Betty L. (Manning) Cummings

Obituary


West Springfield - Betty L. (Manning) Cummings, 91, passed away Sunday. She was born in Springfield and lived her early years in Longmeadow. She has been a resident of West Springfield since 1960. She was a graduate of the former Classical High School and later received her BA in Education from Bridgewater State University. She was a longtime communicant of St. Thomas the Apostle Church in West Springfield. Betty loved making all kinds of crafts and especially enjoyed knitting, crocheting, needlepoint, cross-stitch, quilting and all forms of needlework. She was generous with her creations, giving countless baby blankets, baby sweaters, Irish knit sweaters and blankets, and many embroidered items as gifts over the years.  She created a massive quilt for the Bicentennial of West Springfield which was auctioned off. Betty also enjoyed crossword puzzles, cryptograms and word games. She was a longtime volunteer for the Girl Scouts and was involved with Bonnie Brae Camp for years. She also was a volunteer for Wesson Women’s Hospital and distributed photos of all the babies born there. Most of all, Betty appreciated the time she spent with her family, especially at their home in Falmouth on Cape Cod.  She met her husband, Paul Sr., while working on the Cape during a college break – he worked in the laundry and she worked in housekeeping.  She would return often to the Cape for family vacation trips, visits with relatives and to her own cape house.  She had many good times on the cape, including walks on the beach, boat trips to the islands and even a motorcycle weekend on Nantucket.  In all these adventures, her needlework was undoubtedly to be close by as she was surely working on her next gift to a fortunate recipient.  When at home, she could be found beating family members at Scrabble, Boggle or some other word game.  She was humble and confident in her victories and her victims thoroughly enjoyed losing to her.  She had a gift for word puzzles as well and would easily complete any Sunday crossword puzzle or cryptogram that could be found. She was the beloved widow of Paul T. Cummings, Sr. who passed away 2019, loving mother of Patricia Whelan and her husband Mark of Springfield, Paul Cummings, Jr. and his wife Mary of Westford, Mary Randall of Agawam, and Thomas Cummings and his wife Bethanne of West Springfield, devoted grandmother of Sean, Kevin, and Ryan Whelan, Jimmy Cummings, Neal Cummings, and Megan Randall, and Stephanie and Courtney Cummings, and cherished great grandmother of Oliver, Zachary, Andrew, and Audrey Whelan. Betty was predeceased by her two sisters, Patricia Tripp and Joan Manning. The calling hours will be Thursday from 4-6 pm at the TOOMEY-O’BRIEN FUNERAL HOME, 1043 Westfield Street, West Springfield. The funeral will be Friday 9 am at the funeral home followed by a Funeral Mass at 10 am at St. Thomas the Apostle Church. Burial will be on Saturday at 9 am at the St. Anthony’s  Cemetery, on Route 28, in Falmouth, MA. For more information please visit www.toomeyobrien.com


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