Van Austin Cummings

Van went to high school in Midland, TX and graduated at the age of 15. He married Shirley Gay Dufford of Bartlesville, OK and had 3 kids – Gary Paul Cummings, David Allen Cummings and Lisa Ann Cummings. At the end of the Korean conflict he graduated from Oklahoma State University and served domestically at the Air Force Base in Altas, OK.

Van worked in petro chemical sales which took the family to Tulsa, Houston and eventually to Colorado Springs in 1969 for Colorado Interstate Gas Co. Van and partner Jack Wells formed DENCO Petroleum in the 1982 until 1995.

Van was very active with the Colorado Division of Wildlife on the western slope and enjoyed volunteering on game management and habitat projects.

Van was an avid outdoorsman and instilled in his children a love of hunting, fishing and all things outdoors.

Van and Lorene “Renie” married in 1993 and enjoyed travel and a favorite destination was the big island of Hawaii.

Everyone will always remember Van’s phenomenal voice. He was involved in many choirs and was a lay person at the Grand Valley Methodist Church.

Van is survived by his wife, Renie Cummings of Loveland; daughters, Lisa Duvall of Littleton and Heidi Trube of Loveland; sons, Gary Cummings of Colorado Springs, David Cummings of Minneapolis, MN and Andy Hiestand of East Stroudsburg PA; grandchildren, Quinn and Ross Duvall, Katie, Joe and Kim Cummings, Bobbie Wright and Kyle and Jennifer Trube; great-grandchildren, Allen Enger, Rhiannon Lorene Wright and Jaxon Richard Wright and his Cousins, Vic Robards and Martha Lou White.

He was preceded in death by his mother, Catherine “Tata” Camille Van Velzer and his father, Floyd “Bo” Charles Cummings.

Memorial contributions may be made to The Wounded Warriors Project in Van’s memory at Wounded Warrior Project, National Processing Center, P.O. Box 758541, Topeka, KS 66675-8541. To print out a postal mail form http://www.woundedwarriorproject.org/media/30411/online-donation-form_3-2012.pdf, call 877-832-6997 or visit https://support.woundedwarriorproject.org/default.aspx?tsid=72&campaignSource=WEBSITE&source=HONOR.

Please visit www.stoddardsunset.com to sign an online guestbook.