Phyllis A Cunningham

My mom, Phyllis Cunningham, passed away at 96, and heaven just got the Big Boss. My Dad used to call her the War Department.

She was funny, fierce, and a born leader. She raised eight children. Five rowdy boys and three opinionated girls. We always said she had that many children so she didn’t have to do housework. We swear she was a queen in another life.

She was a devout Catholic who traveled the world, and she never let you forget she was conceived in Sicily. She was obsessed with funerals, Shohei Otani, Korean soap operas and hated Democrats. God forbid you call her between 1:00-2:00 every day because that was when she watched Gunsmoke.

She never lied, loved to laugh, and was constantly paranoid about *something*, yet fearless when it came to getting what she wanted.

Once we took her to her favorite Mexican restaurant — she had no idea was in the middle of gang territory. As she walked up to the door, there stood a group of massive gang bangers covered in tattoos. All 4'11" of her, with her curly white hair, looked up at one of them and said, "Have you had their enchiladas? They're delicious!" They laughed and thought she was the cutest thing ever. And she was.

That was Mom. She considered manipulation a love language, and she was fluent. We knew it was coming and fell for it every time. My husband, Mr Terry Oldroyd said we should weaponize her and sell her to North Korea.

Phyllis, you taught us to love loudly, argue passionately, and never hold a grudge. Our friendship was very special. I dedicated a Facebook page to document our odd relationship. Fun with Phyllis-Adventures with Eileen's Mom

Feel free to tell a Phyllis story. She would love to hear how she touched your life…even if it was with a cattle prod. She changed the world on her terms. We just had to clean up the mess.

Rest easy, Mom. Save us a seat, We know you will rearrange heaven before we get there.

**Services**

Tuesday, October 13

St. Thomas Moore Catholic Church

51 Marketplace Irvine

10:00 am Rosary (optional)

11:00 am Mass

Reception to follow.

Please reach out to Eileen to RSVP for the reception. Mom would roll over in her grave if we didn’t have enough food for everyone.