A SPECIAL FATHER'S DAY MESSAGE

MY FATHER

Today, June 18, 2023, is Father’s Day… a day we all remember our fathers and celebrate their contributions to our lives.  In years past I would recall MY father, Robert J. West - the man who gave me guidance, demonstrated what it means to be a good man and helped me become the man I am through his example.  I will link to something I wrote about him a few years ago at the bottom of this entry.

MY “OTHER” FATHER

Today I want to recognize my “other” father - my Sweet Susie’s father, David Livingstone Cunningham

AN ADVENTURER AT HEART

David was a very special man.  An adventurer at heart - one of the family stories we recall with great love is of the time he and his pal, Jack Harbutt, climbed a church steeple in his native Bath, England.  When the press refused to believe they did it, they did an encore late at night and tied a white towel at the highest point to prove their feat.

THE IMMIGRANT

David decided to make a new life for himself and emigrated to the United States in 1937 - just 

as Europe and his native England were about to be embroiled in World War ll.  He came to New York City aboard the Queen Mary, hooked up with his boyhood pal, Jack, to see the sights, then rode a Greyhound bus to the West Coast where his uncle Larry Cunningham - a haberdasher in Oakland - awaited.

OOPS! - HE WAS AN “ILLEGAL ALIEN”

He spent a couple years seeing California, then got a job working in horticulture. He was technically an illegal immigrant, so he had to go to Mexico for a few weeks to sort things out.  Eventually he was given permission to return to the United States and work.

WOOING HER FROM AFAR

He became very successful and managed to coax his lady love, Joan Sabina Adams, to join him.  She was his 17 year old girl when he left for the US.  Through several years of love letters (all of which Joan kept) he convinced her to join him in November, 1940.   They married in Whittier on December 7, 1940.

A SIDEBAR

Upon her mother’s passing my Sweet Susie discovered the small diary her father kept during his immigration adventure, plus all the love letters he had written to her mother over all those 

years.  In order to preserve those precious memories, Susie transcribed them and created a 112 page hard-bound book, including era-appropriate photos, and distributed copies to her brothers and their children.

THE FAMILY

He and Joan had four great children - James, Susan, Lawrence and Robert - and created a wonderful life for them in Newport Beach.  He also sponsored his brother-in-law and his family
to emigrate to the United States in the 1960s.

A VISIONARY INDUSTRY LEADER

David became one of the most respected men in the southern California horticulture community.  As a past President of the California Association of Nurserymen (C.A.N.), Past President of the Los Angeles Chapter of the C.A.N. and the Past President of the California Chapter of the American Association of Nurserymen, he was a guiding light in the growth of that industry as post-World War II Southern California grew.

STARTING HIS OWN COMPANY

He worked for a couple different nurseries, including as Vice President of Descanso Distributors in La Canada/Flintridge and Chino, before he began his own company, David L. Cunningham, Inc., which served the nursery industry and developers all over the state.  It became the “go-to” source for hard-to-locate trees and shrubs and was the benchmark for superior service. Eventually my Sweet Susie and two of her brothers, Lawrie and Rob, took over the business and expanded it exponentially for the next 40 years.

OPENING DESCANSO GARDENS

Among David’s many accomplishments was the opening of the world famous Descanso Gardens in La Canada/Flintridge to the public.  He suggested to his boss, newspaper publisher Manchester Boddy, that the public might actually pay a dollar to tour those magnificent gardens - at the time a private garden complex that surrounded Boddy’s residence.  They built a small cinderblock building to house a lemonade stand on the front and restrooms at the rear, hoping to recoup the $5,000 cost eventually.  That first year 100,000 people paid $1.00 each to view the gardens.  David was known in the industry as “Mr. Descanso”.

INTRODUCING “THE QUEEN”

As a British immigrant, one of his proudest achievements was shepherding the introduction of the “Queen Elizabeth Rose”, developed by Dr. Walter Lammerts in the mid-1950s, into the marketplace.

A HAPPY CLAN MEMBER

I’m grateful to have become part of the Cunningham Clan when I married my Sweet Susie.  She and her brothers share their father’s quick wit and joy of life and have passed that on to their own families. 

         HAPPY FATHER’S DAY TO YOU ALL!

This year you get two great men for the price of one.

Here’s the link to the blog post I created to honor MY father,
Robert J. West, a few years ago, HERE.