| Honored by: | Ellen Cunningham Shrum |
| Brick location: | D:7 map |
The woman I would like to honor in the Plaza of Heroines didn't hold a government office or win an Oscar or make the evening television news. She never was in the spotlight but worked in the shadows making a quiet contribution to all mankind.
Her name is Dale Marie Weyand Cunningham of Hannibal, Missouri. She was born in Cleveland, Ohio, in 1921 to Nell and Joseph Weyand. After the Great Depression, her father sold the grocery store and moved the family to Palmyra, Missouri, to farm. After high school, she attended the University of Missouri, where she met and married the good looking fullback for the Mizzou Tigers. They traveled the United States with the Air Force. Dale helped put her husband and five children through college. She gave her family security and love, and proofread the term papers.
Although she never picked up a paycheck, her rewards were in helping others. Today, she is busy volunteering in her community. She meets the Delta Queen on the Mississippi River as a Jane Clements guide. At the First Presbyterian Church, she is busy writing the Sunday school newsletter. The Hannibal Concert Association enjoys her energy in selling the tickets. To help the elderly, she brings Lifeline to their homes. She is one of the cornerstones of her community and deserves to have a brick in her honor as a caring woman that truly made a difference.
And so on her birthday, today, August 31, 1994, I wish her love and many more years of living. - Ellen Cunningham Shrum
8/24/94