Life sure is good! Emma
gave this small pillow to
us when we moved into
our apartment in May 5,
2005. The girls frequently
“refill” it with hugs and
kisses.
Dateline March 2017: Melissa has been very busy homeschooling
our three grandaughters. Emma has graduated high school and is
finishing her first year at UNH where she is majoring in music.
Claire finished her first year of high school at home and has been
accepted at Phillips Exter Acedemy. Nora is in 8th grade
homeshooling, and loves music and dance. Husband, Steve,
continues his work at Merrimack College where he is a chemistry
professor. Our son, Michael, is a manager at Advantage Plastic
Products (APP) in Concord, N.H. His wife, Heather, retired from
teaching health education at Pinkerton Academy (High School) and
has her own business PembrokeFitWorks,LLC, a unique at home
approach to fitness that allows you to train in the comfort of your
own home. Our granddaughter, Hannah, has graduated high school
and is studying auto mechanics and business management. She
continues to actively competete in equestrian events. Her ultimate
goal is to have her own auto repair business or own a farm and
continue her interest iin horses. Paul, is in 8th Grade at Bishop
Brady School in Concord, N.H. He has just completed his Eagle
Scout level in Boy Scouts.
So, just what is home? To some, it is the first page in a web site. To others it is often referred to as
“Home is where the heart is.” Helen and I subscribe to both. We have accumulated three homes in
our lifetime, which sounds a bit extravagent but understand that this all occurred over many years and
we did a LOT of the construction and renovation work ourselves. It started in Plaistow, New
Hampshire in 1968, two years after we were married. We had a local builder construct a “standard”
expandable Cape Cod style home. Expandable means that the upstairs is unfinished. We had him
build an oversize one car garage to house our one car and 14-foot boat (conservative me with “great
foresite” thinking that we will never have more than one car...yeah sure.) The house served us well
for nearly 40 years but for a few years we could have used a few acres and a barn to house our six
cars, a boat, a camper, and a motorcycle or two! To save a buck, we did all the interior painting and
expanded the upstairs ourselves. Over the years we did many other interior and exterior mods
ourselves so that we can truely call it “home.”
In 1970 Melissa was born and in 1972 along came Michael. Two children, one of each kind, perfect,
there will no more expansion of our family. We enjoyed camping, boating, fishing, and snow skiing
among other family activities. We were especially hooked on skiing and in 1970 we bought a piece of
land in a small, little known ski area in western Maine called Sunday River. It took us two years to
decide that we could “afford” to build a small chalet style house. With a LOT of help from family and
friends we managed to construct and close in our 24’x24’ chalet in just two weeks without a
professional builder; just a bunch of young, ambitious engineers. Amazing what you can do when you
are young! We worked on finishing it in time for the next ski season. We’ve had an unbelievable
number of guests stay and play with us there over the years. We certainly can call this little piece of
property “home” too.
As we have moved along in years, the snow and cold of New England winters has become less
appealing to us. We looked south and in 2001 we purchased a modest condominium home in Florida.
It was a turnkey property; adequately furnished by the previous owner. Helen and I have done a
significant amount of customizing it to our taste. We occasionally spend some time there. We have
become very active in community activities and have many very close friends there. Our heart is in
Florida, Maine, and New Hampshire. So we have three “homes.” The following pages will give you
an idea of why we call them “home.”
Cunningham Family Web Site
