Paula Jean Cunningham, age 82, of Bertrand, died Wednesday, August 30, 2023, at Missouri Delta Medical Center in Sikeston.

Born October 19, 1940, at Springfield, MO, to the late Carl Eugene "Bill" Cunningham and Agnes Lorraine Mankin Cunningham, she had lived in Bertrand most of her life.  A graduate of Southeast Missouri State University, she had been employed as a secretary with Charleston R- 1 Schools and later Southeast Missouri State University in Cape Girardeau and was a member of the Professional Secretary Association.   Paula was a member of the First United Methodist Church in Sikeston and served as the chair of the Mississippi County Democrat Committee for a number of years.  She was an avid crafter and she, along with her mother, catered and made numerous wedding cakes throughout the years. For the last seven years as Paula lived at the Bertrand Nursing Center and crocheted more than 60 afghans and made numerous Easter rabbits and Thanksgiving Turkeys for the residents.

Surviving is several cousins.

In addition to her parents, she was preceded in death by her grandparents, Robert Edward and Rickie S. Johnson Cunningham and Lee Paul and Tressie Amelia Wood Mankin, Sr.

Visitation will be held from 9:30 a.m. until the funeral hour at 10:30 a.m., Monday, September 11, 2023, at the McMikle Funeral Home in Charleston.   Rev. Paullester Walker will officiate.

Interment will follow in the I.O.O.F. Cemetery near Charleston under the direction of the McMikle Funeral Home of Charleston.

Online condolences may be shared at www.mcmiklefuneralhome.com