Now 77 years wise, retired State Supreme Court Justice and Eddyville native Bill Cunningham is quick to admit it: west Kentucky’s rural nature and soft demeanor shaped his early childhood, formed his fundamental foundations.
So much so, in fact, it’s the main focus of his newest book: “I Was Born When I Was Very Young” — which he briefly touted during Tuesday’s convening of the Cadiz Rotary Club.
Those first 15 years, Cunningham said, can change the trajectory of a young child’s life.
Born less than 200 yards from the Kentucky State Penitentiary to parents in government housing, Cunningham remembers an Eddyville being torn down and re-engineered around the coming Land Between the Lakes.
It’s in that government housing where 12 lock foreman, most of them veterans of World War II, imprinted Cunningham with lessons and memories — many of which he carries today.
Cunningham further noted that while Hillary Clinton’s 1995 book “It Takes A Village” was deemed controversial at the time, its title brings about a singular truth about rural America.
Once a rundown old rivertown, Cunningham said the only place to hang out back then was the local pool hall — run by Charlie Clark.
And in that pool hall, there was no drinking, no cussing and no gambling. Cunningham and his friends couldn’t play there until they were 12 years old, and even then not without a written permit from their folks.
Cunningham said it could’ve been anything it wanted to be, but instead, Clark ran a wholesome place.
It made a difference.
Among Clark’s many memorable actions, Cunningham recounted when he took Noble Choat under his wing following the jailhouse shooting death of his father, Remus. Choat would later serve in World War II and return to Eddyville to work as one of those 12 lock foremen for Kentucky Dam. And upon Clark’s retirement, Choat ran that pool hall from 1971-1980.
One of his Choat’s sons, John, is now the mayor of Eddyville. And it’s this chain of community support, Cunningham said, that changed lives.
Cunningham said he wanted to impress this message among Cadiz Rotarians because it’s the kind of work the club has been, and can continue, doing for Trigg County’s youth and seniors.
Cunningham said he knows, over his years, that he’s put a high number of unsavory characters in the penitentiary — mothers and fathers, aunts and uncles, grandfathers and grandmothers alike.
However, he said in his decades of law and fatherhood, he’s made two observations on the nuclear family and the lack thereof.
Sometimes it does come down to broken homes, poor choices, bad settings and rough rearing for a criminal. But sometimes, all of that can be so right, and still go so wrong.
That, Cunningham said, could just be bad DNA.
Priced at $19.95, Cunningham’s book reflects this and several other personal narratives, and can be found online at billcunninghamonline.com.
Cunningham’s Full Visit With Cadiz Rotary:
