Sisters man promotes ethic of service

Jim Cunningham served his country for more than 40 years, as an Air Force pilot and as commander of the Air National Guard. Now he serves his community on four non-profit boards of directors.

It's an ethic of service that Cunningham insists upon - in his usual blunt fighter pilot's idiom:

"I don't give a rat's if you served your country in the military," he says. "I give a rat's that you serve. You can't be only a taker. You have to give back and do what you can to make your community better."

Cunningham walks his talk: He currently serves the Rosenbaum Foundation, providing outdoor camp experiences for inner-city youth; the Oregon Youth Challenge; Sisters Habitat for Humanity; and Sisters Folk Festival.

The Rosenbaum Foundation and Oregon Youth Challenge are both connected to Cunningham's National Guard past and reflect his concern for positively affecting the lives of young people.

He serves as treasurer for both Habitat and Sisters Folk Festival.

Regarding Habitat, Cunningham says, "I believe in a hand up, not a handout. The families that qualify for Habitat, by and large, they bust their tails."

A Habitat home gives local families some footing on the rungs of the economic ladder. And the Sisters chapter has done that for a lot of people.

"For its size, Sisters Habitat is light-years ahead of some other affiliates across the state and the nation," Cunningham said.

He believes that helping people who may lack financial resources but who are productive contributors to their community "tells an outsider how your community values itself."

Cunningham was drawn to the Sisters Folk Festival by the success of the Americana Project, the festival's musical outreach program. He says he is most passionate about "developing the youth of the community and giving them the opportunity to explore their potential."

He likes the music, too. He inherited his West Virginia mother's love for American roots music.

"I'm a bluegrass freak," he acknowledges. He also likes storytelling in song.

"Much like Woody Guthrie - though I don't share his politics - I want to get out and hear the story of the people," he said.

One of his favorite storytelling musicians is Ray Wylie Hubbard, who performed at the Sisters Folk Festival two years ago. He remembers listening to him during his service in the waning days of the Vietnam War.

Cunningham did two tours of duty during the Vietnam conflict in the air arm of a special operations program. He flew OV-10 Broncos in Forward Air Control - a singularly dangerous mission that involved target acquisition and required flying "low and slow" in enemy territory.

"FAC was the mission, but I didn't do it in Vietnam," Cunningham says. "I did it in other places, so it was more clandestine."

He recalls sitting with fellow pilots watching then-President Richard Nixon on TV, emphatically denying that such a mission even existed. It was then that Cunningham began to question the validity of the war.

Now, he considers Vietnam "the wrong war - pure and simple." Nevertheless, he is proud to have served.

Cunningham served eight years on active duty and in 1977 he was in the reserves. In 1979, he joined the Oregon Air National Guard, where he would serve as commander until his retirement in 2006 at the rank of Brigadier General.

From 1989 to 2004, he was also a United Airlines pilot.

The Air National Guard is tasked with continental defense, a role that became all-to-immediate on September 11, 2001.

Cunningham was in Sisters that day, visiting his parents.

"I got a call from Salem saying 'You're the ranking National Guard officer in the state. You need to get to Salem right away. The Adjutant General is in the Pentagon."

Within hours, "we were up on alert with our entire fleet," Cunningham recalled.

It wasn't until days after September 11 that Cunningham saw footage of the terrorist attacks. The impact of United Flight 175 into the South Tower of the World Trade Center was a gut punch.

"If that had happened a couple of years ago, that could have been me sitting in that airplane," he said.

Cunningham and his wife Dana always knew they'd end up in Sisters, and after his retirement in 2006 they moved to their new home on 10 acres about seven miles east of town.

Having maintained a small business making fine furniture throughout his other careers, Cunningham continues to pursue his woodworking craft. And he continues to serve his community - because you've got to give back.

Author Bio

Jim Cornelius, Editor in Chief

Jim Cornelius is editor in chief of The Nugget and author of “Warriors of the Wildlands: True Tales of the Frontier Partisans.” A history buff, he explores frontier history across three centuries and several continents on his podcast, The Frontier Partisans. For more information visit www.frontierpartisans.com.

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