Family
Cunningham was born in Los Angeles to Randall and Lela Cunningham, who both moved there from Pennsylvania during the Depression. His father was a truck driver for Union Oil at the time. Around 1945, the family moved to Fresno, California, where Cunningham's father purchased a gas station. In 1953 they moved again, this time to rural Shelbina, Missouri, where his parents purchased and managed the Cunningham Variety Store, a five-and-dime. In Shelbina, Cunningham relished the times he spent hunting pheasant and deer with his father.
Cunningham married his first wife, the former Susan Albrecht, in 1965; they met in college and had one adopted son, Todd. Susan filed for divorce and a restraining order in January 1973, based on her claims of emotional abuse, and the divorce was granted nine months later. Cunningham later stated that in that year, his life hit "rock-bottom."
In 1973, he met Dan McKinnon, a publisher and son of former Congressman Clinton D. McKinnon. Dan McKinnon encouraged him to turn his life around, and Cunningham became a born-again Christian.
Cunningham met his second wife, Nancy D. Jones, at the Miramar Officers' Club in San Diego and they were married February 16, 1974. Nancy was born in 1952 and is also previously married. In 1976, she filed for divorce and a restraining order, stating that he "is a very aggressive spontaneously assaultive person, and I fear for my immediate physical safety and well being." Nancy later had a change of heart, so at her request, the court dismissed the divorce in January 1977. Nancy's declaration justifying the restraining order has been sealed by court order since 1990, when Duke first ran for congress. They have two daughters, April and Carrie. Dr. Nancy Cunningham is an educator for the Encinitas school district.
Read more about this topic: Duke Cunningham
Famous quotes containing the word family:
“One theme links together these new proposals for family policy—the idea that the family is exceedingly durable. Changes in structure and function and individual roles are not to be confused with the collapse of the family. Families remain more important in the lives of children than other institutions. Family ties are stronger and more vital than many of us imagine in the perennial atmosphere of crisis surrounding the subject.”
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“Every family should extend First Amendment rights to all its members, but this freedom is particularly essential for our kids. Children must be able to say what they think, openly express their feelings, and ask for what they want and need if they are ever able to develop an integrated sense of self. They must be able to think their own thoughts, even if they differ from ours. They need to have the opportunity to ask us questions when they don’t understand what we mean.”
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“For every family had one cat at least in the bag.”
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