R.I.P. Terry Cummins.

Terry Cummins died on June 8, 2020. He was an amazing man and a role model second to none; Terry literally retired and THEN began climbing mountains.

 Rereading the following post, what stands out in hindsight is the fact that Terry still had another year and a half ahead of him.

Bon voyage; rest in power -- gentle, thoughtful and understated power, but power nonetheless.

---

September 3, 2018

Terry Cummins keeps fighting -- and writing.

Terry and me, 2015.

Terry Cummins was an assistant principal at Floyd Central when I was a student.  I got to know him all over again as an adult during the 1990s via the helpful medium of the Public House.

Since then, one thing I've tried not to miss in the newspaper is his weekly column. In 2015, Terry wrote wonderfully about his wife's terminal illness and his own cancer diagnosis.

August 26, 2015: On Terry and Vera Cummins, and doing what you have to do.

Vera died in early 2016, and several months later, Terry wrote one of his finest newspaper essays, bar none.

She’s been gone for seven months. It seems like forever, but I feel her presence that will not leave. Vera and I were married for over 61 years, which were packed full of all kinds of surprises, heartaches and emotions imaginable. When we chose to undergo frequent stubbornness contests, something had to give. An at-odds married couple can try discussing head-on conflicts, but it took several years for me learn to keep my mouth shut, and take her in my arms. If you do this, don’t ever whisper, “I think you were more stubborn this time than I was.” No, tightly squeeze her until her lips begin searching for yours. Then lead her to the bedroom no matter what time of day it is. It’s wondrous what love can do by what you do rather than trying to explain everything.

Terry bounced back from these reversals and beat cancer, only to face the same enemy for another round.

May 19, 2018: Newspaper columnist Terry Cummins and his thoughts about finality.

His most recent update came Saturday. If you've read Terry's writing, it makes perfect sense that he'd be chronicling his life as it is, right now -- without a trace of annoyance or self-pity, just the matter-of-fact perspective of a country boy who has retained bedrock values and an accompanying spiritual serenity.

Best wishes to Terry. What an inspiration he's been to all of us!

CUMMINS: Finishing with a flourish, by Terry Cummins

There’s no way to get around it. If you’re alive, you’re going to die. But I’m not ready yet. That’s too bad. If you’re up in years or your body is aging faster than it should, time is not on your side. Have you ever observed a beautiful flower keep its radiance indefinitely? Unless it’s plastic, it withers and returns to the earth to be regenerated again in the natural scheme of all life on earth. Unless you’re plastic, you’ll wither to dust and regenerate into eternal life, if you have faith and trust there is a Creator, an enduring, stable and abiding force.

But who wants to live a plastic, or artificial life? After fighting cancer for over three years, I’m weary of it. And after conquering colon cancer, which was like a long vicious dog fight, the remaining dormant cancer cells went to my bones and began thriving there. And now it’s another all-out battle to determine if my bones take me down deep or the poisons they inject inside me provide a bit more life of dubious quality. It gives one something else to agonize about — day and night ...

How and when will I pass on, and is there a way to prepare for it?

Terry Cummins keeps fighting -- and writing.

Terry and me, 2015.

Terry Cummins was an assistant principal at Floyd Central when I was a student.  I got to know him all over again as an adult during the 1990s via the helpful medium of the Public House.

Since then, one thing I've tried not to miss in the newspaper is his weekly column. In 2015, Terry wrote wonderfully about his wife's terminal illness and his own cancer diagnosis.

August 26, 2015: On Terry and Vera Cummins, and doing what you have to do.

Vera died in early 2016, and several months later, Terry wrote one of his finest newspaper essays, bar none.

She’s been gone for seven months. It seems like forever, but I feel her presence that will not leave. Vera and I were married for over 61 years, which were packed full of all kinds of surprises, heartaches and emotions imaginable. When we chose to undergo frequent stubbornness contests, something had to give. An at-odds married couple can try discussing head-on conflicts, but it took several years for me learn to keep my mouth shut, and take her in my arms. If you do this, don’t ever whisper, “I think you were more stubborn this time than I was.” No, tightly squeeze her until her lips begin searching for yours. Then lead her to the bedroom no matter what time of day it is. It’s wondrous what love can do by what you do rather than trying to explain everything.

Terry bounced back from these reversals and beat cancer, only to face the same enemy for another round.

