his feudal superior and adopted his name as his own. There are many subsequent references to the name in Scottish records, and its local origin is confirmed by the fact that many of these are prefixed by the proposition "de", meaning "of". In 1190 an Alexander de Kuningham was witness of the grant of Kirkbride Largs to the nuns of North Berwick and Sir William de Conyngham appears as dominus de Kylmawrus in 1370. William de Cuningham, vicar of Dundonald, was threatened with excommunication for intruding himself into the affairs of the Poor House of Polmadie in 1403

Cunningham Family Coat of Arms

A Great Friend, George Eaton

We lost a great friend, mentor and a great person on the Fourth of July, 2006. George Eaton, Cdr. (USN-ret) of Udall, KS, formerly of Oklahoma City, OK and Waldorf, MD, lost his long and courageous battle with cancer on July 4, 2006. George was born in Newburgh, NY in 1941. He was a member of Grace Methodist Church in Newburgh. He graduated from Newburgh Free Academy. While attending school, George earned his Boy Scout Eagle designation. After high school graduation, he received a commission to attend The Naval Academy, Annapolis, MD and graduated in 1965. He became a career military officer as a pilot and later achieved a Masters Degree in Aeronautical Engineering at Naval Postgraduate School, Monterey, California. George spent many years working in NAVAIR in Washington DC as Program Manager for joint service, Navy-Air Force, Missle programs. Later he became the Department Head of the Naval Aviation Logistics Center, Patuxent Naval Air Station, Patuxent River, MD. After his retirement from the United States Navy, he became employed by The Boeing Company as the Flight Test Manager on the A-6 ReWing Flight Test Program, Naval Air Station, Patuxent River, MD. After A-6 program completion, he became E-6 TACAMO Program Manager with Main Operating Base located at Tinker Air Force Base, OK. He retired from the Boeing Company on May 1, 2002. George is survived by his wife, Donna; Funeral service were held at 10 a.m. Saturday, both at Smith Mortuary, 1415 N. Rock Rd., Derby, KS. Graveside service 2:30 p.m. Saturday, Lincoln Township Cemetery, Lebo, KS.

George was a great person and a great boss. I worked for George on two differnet programs, A-6 rewing and the E-6 for 16 years.

Family Reunion

Didn't make it to the family reunion. Left San Antonio on June 29 and was to change planes in Houston, TX. Plane was late leaving San Antonio so I missed my connection in Houston and being the Holiday weekend there was very few flight going into Omaha. Didn't get a flight out of Houston until 2:30 on the afternoon on June 30 getting into Omaha at 5:00 pm. Danae and I were too tired to drive 6 hrs to western Kansas. Dan and Judy did come to our house on July 2 and we had a wonderful 4 of July. The fireworks is very unusual and it reminds you of a war zone. We stayed on the back deck and fireworks were going off all around us.

Danae's Parents

We are going back to Maryland to bury Danae Mother and Father. (Malcom and Marie McNee). They both die in the last couple of years and donated their bodies to science. We have gotten their ashes back and since her father is a naval retiree and he wanted to bury in Arlington National cemetery. Harriet (Danae Sister) finally got the arrangement made to bury them. On June 23, 2006 they will be entombed in the Arlington National Cemetery

Family Reunion

We are planning a Cunningham family reunion on July 1, 2006 in the city park of Scott City, Kansas. All the Cunningham boys, Keith, Verle, Dan and Tom will be there and many of the grandchildren will also be present. If the weather is bad or windy it will be moved to a room in the Park Lane Rest Home.

Tom and Danae Cat (Li-Ping)

Her name is Li-Ping and she is just a little over a year old. She has a fetish for plastic and she thinks that she is a dog. You throw a cigarette pack, or plastic bags and she will retrieve them and drop at you feet waiting for you to throw again. She loves to do this at bed time or first thing in the morning. She is a good companion for Danae while I am in Texas.

Tom's Work History

I served in the US Army from February 1971 thur February 1973, where I served one tour in Viet Nam as a gunner on Huey helicopters. After being discharged from the Army I went to work at the Hesston Corp (building farm equipment) in Hesston, Kansas, then on to being a Store Manager at Firestone before going to work for The Boeing Company in March 1980. I started Boeing as an Sheet Metal Inspector moving to the Flight line in 1983. There I worked on the following programs: F4 PDM, 737 assembly line, KC135 re-wing, J-Stars (Florida) A-6 re-wing, A-6 flight test and final on to Flight Inspector on the E6 TACAMO in Patuxent River, Maryland. I progress up thru the ranks to IMRL Coordinator, Logistics Analysis and then to Supply Response Center (SRC) Manger. February 1998 I was transferred to Offutt AFB, NE (Omaha) to open the new SRC to support the Looking Glass mission (Airborne Command Station). I was promoted to Site Manager. When Boeing didn't bid on the follow on contract, I helped close the E6 program down and then took a temporary assignment to the T43 program in Randolph AFB, TX (San Antonio), which where I am at the present. I am in charge of reorganization and inventory of the warehouse.

Tom's Mother

This is my mother Golda "Lillis" Cunningham. She is 94 years old and current resides in the Park Lane Nursing Home, Scott City, Kansas. Anyone who would like to get in touch with her, the address is 210 E. Park Lane, Scott City, Kansas 67871. Her phone number is 620-872-7107

Tom's Children

This is Shawn and Kim Cunningham. Shawn live in Wichita, Kansas. Shawn works as a Director/Technical Director for a Wichita TV station, KWCH 12 News. He also works as The Director of Photography for Harmy Films. Harmy Films currently have two full length movie out. They are "Dancing on the Moon" and "Sleepdancer" plus numberous short. Check out their website:

http://www.harmyfilms.com/harmyhome.html

Kim currently resides in Lawrence Kansas

Danae's Daughter and Grandkids

This is part of the Tom Cunningham family. From left to right: Danae Cunningham, Julia Keates, April Keates, Tom Cunningham and Mathew Keates. Taken in August 2004 in Hollywood, Maryland. Missing from the picture are Shawn and Kim Cunningham. I will post their pictures later.

This is myself with my two grandkids, Julia and Mathew Keates

This is Danae and I at the time of our marriage, September 1990 (Notice the mustache is brown not grey.)