PORT ST. LUCIE, FL -With great sadness, we announce that Ruth Cunningham Caban of Port St. Lucie, Florida and formerly of Tenafly, New Jersey passed away on April 27th at age 69 after a two-year battle with cancer, leaving behind her husband of 43 years, Mariano Caban who never left her side, and her son Kasey Caban and his wife Keeliana of Tennessee. She also leaves her brother Mark Cunningham and Sílvia Mestres of Spain, her sisters Amy Porter, Laurie Cunningham and Peter Golash of Western Massachusetts, sisters-in-law Noemi and Isreal Morales of New York, Evelyn and Dan Moffitt of Minnesota, and many dearly loved cousins, nieces and nephews and their children.
Ruth was predeceased by her loving parents Robert B. Cunningham, Jr. and Rev. Barbara Cunningham Paulson, and her brother Scott Cunningham.
Ruth began life abandoned near a train in India at a few days old and suffered an animal attack which left her in life-long pain. A nurse from the Francis Newton Mission Clinic for Women and Girls found her and brought her there to live with many other children they had brought in. Rev. Al Davies of Tenafly Presbyterian Church in New Jersey met Ruth on a trip to India, and the church brought her over for surgery when she was four years old, to allow her to walk. Five operations were performed by Dr. Francis Symonds of the Columbia-Presbyterian Medical Center in NYC. Both Rev. Davies and Dr. Symonds watched over Ruth until she was adopted at age six into the Cunningham family of six, now seven, in Tenafly, New Jersey.
Ruth graduated from Tenafly HS in 1975, and received her bachelor’s in communications from Ramapo College, later working for over 20 years at Ebsco Subscription Services in Tenafly. Ruth and Mario lived in Tenafly until they moved to Florida in 2015.
Ruth was a beautiful, loyal, feisty, friendly and loving person, who was always quick to laugh. She was a Rock ‘n Roll fan and t-shirt collector, an avid ice cream lover, and she was never afraid to speak her mind. When it came to baseball her house was divided, Yankees (Ruth) versus Mets (Mario). Ruth will be remembered as a wonderful wife, mother, sister and aunt. Despite her small stature, she was a giant in our family, and leaves behind a void that can never be filled.
A private memorial service is being planned.