May 19, 2018: Newspaper columnist Terry Cummins and his thoughts about finality.

His most recent update came Saturday. If you've read Terry's writing, it makes perfect sense that he'd be chronicling his life as it is, right now -- without a trace of annoyance or self-pity, just the matter-of-fact perspective of a country boy who has retained bedrock values and an accompanying spiritual serenity.

Best wishes to Terry. What an inspiration he's been to all of us!

CUMMINS: Finishing with a flourish, by Terry Cummins

There’s no way to get around it. If you’re alive, you’re going to die. But I’m not ready yet. That’s too bad. If you’re up in years or your body is aging faster than it should, time is not on your side. Have you ever observed a beautiful flower keep its radiance indefinitely? Unless it’s plastic, it withers and returns to the earth to be regenerated again in the natural scheme of all life on earth. Unless you’re plastic, you’ll wither to dust and regenerate into eternal life, if you have faith and trust there is a Creator, an enduring, stable and abiding force.

But who wants to live a plastic, or artificial life? After fighting cancer for over three years, I’m weary of it. And after conquering colon cancer, which was like a long vicious dog fight, the remaining dormant cancer cells went to my bones and began thriving there. And now it’s another all-out battle to determine if my bones take me down deep or the poisons they inject inside me provide a bit more life of dubious quality. It gives one something else to agonize about — day and night ...

How and when will I pass on, and is there a way to prepare for it?

Newspaper columnist Terry Cummins and his thoughts about finality.

2015.

I've been remiss in failing to post this link to a recent column by longtime newspaper contributor Terry Cummins, who was an assistant principal at Floyd Central during my years there, and later became a frequent customer at the Public House.

Simply stated, he's an amazing guy who keeps fighting through reversals that would have felled a lesser spirit. Terry just keeps on keeping on.

His ending here is a tad ambiguous, but he was back writing in today's paper. All the best to him.

CUMMINS: Thoughts about finality, by Terry Cummins (Tom May Anthology)

There was no escape from the long weekend, filled with disturbing and agonizing thoughts. After a pet scan on a Friday, I would receive the report on Monday morning that would answer my question — will I continue living or not? If this won’t get your attention, nothing will ...

On Terry and Vera Cummins, and doing what you have to do.

As noted in the previous posting ("College student from Lanesville saves life with bone marrow donation"), I went to high school with Larry Cox, Chuck Freiberger and approximately 350 others, who graduated from Floyd Central in the Class of 1978.

Way back then, Terry Cummins was the FCHS assistant principal in charge of students, a job that included administering discipline. Then as now, I was a malcontent ... meaning we saw a lot of each other. Eventually I became a bit much even for Terry to handle alone, and my file was handed to a different administrator who was more of a Dean Wormer type.

This isn't a eulogy, but Terry's not doing well in terms of health, and neither is his wife Vera.

CUMMINS: Do what you have to do

Beginning in the 1990s through the helpful medium of the Public House, I got to know Terry as an adult. Since then, in spite of a periodically adversarial relationship with the local journalism cadre, one thing I've tried not to miss in the newspaper is his weekly column, and if you've ever read his writing, it makes perfect sense that he'd be writing about his life as it is, right now -- without a trace of annoyance or self-pity, just matter-of-factly, and from a position of bedrock values and an accompanying spiritual serenity.

Is there a better purpose than to live well and die well? For more than 80 years, Vera and I lived well, despite a few kinks here and there. What more could we ask?

Indeed. Please keep both these fine people in your thoughts.

Cummins on poverty and infrastructure.

It's Terry Cummins, not Stawar, and while the the OSIN columnist's essay ostensibly addresses bridges and infrastructure, he provides this devastating reminder of current American reality:

CUMMINS: A troubled bridge over stagnant waters

... Four hundred lucky Americans have more wealth than about 157 million other Americans combined. The richest 5 percent purchase 37 percent of consumer goods, and the richest fifth own 84 percent of the nation’s wealth, while the bottom 40 percent own only 0.3 percent. More than 46 million Americans now live below the poverty line, determined by a family of four existing on less than $22,000 per year, and we wonder why SAT scores go down. In 2009, 8,274 Americans made more than $10 million each, and it’s a hardship to kick in a little more to reduce the deficit and build a bridge.