Kay Davis Cunningham, 80

Kay Davis Cunningham, 80, of Mason City, died peacefully on Sunday, December 13, 2020, at The Great River Medical Center in West Burlington, Iowa. 

Visitation will be held from 11:00 am until 1:00 p.m. Saturday, December 19th, at Hogan Bremer Moore Colonial Chapel, 126 3rd St. NE, Mason City, where a service will be held at 1:00 p.m. immediately following will be burial in St. Patrick’s Catholic Cemetery, Dougherty, Iowa. 

Memorials may be directed to the family. 

As mandated by proclamation, social distancing must be practiced. The use of facemasks or shields is required. For those unable to attend, Kay’s service will be live-streamed on Hogan Bremer Moore Colonial Chapel’s Facebook page. 

Kay Jean Davis was born September 10, 1940 in Charles City, Iowa the daughter of Edna (Christiansen) Huff of Sheffield, Iowa and Millard Davis. Kay attended school in Sheffield, Iowa. 

On October 1, 1958 Kay was united in marriage to James Cunningham. They resided in Mason City and raised their three children. In the earlier years she worked in retail and the clerical field before becoming a full-time stay at home mother for her three children. 

For the past year Kay had been a resident at The Madison Care Center in Fort Madison, Iowa. Prior to that she lived at Kentucky Ridge Assisted Living in Mason City. 

Kay cherished the time spent with her family and joyfully watched them grow to include grandchildren and great grandchildren. Her favorite thing to do was going for coffee frequently to socialize and visit with her mother and sisters in the earlier years. She looked forward to her daily shopping/lunch outings with her daughter Marilyn and was very appreciative of the care Marilyn and her son Christopher provided her over the years. In the past couple of years Kay very much enjoyed visits from her daughters and the ice cream sundaes and diet coke they always brought her. 

Kay loved to cook and bake and was very good at it acquiring her cooking skills from her grandmother’s nursing home in Sheffield, Iowa as she was growing up. She enjoyed listening to music and playing guitar, reading and writing poetry, playing solitaire, and watching tv. She was also artistically talented and loved drawing and making stone statues and her work was featured in the local newspaper. 

Those who are left to cherish her memories are her two daughters, Tammy (Barry) Cunningham Brandt, Marion, Iowa and Marilyn (Scott) Cunningham Markwardt, Mason City, granddaughters Mandy (Brandon) Gathers, Maggie (John) Bailey, grandsons Aaron (Angela) Brandt and Nathaniel (Amber) Wendel; great granddaughters Adylee Brandt, Shelby Wendel and Eleanor Wendel; great grandsons Avan Brandt and Dominic Benjamin, sisters Judy (Leroy) Junker, Sandra Endriss and Diana (Mitch) Knauff, and many nieces and nephews. 

Kay was preceded in death by her parents, grandparents, husband James Cunningham, son Christopher Cunningham, siblings Jerry Davis, Dixie Overbeck and Linda Abbott Thievin, and brother-in-law, John Cunningham. 

Kay’s family wishes to thank the staff at The Madison Care Facility and the Fort Madison Community Hospital in Fort Madison, Iowa and the Great River Medical Center in West Burlington, Iowa who all cared for her over the past year. 

Blessed be Kay’s memory. She will forever be remembered as a devoted wife, mother, grandmother, great grandmother, aunt and friend whose memory will be cherished by all who knew and loved her. Kay was a very kind and strong woman. 

Kay, The Lord be with you.

Hogan Bremer Moore Colonial Chapel, 126 3^rd St NE, Mason City.  (641)423-2372.  ColonialChapels.com