Family reflects in wake of Danville woman’s death

By Denice Thibodeau

Published: April 23, 2008

She took her daughter’s car to Cunningham Tire, and headed across Riverside Drive to the Kwik Shop, apparently to grab a soft drink or a bite to eat while she waited for the new tires to be installed.
But Sarah Alice Wilson Cunningham didn’t make it across the street. Instead, the 54-year-old Danville resident was struck by a car and killed on Saturday.
Police reports say she stepped in front of the vehicle that struck her, but her nine children find that difficult to believe.
“I remember Mom crossing the street with us,” said Tiba Cunningham, Sarah’s 25-year-old daughter who lives in California, “she taught us how to do it safely. “My mom is not careless.”
Other family members wondered if she had tripped, or if she had some problem with her legs while crossing the street, or if this family tragedy will be determined to be the driver’s fault — and several of them said they would probably never know exactly what happened.
What they do know is that Sarah is no longer with them, and they are grief-stricken.
Sarah’s oldest child, Rhonda Cunningham, is 31; the youngest is Joseph, who is 9.
Sarah’s three minor children lived with her, as did one adult daughter until just two weeks ago.
Two of her grandchildren also were staying with her at the time of the accident. Sarah would pick up her aunt, Minister Alice Toler — the last surviving family member from Sarah’s parents’ generation — every day and bring her to the apartment, where she helped watch the children.

‘A good person’
Family and friends gathered Wednesday to mourn Sarah’s death and share stories of her life at her Woodside Village apartment.
“She was a good person, everyone liked her,” Rhonda said, adding that neighbors, especially the children, all loved to come to see “Miss Sarah,” who always was there to take care of problems and lend a hand to anyone who needed it.
“There are even people writing to her from jail,” Rhonda said as tears filled her eyes.
“There’s a letter I opened from someone asking Mom to send her $30, and asking, ‘Can you check on my kids?’ I guess I’ll send her $30 and tell her what happened.”
Hugh Cunningham, the oldest son, is 30 and now lives in California, but always kept in touch with his mother.
“She’s the center of my universe,” he said. “We talked all the time and I’d call her any time I had questions and problems.
“I regret not spending more time with her.”

A time for reflection
Janie Cunningham, 27, said she talked to her mother often from her Richmond home.
“She was an amazing woman, always checking up on us and always telling us how much she loved and missed us,” Janie said. “She impacted many lives; she would do anything for anybody.”
Jennifer Wilson, 26, lives in Jacksonville, N.C., and was visiting her mother the weekend of the accident. It was her car Sarah was going to have fixed that day.
Wilson told a story about the time her mother called her from a grocery store parking lot, laughing at herself for leaving the house without her wallet and managed to dig up just enough change in the car for the dish soap she needed.
“Someone walked up and asked her for a quarter — I heard it! Don’t you know, she gave up that quarter,” Jennifer said with a tear coming down her cheek. “That was my mom. She was my best friend.”
The family is on a very tight time schedule to take care of Sarah’s effects and finalize plans for the minor children. Management at the apartment complex has only given the family 14 days from the date of the accident to vacate the housing unit, according to Sarah’s sister, Alvicia “Jennie” James, who lives in Sutherlin.
“Monday, they were going to put locks on the doors,” James said.
She said that Housing and Urban Development rules say the person on the lease has to be in residence, but since the adult daughter who moved out two weeks ago was still on the lease, officials were able to relent slightly and give the family a little extra time to sort things out.
Funeral services for Sarah Alice Wilson Cunningham will be held Friday. Arrangements are being handled by Fisher and Watkins Funeral Home.
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