Martha Cunningham Quarles

Martha (Cunningham) Quarles, age 87, of Hopkinsville, KY, passed away on May 8, 2021, just before Mother’s Day after a long illness. She was preceded in death by her parents, Clyde and Robbie Bridges Cunningham, her husband and our dad and PaPaw, Charles Quarles, brothers Hershell, Albert, and Alfred (PeeWee) Cunningham, and her special friend Remus Harris. She is survived by her two sisters, Dolly Rawlins of Todd County and Mava Brown of Cadiz, her four children, Tim Quarles (Mary Erickson) of Portland, Oregon, Stan Quarles of Nashville, Kathy Rogers of Hopkinsville, and Mark Quarles (Valorie) of Nashville; her grandchildren, Trever Neves (Raquel) of Huntington Beach, California, Bryan Neves of San Diego, Christie Quarles of Bozeman, Montana, Evan Quarles of Eugene, Oregon, Madeline (M) Quarles of New York City, Ana Haaland of Los Angeles, Sarah Addison (Jeff) and Payton Rogers (Hannah) of Hopkinsville, Noah Quarles and An Quarles of Nashville, and great grandchildren Jordan, Connor and Ryan Neves of Huntington Beach, and Eli Gilliland and Tate and Beau Addison of Hopkinsville.

Graveside Services will be at 9:00 AM Thursday, May 13, 2021, at Kentucky Veterans Cemetery-West with Rev. Billy Gates officiating and burial to follow. Visitation will be at Hopkinsville Cumberland Presbyterian Church from 4:00 PM until 7:00 PM on Wednesday, May 12, 2021. Maddux-Fuqua-Hinton Funeral Home has been entrusted by the family to handle the arrangements. In lieu of flowers, the family suggests a donation be made in her memory to the Alzheimer’s Association 6100 Dutchmans Lane Suite 401 Louisville, KY, 40205.

Martha was born on April 28, 1934 at the old home place located near a big spring on Beechy Fork Creek outside Cadiz, Trigg County, the fifth of six children born to Clyde and Robbie Cunningham. While her given name was Martha, Granddaddy soon started calling her Cricket because she was always hopping and jumping around. He couldn’t ever get her to sit still. Many still only know her as Cricket.

In recent reflections, she remarked that she always considered herself lucky growing up as she felt like she always had everything she needed. “We were the lucky ones”, she said, because “we had a house and always had food to eat”. Their house was known as the house that others could come to if they did not have food. The family’s garden was always a giving one.

Mom met our dad Charles Quarles at the Hopkinsville Shoe Factory where they both worked. They married in 1953 and were married for over 54 years until Dad’s passing in 2008. Mom’s family were founding members of the Maple Grove Baptist Church in Trigg County. Mom and Dad were longtime members of the Cumberland Presbyterian Church in Hopkinsville.

Mom gave birth to Tim, Stan, Kathy and Mark during the 1950’s and 60’s, and we kids, as well as our countless neighborhood friends, were fortunate to have Mom keeping an eye on us as we grew up in our Roney Drive house, and with her help, we survived into adulthood. Later on, Mom enjoyed getting out of the house and helping the Freeman family make their fine fur coats at the Freeman Fur Shop in Hopkinsville.

In her later years after Dad’s death, Mom met and became good friends with Remus Harris. They enjoyed good times together and shared in the excitement as Remus recorded and released a CD of some fine gospel songs he wrote.

We will always remember mom’s strong and giving heart. While she could have complained about much, she rarely did. None of us can recall a time that she ever got mad at any of us; even though God knows we all gave her plenty of reasons to. We miss her so much. We give thanks to have had such an extraordinary Mom watching over us, working hard and giving so much of herself, gifts that we are only now fully appreciating. She taught us how to be good humans not by telling but by doing, and by loving us unconditionally for who we are.

May our sweet Mom rest in eternal Peace and Love.

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