Richard Cunnington

I was born and raised in southeastern Saskatchewan, starting at the Gray Nuns Hospital in Estevan in 1944 and eventually ending up graduating Grade Twelve in 1962 from Swift Current Collegiate.

After graduation I enlisted in the Royal Canadian Airforce and after various transfers I was posted out in May 1967 and honorably discharged with the rank of Corporal. My five-year obligatory time was up and I wanted to explore other options for employment.

A short trip to see the World’s Fair in Montreal with a fellow airman and on to Toronto to find my fortune. No financial fortune to be found except some freedom found in riding a new BSA 650cc Thunderbolt motorcycle. That in turn helped me to win the heart of a true fortune, my wife Dolores, who I met in 1969 and married in June 1970. While in Toronto I took a night course at Devry Institute in Industrial Electronics. This training enabled me to obtain a job with the company that brought the first handheld calculator into Canada that sold for under $100.00 It was the Rapidman Calculator and it was sold by the T. Eaton Company.

The Business Equipment company that made the calculator transferred us to Calgary during Stampede Week in 1973 to manage a repair centre. The next year we started attending St. Mark’s Anglican church where I served on vestry and then moved on to Holy Nativity Anglican church in 1975 where I served on vestry and a short stint as Sunday School Supervisor. In December 1976 our daughter was born and baptized at Holy Nativity the following spring.

In the summer of 1984, I felt I required more out of going to church and moved to St. Augustine’s in Ogden where we were now live. I served on vestry there too. Rev. David Asher encouraged me to explore the possibility of being a licensed Lay Reader. I did the requisite study and was commissioned on December 2, 1984.

After much discussion and thought, Dolores and I knew it was time to move on to a larger parish that offered more opportunities for our daughter to be involved.

In the summer of 1986, we came to St. Peter’s and have made this our church.

I have served on Vestry, assisted in leading a Kyrigma Course led by Rev. Pynn and helped on Curssio weekends. During this time and after working for The House of Tools as in inside sales for just over eleven years I retired in May of 2009 and on to be a staff driver for Calgary Meals on Wheels for just over seven years. We were expecting grand-children and I chose to permanently retire.

Currently, Dolores and I are enjoying retirement and being grandparents to twin grand-daughters. I look forward to this next stage and helping the Reverend Bonnie build a stronger and God centered parish of St. Peter’s.