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Ray C. Cunningham, long-time head of the Iowa State College YMCA. He was born in South Dakota, but spent most of his adult life in Ames, Iowa. Cunningham graduated from South Dakota Stage College and then was the assistant secretary of the YMCA at the University of Minnesota from 1919-1926. He came to Ames in 1926 as the general secretary of the YMCA and retired from Iowa State in 1953. He then served on the Ames School Board and the City Playground Commission (later known as the Parks and Recreation Commission). From 1959-1964, Cunningham was a Story County representative to the Iowa General Assembly where he served on the powerful appropriations committee. During that time, he was instrumental in obtaining state funding for two new schools in Ames. Ray Cunningham was born on July 14, 1893, and died in November, 1986.