Mary Cunningham was focused on lifelong learning long before such a thing was considered fashionable by most women.

She was an avid student of religion, nature and music -- especially the opera.

"She took me to the opera and introduced me to the Pittsburgh Opera 30 to 35 years ago for the first time," said her grandson, James Cunningham, who now shares his grandmother's love of opera.

Mrs. Cunningham, of Cranberry, formerly of Wilkinsburg, died Monday at the Sherwood Oaks Personal Care Home in Cranberry. She was 97.

Her love of music expanded to many members of her immediate family, including her brother, Bud Rushworth, who was a violinist with the Edgewood Symphony Orchestra. Her grandson, Michael, plays the organ and piano and played many times for his grandmother over the years. And her great-grandson, James Cunningham IV, played the violin as well.

"We are a very musical family," said Mr. Cunningham, the host of the morning radio show on WQED.

Mrs. Cunningham worked for Union Switch and Signal in Swissvale during the World War II years as an office/clerical worker. She then worked for the Clyde Spear Coal Co. and then as an officer and business manager of her late husband's company, the James H. Cunningham Coal Co., of Wilkinsburg. The company provided coal and coal products to area schools and businesses.

"Because it was my grandfather's business, she did a little bit of everything there," Mr. Cunningham said. "She did the taxes and a lot of managing the business."

She retired in the late 1980s when her husband also retired and closed the business.

Although she had a five-decade span in the workforce, Mrs. Cunningham was happiest in her kitchen and garden.She was best known for her rhubarb and apple pies, made with ingredients she grew in her expansive back yard garden at her home in Wilkinsburg.

She and her late husband belonged to a bowling league with the Pittsburgh Athletic Association and had won many trophies in bowling competitions.

Mrs. Cunningham, who grew up in Chautauqua, N.Y., kept a second residence in that area. She would go there to connect with nature, religion and the opera at the Chautauqua Institute.

"That was where it all began for her and she continued to enjoy spending time there," Mr. Cunningham said.

Mrs. Cunningham spent the past 15 years at Sherwood Oaks.

Mrs. Cunningham is survived by a stepdaughter, Gwenn Burnette, of DuBois; four grandchildren; one great-grandson; and numerous nieces, nephews and great-nieces and great-nephews.

In addition to her husband, a sister, Susanna Wynn, and two brothers, Edward Rushworth and E.D. Rushworth, are deceased.

Services were held Thursday at the Thomas Nied Funeral Home, Swissvale.