Merna Cunningham Sparling, 90, of Lucedale, Mississippi went to be with her Lord at 8:30 a.m, Sunday, June 25th, 2023 at George Regional Hospital in Lucedale, Mississippi. She was born on February 13th, 1933 in Miami County, Indiana to Charles W. and Vilma (Kinley) Ault.
Merna was a 1951 graduate of Jefferson Township High School in Mexico, Indiana and she grew up in Denver Indiana, where she attended the Denver Baptist Church. She married David Lee Cunningham at the church, on August 18, 1952; he died on December 8th, 1983. She then married Theodore (Ted) Sparling on Feb 11th, 2007, in Fort Walton Beach, Florida. He died on August 7th, 2021, in Lucedale Mississippi.
Merna worked at Container Corporation and Friendly Nursing Homes doing accounting and bookkeeping and for the Indiana State of Revenue Service as a field officer. In 1981 she began full time missionary work with her husband, Reverend David Cunningham and continued after his death with Strategic Missions and Youth With a Mission based in Arkansas, training missionaries and traveling to several countries in Central and South America, and Asia on mission trips. Merna was a member of River of Life Tabernacle in Lucedale, Mississippi.
She is survived by two children, Lori (Mark) Draper, Wabash, and Chris (Edwina) Cunningham, Mesa, Arizona; four grandchildren, Brian (Alicia) Draper, Wabash, Janelle (Adam) Darnell, Spring Lake, Michigan, David (Jenn) Cunningham, Navarre, Florida, and Richard (Donald Drake) Cunningham, Winter Park, Florida; 7 great grandchildren, Remy Darnell, Landree Darnell, Nolan Draper, Sawyer Draper, Ezekiel “Zeke” Cunningham, Dawson Cunningham, and Mila Cunningham; brother, Jerry (Christina) Ault, Wabash; stepchildren, Reynolds (Dana) Sparling, Michigan, Danny (Pam) Sparling, Kokomo, IN, Tony (Vickie) Sparling, Logansport, IN, Lonita (Woody) Woods, Tennessee, Dianne Miller, Tennessee, Dotti (Brian) Voiles, Tennessee. She was preceded in death by her parents and a brother, Gene Ault.
Funeral services will be 3:00 pm, Sunday, July 2, 2023, at Grandstaff-Hentgen Funeral Service, 1241 Manchester Avenue, Wabash, with Dr. Logan Sparling and Chris Cunningham officiating. Burial will be in Greenlawn Cemetery, Mexico, Indiana. Friends may call 1-3 pm Sunday, at the funeral home.
Preferred memorial is the Vilma Ault Baptist Endowment Fund, 229 E. 9th Street, Rochester, IN 46975.
The memorial guest book for Merna may be signed at www.grandstaff-hentgen.com.
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