Cunningham retired after years of teaching vocational education and then driver's education. The couple grew old together on a farm outside of tiny Fort Deposit, Ala. They had two children apiece from their first marriages, then one together. He eventually attended Auburn University to get his vocational education degree and there met his wife, Sue, also an education major. He was back stateside by 1944, working as a fighter pilot instructor on the East Coast. He fought in the Pacific theater and rose to the rank of lieutenant colonel. He'd already volunteered for the Army Air Force when World War II began, landing in Hawaii two weeks after the attack on Pearl Harbor. "To help folks out."Ĭunningham was born in South Carolina. "I think the Lord put me here for a reason," he said. Cunningham takes all the special requests in stride. One lady wants buttermilk, another wants whole milk. Some clients are diabetic and get a different dessert. Cunningham checks his list carefully before each stop. On a recent Monday, that was honey mustard chicken, green beans, carrots, chocolate pudding, a whole-wheat dinner roll and milk. "They're homebound, they're isolated - those are the people we want to serve," she said.įrom Cunningham, they get a visit and a healthy meal of around 700 calories. He may be the only person his clients see all day. Meals on Wheels site manager Connie McDonnell said Cunningham steps up when other volunteers can't make it on their days. "I said, 'Well, it's time to do something else.' " When I first came home from the hospital, the first thing I done was got the stove on fire and had to put it out, and the next thing that happened was I had Pine-Sol in the skillet," he said, only half joking. A third jokes that he should join her for a bicycle ride - a reference to the day Cunningham suggested she try it before realizing both her legs had been amputated.įor Roland Johnson, Cunningham is a godsend. One woman insists on reading him her poetry. Others have choices in how to get food, but they prefer to see him. Some of his clients are shut-ins with few other options for regular, hot meals. He'd rather be up helping than sitting around talking, so his life story has to be coaxed out a sentence at a time - between the eight stops he makes up and down Highway 96 in Williamson County every Monday, dropping off free meals. The way Charles Cunningham sees it, there are two choices in life: "You can either rust out, or you can wear out. In the spring, he went on a church mission. He flew 76 missions as a World War II fighter pilot and makes his Meals on Wheels route in a 2011 silver Mustang. The average age of a Triune, Tenn., Meals on Wheels client is 79, but the guy who brings their lunches is 93. Watch Video: 93-year old stays active as Meals on Wheels volunteer
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