Ann Crawford Cunningham
1962 - 2025
Ann Crawford Cunningham lived with compassion, curiosity, and a love of togetherness through all of her years. Her presence as a teacher continues through spirit and joy in all who she connected with in her life. She passed away peacefully and surrounded by support and love.
Born in Alexandria, VA on 11, October 1962, Ann was the second of two daughters of Mildred and Bob Cunningham. Ann and her sister, Nina Keck, both enjoyed a sisterhood of travel, stories and finding friendships and family abroad and at home. In her early years, Ann lived across several US States, and in Jordan and Canada before settling in Knoxville, Tennessee. Through her childhood and into life, her compassion through deep relationships with family and friends flourished and continued to grow through her intertwined roots of global immersion and Southern community. She advanced through her education with eagerness and adeptness, excelling in her roles of study, competitive swimming, and musical talent as a drum majorette. After graduating from West High School, she went on to graduate from Erskine College in Due West, South Carolina before moving to Columbia, South Carolina.
In South Carolina, she was immersed in family and pursued her Master’s Degree in Secondary English Education from the University of South Carolina (USC), which led her to teaching High School English and beginning in her role as a student mentor. She welcomed her daughter, Bailey Pittenger, in 1990.
Her passion for education continued through her PhD in Instruction and Teacher Education, which she completed at USC in 1997. She joined the Department of Education Faculty at Wake Forest University in 1999, where she continued to teach, mentor, research, and advocate for accessible and equitable education through her retirement in 2020. While at Wake Forest, she initiated a global education study abroad program in New Zealand and was a creative and innovative voice in the uses of technology and student-centered learning through instructional design and research. She was a leader in national and international communities in her scholarly fields. Her love of being alongside her students in the classroom and beyond made her a beacon of humanity and the growing of countless bridges across people and places.
In her years of retirement, she was closely accompanied by her daughter and a growing community of caregivers and friends. As she lived with the changes of early onset frontotemporal dementia and primary progressive aphasia, she creatively continued her role as an educator and gentle leader through sharing the many ways of living through the reality of togetherness and unity. The roots of her spirited life were deeply cherished by all who found welcome and love alongside her.
Across her life, Ann was an avid traveler, gardener, lover of music and dance, a family cook, and appreciator of reading literature across several genres and interests. She was a gracious and courageous mother and teacher, often blending her roles of giving and mentorship through her many beloved relationships. She loved the natural world, and was often admiring the many phases of creation through changing seasons while walking or hiking in Montreat, on the trails of Bethania, and around her home.
Ann is survived by the tenderness and humanity she joyously shared across a beloved community of friendships and family, as well as in memory and spirit with the mothers and teachers who intentionally extend their welcome to the children of us all. Ann’s vigor for joy and a spark for life continue to dwell and take form across her bridges of people and places.
A service to honor and celebrate her will take place in early October. Family, friends, and community are welcome to connect with Bailey Pittenger for more information.
I liked Ann from the minute she interviewed for the position at WFU. She was so open and warm. I’m lucky to have known her.
Ann was incredibly kind to me from the minute I stepped foot on Wake Forest’s campus. She was a wonderful friend and mentor to me, both personally and professionally. One of my favorite memories of her (which demonstrates her warmth and kindness) was that she stayed with my wife and kids when they were little (3, 2, and 3 months) so that I could present at a conference. She was a wonderful friend and colleague.
Ann was an incredible person in my life. I first knew her as Dr. Cunningham in 2002 when I began my degree as an elementary education major and she taught educational psychology and educational technology to us. Later, we kept in touch as she planned the annual ETLN conferences, and we always bonded over our travels to Australia and New Zealand. Eventually, Ann was a pivotal person in my return to Wake Forest in 2014 when I became a clinical professor and was a huge advocate for me getting this opportunity. She went even further, though, by renting her rental property to me and my family for next to nothing. We stayed in that home for 5 years, and I loved that she got to know my wife and kids during that time. As a professor, colleague, and friend, Ann was a special person and will certainly be missed.
I met Dr. Cunningham in 2007 when she taught my educational technology class. She encouraged me to embrace technology and to remember that all learners should be afforded opportunities to learn and grow. I continue to pass her influence forward as I now teach future teachers. I have continued embracing educational technology and have always credited my willingness to engage with the latest ed tech to my time under Dr. Cunningham’s mentorship.
When I first met Dr. Cunningham she proposed a question, how do we introduce technology to our students without making them dependent on it to achieve success. Now, almost 10 years later, I still think of this with my students and peers. A tender soul, a motivator, a mentor, Ann knew how to make a student smile, a teacher find inspiration, and an individual to feel part of a whole. Her light will burn bright in all of us that got the opportunity to call her teacher and friend.
I feel honored that I met and became friends with our beloved Ann💕. She was pure Joy💯? When I was with her she would hold my face in her hands and gaze directly into my eyes, and then she would smile and hug me tightly, she knew me. We would have little dance parties, she really had the moves. We would take walks around the neighborhood and Ann would speak to everyone we passed by. Ann was and is Light. She brightened my world when I was with her. I am blessed to have known her. Rest easy Queen, we were all blessed to have you.🙏❤️🌹
My best friend, my confidante, my sister. I will miss you but I am confident in my belief that we will again be united with the angels and the saints. I love you and I pray for you and your family every day. Godspeed, Annie!
What a privilege and blessing to be Ann’s Aunt Sue. A recipient of her hugs and to hear that lilting laughter. Just to be in her presence was an exciting experience never to be forgotten.