Saltsman, Violet Cunningham, 90, went to be with her Savior Jesus Christ on Monday, July 29, 2024, at home in Ridge Manor, Florida. Mrs. Saltsman was born on February 14, 1934, in Tuscaloosa, Alabama to Frank A. and Gladys Cunningham. Growing up during the challenging days of the Great Depression, she moved frequently with her parents and two brothers, Tony and Mike, between Tuscaloosa, Moss Point, MS, Galveston, TX, and back to Moss Point. Despite frequently changing schools, she never missed a day of school, graduating from Holt High School in Tuscaloosa with many honors and achievements. At that time, she had no thoughts of attending college due to economic constraints and the fact that no one in her family ever had. As she always related, "the Lord had other plans" and she saw His hand in the directing and provision for that plan to get her to the University of Alabama. Many influential people there paved the way, prodded, encouraged, found scholarships and provided jobs to enable a small-town girl to navigate the road to higher education. Besides earning a Bachelor's degree in Sociology, she met her future husband, Daniel Saltsman there. He informed her on their first date that he would be marrying her. She informed him that he was the last person in the world she would ever marry, and indeed he was. They were married for 58 years until his passing in 2013. After college they traveled the U.S. together during his stint in the Air Force, having their first son, Danny, during that time. After the Air Force they settled in Birmingham, AL, working, putting him through law school, and raising their now five children. She worked at Opportunity School Center for the developmentally disabled, also doing psychological/educational testing on the side. In between working and raising their family, Violet earned a Master's degree in education. When the family relocated to Florida in 1972, she began working for the Hernando County School District as a teacher, and later as an administrator of the Pre-Kindergarten program until her retirement in 1994. In addition to her own family, she was a foster mother to many boys when she and Dan started Little River Boys' Ranch for troubled youth. She was also mentor and friend to many young women as a Sunday School and Bible study teacher in the churches they served in over the years. In her retirement years, she served alongside her husband with the Florida Baptist Disaster Relief Team and went on a number of mission trips. Her greatest joy was the Lord and her family. A devout woman of the Word, she studied daily and lived out the principles she learned. She was especially fascinated by end times prophecy and watching events in the world unfold just as described there. A great lover of Israel, highlights of her life were the two trips she made to the Holy Land with the Zion's Hope organization. The first time she went as a tourist at the age of 70, the second with their Servant's Heart mission team at age 80. She has now joined her husband and two of her sons, Daniel III, and Daryl, but is survived by three children, Valerie Balogh (John), Derek, and Vicki Balogh (Glenn), 17 grandchildren, 14 great- grandchildren, and her beloved sister-in-law and best friend, Gloria Whitlock of Birmingham, AL.

A memorial service will be held 2pm Sunday, August 11, 2024, at New Life Church 34006 Cortez Blvd., Ridge Manor, FL 33523. A graveside service and interment will follow at a later date at Elmwood Cemetery in Birmingham.

New Life Church