Most of all, James P. Cunningham was a quiet, simple man, family members said. “He had his quiet, little life,” said his eldest son, Jim. “The world was a bit noisy for him.” And so, his world was not one of sweeping, vibrant, strokes but rather of tiny threads richly woven. Mr. Cunningham, 73, of La Grange, died Sunday, Jan. 25, in Loyola Medical Center in Maywood after cardiac arrest. He was a man who reveled in the 40 tomato plants he tended in his back yard year after year. Steaming up the kitchen with tomato sauce, which he packed in quarts and froze, was an annual September rite. He was the consummate do-it-yourselfer. “No project was too unfathomable for him, though some of them probably should have been,” said his daughter Bea. In 1973 Mr. Cunningham, along with his wife, Beatrice, bought the best house he could get for the money. It wasn’t until several years later, when a previous owner visited, that he found out he’d bought a Frank Lloyd Wright bungalow. That house, with its stained-glass windows and its blistering plaster walls, would come to consume hours of his intellect and his determination to fix it all himself. The week before he died, he was hard at work re-creating the trim in the dining room. Mr. Cunningham wore the same shoes for 15 years so his children would never have to do without new ones. He was an actuary and worked his entire career at the Wyatt Co. in Chicago. He is also survived by two other sons, Sean and Kevin; another daughter, Colleen Laurich; a brother, Peter; a sister, Ann Behringer; and seven grandchildren. Visitation will begin at 3:30 p.m. Thursday in Old St. Patrick’s Church, 718 W. Adams St., Chicago, followed by a funeral mass at 7 p.m.
