Genie Morgan Cunningham

Elizabeth III has passed. Long live the Queen. Elizabeth III “Genie” Morgan Cunningham was born in Gadsden, Alabama, on January 31, 1948. She left us bereft and aggrieved on November 9, 2022. She left us with a million happy, funny, and warm memories.

Genie was a graduate of Eura Brown Elementary, Disque Junior High, and Gadsden High School (1966). She was not necessarily a scholar; instead, she was the girl with the wry smile that instantly told you that she had gotten away with something not allowed. Friends she made over these first twelve years of school became life-long close friends. Her cell phone is full of their names and numbers as they all talked daily.

Genie entered the University of Alabama in the Fall of 1966. She was a “Baby Boomer” who lived her first year in Harris Hall in a two-person room with two other roommates. She was chosen for membership in the Delta Mu chapter of Delta Delta Delta Sorority. Genie’s mother Betty was also a Delta Mu pledge. Genie became an active member in 1967 and remained active for fifty-six years. Once again she made friends that have remained close, recently traveling to Mentone with four of those sisters.

She wasn’t Phi Beta Kappa, but she would exaggerate her accomplishments, even saying that she set records in typing and shorthand while at the University. Her degree was in Secretarial Science, and while it doesn’t sound like much, her degree allowed her to put Eddy through law school. She was the secretary for the Engineering Department at Gulf State Paper for three years. After Eddy graduated law school, she and he spent their first two years in the legal profession in Montgomery, where Genie had a stint as a personal secretary for the Honorable Howell Heflin, the Chief Justice of the Alabama Supreme Court.

Upon returning home to Gadsden in 1976, she sacrificed her lucrative career as a secretary to begin a family. Eugenia DuPré came first in 1978 followed by John Morgan in 1980. She became a church mom, a soccer mom, a Brownie mom, a tennis mom, and a golf mom. Her children were the main focus of her life. Obviously, she was very good at being a mother; there are none better in the entire history of our world. Still, she found time for her husband and her underperforming tennis career. She also found time for the Bermans at the Gingerbread House. She loved Allen and Sandra. With Jan Sutton, she became an entrepreneur. Together they sold Carlyle Clothes to the women of Alabama for some four years. They were successful and sold a lot of dresses. The problem was that they bought almost as much as they sold. The total profit from this venture might have been $100.00 each. And yes, we still have those Carlyle dresses in a closet at our home. Jan was one of the many women Genie became friends with in Gadsden after returning from Montgomery.

Her children started school in four-year-old kindergarten at Westminster Christian School. After the Gingerbread House and the foray with the Carlyle, she began work as the typing and keyboard teacher at Westminster, later to become Westbrook. Eventually, she would serve as the receptionist, secretary, and registrar to the school. She worked there for over twenty years, but it was a labor of love. She knew every student that came through the doors. The students became her children. In her mind, they were hers to love and, if necessary, to discipline. Of course, her form of discipline was a sharp word, a smile, a glare, and another smile. When students were in trouble, they ran to her for protection. Her students loved her and even presented her with a throne and crown on one occasion, hence the name “Queen Elizabeth III.” Even today Westbrook graduates call her “Queen.”

Genie was immensely proud of her children. Both Eugenia and Morgan are graduates of the University of Alabama, hold advanced degrees, and are active members of their community. Both hold board positions with numerous charitable organizations and are active in their respective churches. No one could have been prouder of their children. And of course, Genie had a second daughter in Kirkland Back, married to Morgan. Genie and Kirkland loved each other and became best buddies. No mother and daughter-in-law could have been closer.

Genie is survived by her husband Eddy Cunningham who she began dating in 1965, married on June 13, 1970, and to whom she was still married at the time of her passing. She is also survived by her two children, Eugenia Cunningham and Morgan (Kirkland) Cunningham, her brother and lifelong friend Scott (Becki) Morgan, sisters-in-law Molly (Mickey) Daffron and Prissy Burnett, many cherished nieces and nephews, her loyal puppy dog Stella, and the absolute love of her life, her grandson John “Eris” Cunningham, aged one. The last two events in Genie’s life were Eris’ first birthday celebrations for family October 30, 2022, and friends on November 5, 2022, where Genie spent eight hours chasing and feeding children and visiting with friends old and new. She was the star of the show in her head-to-toe Alabama getup.

Genie was also a member of a three-table Bridge group and a Thursday afternoon study group. Wine flowed, not in large quantities, but enough to loosen the tongue and make conversation among friends the purpose of these academic sessions. The family knows all of you girls know this, but Genie loved you all so much. You were as much a part of her life as her family.

Genie’s parents Joe and Betty Kierbow Morgan predeceased her, along with her stepfather Julius Klaus, her in-laws Jack and Jane Cunningham, and her brother Joe Morgan, Jr. She dearly loved them all.

Pallbearers will be members of the Etowah County Bar: her son Morgan Cunningham, Sam Bone, Vince Pentecost, Chris Messer, Andrew Perkins, Wayne Copeland, Jody Willoughby, and Kyle Pierce. The family would like to extend their sincerest thanks to the medical staff of Riverview Regional Medical Center, Encompass Health, and ProHealth Home Health, especially Nurse Jade Hughes.

In lieu of flowers the family requests donations be made to Westbrook Christian School, First Baptist Church of Gadsden, or the Susan G. Komen foundation.

Though Genie crossed Lord Tennyson’s “bar,” she has not left us. Her memories are still alive in our hearts and minds. We will never forget her smile and sense of humor. As one of her friends said, “Genie would say the thing that we were all too scared to say. She was our spokeswoman.”

Goodnight sweetheart, but not goodbye. We love you.

A visitation for Genie will be held Monday, November 14, 2022 from 12:00 PM to 2:00 PM at First Baptist Church of Gadsden, 235 S 5th Street, Gadsden, AL 35901, followed by a funeral service at 2:00 PM.