Jeffree Lendrum Cunningham, 93, of Rice Lake died Wednesday, August 14, 2019, at Woodstone Assisted Living. He was born August 3, 1926, in Victoria Vancouver Island, Canada to Kenneth and Katherine (Browne) Cunningham and was raised in Oak Bay. Jeffree served in the Canadian Army briefly before receiving a medical discharge. Jeffree worked several years washing windows as a young man, then earned employment as an electrician. Later, he went to work in Winnipeg for Manitoba Telephone in the engineering department.

He met a young Elsie Fidler at a dance and after a courtship, they were married in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada on September 17, 1949. In 1954 he had the opportunity to move to the U.S. and went to work for Henkels and McCoy until moving to Wausau where he worked for GTE. In 1962, they moved to Plymouth after another promotion and eventually he retired from the GTE office in Rice Lake. Jeffree was a talented violinist and pianist, productive gardener, home handyman, and avid reader. He enjoyed fishing and picking on his children as "Lord and Master of the house".

He is survived by children: Dorothy "Dotti" Cunningham-Ehrmann of Rock Island, IL, Elizabeth "Liz" Cunningham-Scheel and husband, Kenneth of Big Fork, MT; grandchildren: Joshua Ehrmann; his children, Calvin and Anja of Rock Island, IL, Christopher Ehrmann (Louly) and their children, Aden, Lilianna and Louis of Rock Island, IL, Heather Scheel of Nashville, TN; his twin brother, Hayward Irwin Cunningham of Sydney, British Columbia, Canada; his brother, Andy Cunningham of British Columbia, Canada. He was preceded in death by his wife, Elsie; brother, David; and son-in-law, Mike Ehrmann.

Funeral services will be held at 11:00 AM Monday, August 19, 2019, at Skinner Funeral Home in Rice Lake. Burial will be in Orchard Beach Cemetery. Visitation will be for 1 hour prior to the service.

Skinner Funeral Home of Rice Lake is serving the family.

Last Update: Aug 15, 2019 6:45 pm CDT