Dorothy Mae Cunningham (Plainview)

Dorothy Mae (Weitzel) Cunningham left this world from her home on Friday, July 2, 2021 at the age of 94 years, 7 months and 10 days. Funeral services will be held 11:00 A.M. Tuesday, July 6, 2021 at St. Alice Catholic Church with Rev. George Poonely and Rev. Jim McCartney officiating. Interment will be held Thursday, July 8, 2021 in Shiner Catholic Cemetery in Shiner, Texas. A Rosary will be held at 6:00 P.M. on Monday, July 5, 2021 at the funeral home. Dorothy Mae (Weitzel) Cunningham entered this world as the eldest child of Annie Bannert and Henry Charles Weitzel on November 22, 1926 in Shiner, Texas. She grew up in a home in which the primary language was German and the favorite beverage was beer, specifically Shiner Beer from the Spoetzl Brewery where her father worked from the age of 8 (no child labor laws) eventually becoming Master Tinsmith. Polka dances and church festivals were the mainstay of life in small-town Texas where her favorite uncle Louis Bannert taught her to dance while she stood on his feet. She developed a life-long love of dance during those early years. After graduating from St. Ludmilla’s Academy in 1943 she and her aunt Bernice headed to Austin getting jobs as live-in nannies. Dorothy also got a job at the State Capitol as a typist in the Warrant office. As WWII raged on the Austin VFW hosted dances every weekend for the soldiers stationed in Central Texas or just passing through. Dorothy joined the USO and attended these heavily-chaperoned dances. The girls were only allowed one dance per soldier to prevent romances from budding. One very tall soldier from Ohio and stationed in San Antonio would save the fastest polka for her. When the music started she would look for his hand raised above the crowd. A memorable Christmas dance was at a base where girls fluent in German were transported in buses with blackened windows so they wouldn’t know where they were going. When they arrived at their destination they were greeted by German POW officers who were being held on American soil. Following the war she was introduced to her future husband Bill who had served in the Navy, graduated from UT and was living in Plainview working as an electric engineer. Dorothy’s best friend set them up because Bill was distracting her boyfriend by wanting to party every weekend when he returned to Austin. Their first date was Bill following Dorothy up and down Congress Ave. as she shopped for Christmas Gifts and he carried her bags. They married at St. Mary’s Cathedral in Austin on October 2, 1948 and travelled the next day to make their home in Plainview. This union produced three children and the three greatest crimes in the household were to piddle, dawdle and meddle. Dorothy was very active as a Cub Scout den mother, Brownie and Girl Scout troop leader, PTA member at Highland Elementary, co-chair of Church Women United Thrift Store, Church Council at St. Alice Catholic Church and St. Anne’s Altar Society serving as the chairman of the Annual Church Turkey Dinner for 25 years. She played bridge and chess, crocheted, sewed all of her daughter’s clothes, was a great cook, avid gardener and voracious reader with quite an impressive vocabulary always encouraging her children to expand their vocabularies as well. And she continued to dance. She and Bill belonged to the Dancing Shadows Round Dancers and Belles and Beaux Square Dancers. In 1972 she began working at Miller Flying Service as payroll clerk until the business was sold in 2007 when she was 81 years old! She was preceded in death by her husband, William Davis Cunningham, Sr. on October 13, 1990; her brother Robert Weitzel; infant sister Diane and her parents. She is survived by her son, Bill Cunningham, Jr. and wife Peggy Lorenz-Smith of Albuquerque; daughters, Kathy Cunningham and husband Bruce Duffie of Chicago and Cynthia Cunningham and husband Rusty Wall of Victoria; sister, Dolores Joseph of Cuero; brothers, Henry Charles Weitzel, Jr. of Long Beach, CA and Pat Weitzel of Midland and her beloved aunt Bernice Whiston of Houston. The family wishes to express their deepest gratitude to those who made it possible for Dorothy to remain in the home she loved and where she raised her family: Irma Cook, Susan Thompson, Connie’s Compassionate Care and Interim Hospice. In lieu of flowers the family requests that you raise a glass of beer or your favorite beverage and toast Dorothy and a life well-lived and consider donating to your local Meals on Wheels or Hospice.