Mary A. Cunningham, a longtime Ednor Gardens-Lakeside resident and singer who had been active in local Democratic politics, died Saturday from colorectal cancer at Burnett Calvert Hospice House in Prince Frederick. She was 75.

The daughter of J. Robert Cunningham, a construction superintendent, and Erma Cunningham, a homemaker, Mary Anne Eveleyn Cunningham was born in Baltimore and raised on Woodbourne Avenue in Northwood.

Ms. Cunningham was a 1959 graduate of Eastern High School.

She dedicated her life to raising her three sons on her own,” wrote a son, James F. Cunningham, of Collegeville, Pa., in a biographical profile of his mother.

“She was known to have two or three jobs at times with local certified public accounting firms and do typing work late at night to make ends meet and provide for her sons,” he wrote.

Ms. Cunningham, an accomplished singer, was a member of the Phoenix Choir of Baltimore, a semi-professional women’s choir, and sang with the old Maryland National Bank Chorus and the Immanuel Lutheran Church Choir, where she was a member.

In 1976, she performed “God Bless America” as part of the nation’s Bicentennial celebration on July 4, 1976, at old Memorial Stadium.

Ms. Cunningham was a longtime active member of the Greater Northeast Baltimore Association that produced the annual July 4th fireworks display at Memorial Stadium. She was also an active member of Ednor-Garden-Lakeside Neighborhood Association.

Active politically, she worked in the campaign of her brother, Wilbur E. “Bill” Cunningham, of Ednor Gardens, who served in the City Council from the 3rd District from 1986 to 1996, and just stepped down as chairman of the Planning Commission.

She also was involved in the campaign of retired Circuit Judge John Carroll Byrnes, who had served in the state Senate from 1971 to 1982.

Ms. Cunningham participated in fundraisers for the Johns Hopkins Children’s Center where she was also a volunteer “rocker,” where she comforted sick, neglected and abused children.

The former 50-year resident of Ednor Gardens-Lakeside neighborhood was a season ticket holder to the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra.

Funeral services for Ms. Cunningham will be held at 11 a.m. Wednesday at the Evans Funeral Home, 8800 Harford Road, Parkville.

In addition to her son and brother, she is survived by two other sons, Thomas M. Cunningham of Federal Hill and Robert S. Cunningham of Prince Frederick; another brother, David M. Cunningham of Baltimore; and several nieces and nephews. Her marriage to James Bernard ended in divorce.

—Frederick N. Rasmussen