Joyce Cummings

Joyce Annette Cummings, age 92, passed peacefully away on September 12, 2024, in Sunnyside, Washington. She was born November 19, 1931, in Presho, South Dakota to Jesse and Martha Menter. She was the youngest of ten children. Jesse was a locomotive fireman for couple years and then a US rural mail carrier for the rest of his life. Martha was a homemaker. She enjoyed her youth and loved her brothers and sisters. Joyce had a beautiful voice. Her neighbor, Pearl Bow, was an experienced music teacher with a daughter that was a gifted pianist. Those two became lifelong friends. Pearl took Joyce under her wing and developed her into a great singer. Together with Pearl’s daughter they competed in many music competitions throughout the state and regularly won. Joyce at around 4’ 10” became known as “the little woman with a big voice”. She was honored by an invitation to sing at the governor’s ball in the state capital when she was 16. There were hopes of going professional and she moved to Everett, Washington in her junior year of high school. During this time, she cut a record that was circulated in the Seattle music industry. This did not bear any fruit, and she returned to Presho, South Dakota and completed high school, graduating in a class with 8 other students. Dreams of a singing career did not end, and Joyce went to a nationally recognized music school. It was Augustana College located in Sioux Falls, South Dakota. She struggled there and felt sad about the financial challenge her father had accepted to assist in her music training. She left Augustana and in August of 1950 and was accepted into the St Johns McNamara School of Nursing. This was an intensive three-year program that mixed school with on-the-job training. This was 12 months of schooling with no summer vacation. The students that were accepted only had to buy their books and the work done via the on-the-job training funded the tuition, room, and board. This relieved her father from funding her education and more importantly qualified her for a career as a registered nurse. Students toured three different hospitals in two states to provide actual work experience in clinical care, pediatric care, and psychiatric care. She witnessed lobotomies and shock treatments while training at the state asylum in Yankton, South Dakota. She graduated in June of 1953 with a bright future and a lifelong friend in Liz Lockhart. They had a great time in nursing school and stayed in touch with each other throughout Joyce’s life. Their last phone call occurred a couple of months before Joyce passed. In 1955, Joyce had a job at a clinic in Chamberlin, South Dakota. This is where she met a farmer named Roy Cummings. It took only three months to fall in love, agree to marry and leave South Dakota. Joyce and Roy, like numerous other family members before them sought opportunities in or near Seattle, Washington. This is where two of three sons were born, David in 1956 and Dana in 1957. Joyce worked at Swedish Hospital when not caring for her sons while Roy worked with his brother-in-law in an automobile front end shop. City life did not suit them, so the decision was made to buy a farm in Outlook, Washington in 1959. Their third son, Mark, was born a year later. The early years of farming were very lean, and Joyce went to work at Sunnyhaven Nursing Home. Her income was critical while Roy gained knowledge and skills necessary to succeed in the new environment. The farm operation grew significantly over time, but Joyce continued her career as a registered nurse. Most of this time was spent at Sunnyhaven Nursing Home in Sunnyside, Washington where she worked well into her 70’s. The name Joyce means Lord; joyous. She more than lived up to the name, spreading joy all around her. She was very self-sacrificing and hard working. When her father passed away, she volunteered to move her mother from South Dakota to Washington and took care of her from roughly 1970 to 1979 all while raising three sons and working full time. She was a blessing to her family, relatives, friends, and those that she provided nursing care. Joyce was a strong Christian. Her husband stated that he wanted his children raised in a Christian home and Joyce made that happen. She was not fully committed to one Christian denomination but favored the ones that believed in biblical inerrancy. Her favorite church and true spiritual community was Faith Community Church in Zillah, Washington. She loved the people there, and they were a great source of happiness and fulfillment. Joyce will be missed. An angel who lived among us is now with our savior in heaven. Her surviving family members are her husband Roy Cummings, oldest son David, middle son Dana along with his wife Julie and three adult children Brian, Tanner and Jenna, and her youngest son Mark and his wife Josie, step daughter Marlys Hinckley, along with numerous nieces and nephews Sue Wickham, Jerry Briggs, Kathy Hunsley, Patty Thomas, Mike Briggs, Lori Kehr, Dennis Winchell, Mona Clemenson, Janet Gates, Paulie Schultz, Larry Winchell, and Della Heatherington. Family members who have passed are her parents, Jesse and Martha Menter, brothers Duane Menter, Frank “Pete” Menter, and Calvin Menter; sisters Bernice Kasper, Thelma Wamsley, Lois Dykstra, Betty Winchell, Doris “Deloris” Briggs, Jessie “Deanie” Nadine Schultz; nephew Ronald Dykstra. To order memorial trees or send flowers to the family in memory of Joyce Cummings, please visit our flower store.