Vera Lee Cunningham Tharp Narug, 85 of Crown Point, Indiana, died September 16, 2023.

Vera was born January 6, 1938 in Columbus and was raised in Ohio, Kentucky and West Virginia. She moved to Hammond, Indiana in 1954 and began working at Jim's Drive In at Michigan St and Calumet Ave where she became lifelong friends with the owners Valerie Irene and Jim Allegret.

In addition to raising her children she also was involved in Girl Scouts of the Calumet Council and was a longtime member of Woodmar United Methodist Church where she was a Sunday School teacher in the Nursery and was a member of Deborah Circle.

Vera was preceded in death by her father William Henry Cunningham, her mother Emma Alene Eaton, her step father Thomas Eaton;  brothers William Melvin, Paul Henry, Roger Dale, Russell Eugene, and James Edward Cunningham; her first husband and father of her children Charles Woodrow Tharp, and her second husband Joseph J. Narug.

Vera is survived by her daughters Marcia (Robert) Demeter, Valerie (David) Morgan, son Mark (Keri) Tharp; grandchildren Jason, Shanna, Joseph, Sarah, Amanda, Cassie, Candace, Christina, Joey and Amber; great grandchildren Brandon, Megan, Nevaeh, Nathan, and Oliver.

Vera loved her family, the Methodist Church, the St. Louis Cardinals, the Ohio State Buckeyes, Frank Sinatra and Tony Bennett, and her many dogs and grand dogs. She received the nickname "Dixie" when she ditched school to get the autograph of Dixie Walker at a Columbus Red Birds AAA baseball game and ended up on the front page of the Columbus Dispatch in a photograph much to the chagrin of her father.

Visitation will be held at Solan Pruzin Funeral Home in Schererville, IN Wednesday, September 20, 2023 from 3:00 PM – 5:00 PM.

Funeral services will be held at Stofcheck-Ballinger Funeral Home in Richwood, Ohio on Friday, September 22, 2023 from 10:00 AM – 12:00 PM and burial will follow at Hopewell Cemetery in Magnetic Springs, Ohio.

In lieu of flowers she requested that donations be made to one of the following: Woodmar United Methodist Church, Humane Society of the Calumet Region, American Cancer Society, or Hammond Police Memorial Committee.