Connie Bess Cummings

Connie Bess Cummings

February 14, 1955 – February 13, 2025

John 14: 1-3 “Do not let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God; trust also in me. In my Father’s house are many rooms; if it were not so, I would have told you. I am going there to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am.”

Connie Bess Cummings, 69, of Sherwood, Oregon and Cave Creek, Arizona passed away on February 13th, 2025, just 5 hours short of her 70th birthday, at her home in Sherwood surrounded by family and friends.

Funeral Services for Connie will be held on Friday, February 28th, 2025, at 12 noon at Finley Sunset Hills Mortuary 6801 SW Sunset Hwy Portland, OR 97225. Our close family friend Pastor Michael Smith will officiate services with interment following at Pleasant View Cemetery 14250 SW Westfall Road in Sherwood. After interment, all guests are invited over to the Cummings’ home after the graveside for a reception.

Connie was born at Deaconess Hospital in Spokane, Washington on February 14, 1955, to Dean and Arlene Brown (Mason) of Plummer, Idaho. She resided in the close-knit community of Plummer throughout her youth, attending Plummer Elementary, Plummer Junior High and Plummer High School, graduating High School in 1973. She was a HS cheerleader and active in just about everything. She made lifetime friends there. Until her marriage to John, she lived in Plummer along with her sister, Kathy Brown (Lacy) and brothers Terry and Earl.

Connie married John on June 2, 1973, which began the next phase of her life. She lived in Moscow, Idaho until 1975 while they finished education at the University of Idaho. She worked at the library there and was often “in trouble” for making too much noise giggling. We were blessed with our first child, daughter Candace Michelle Cummings (Stammers), born in September 1974 in Moscow, Idaho, followed by sons Jesse Charles Cummings in Edmonds, WA June 1976, Jacob Michael Cummings in Denver, CO May 1988 and Jordan Isaac Cummings in Chicago, IL April 1990. Connie became a grandmother for the first time with the birth of her granddaughter Samantha Quint in March 2001. Additional grandchildren followed in January 2014 with the birth of Harrison Stammers and in October 2015, Jamison Stammers.

The family moved to many places across the country with John’s employment, making friends in Seattle, WA, Denver, CO (twice), Salt Lake City UT, Chicago, IL, Charlotte NC, Philadelphia, PA, Portland, OR and then, in retirement, Cave Creek, AZ. She worked for a short time in Denver for administration with CIGNA and then in Salt Lake City for Quarter Horse association, typing statistics. Later, she volunteered at the Sherwood Police Department where she assisted with data entry for over 10 years. She absolutely loved helping any and everyone whenever she could.

Her outgoing and wonderfully caring personality lit up a room every time and we all knew when she was present! She was the quintessential life of any party. She loved to make pickles and dinner rolls at special events using her mother’s recipes. She loved to organize trips and planned from scratch our family vacations to Japan, Hong Kong, Australia, New Zealand, US Virgin Islands (twice) and a Mediterranean Sea cruise. She loved to “RV”, planning several cross-country road trips with the family. She loved to sew and scrapbook. She took up crocheting in her later years, making quilts and blankets for family members. She spent all of her time with family and loved to visit and tell stories. She was a regular at the annual Cummings’ ladies retreat. She loved family reunions with “her people” in North Dakota. She made any game or event fun, including the family game of “live clue” played in their OR home. She thoroughly loved playing the piano and petting the “grand cat” and “grand dog”, when available, to relax. She loved an occasional chocolate Necco wafer, and her breakfast of champions was a McDonald’s sausage egg McMuffin along with a large unsweet tea, special request 3 Splenda and only 4-5 ice cubes – McDonalds drive through will miss her as well. I don’t know how many times the attendant said “huh?” after the order!

For those who knew Connie, we can attest to the fact she was one of the most loving, caring, selfless and kind persons we knew and that we are all truly blessed to have had her in our life. She was a wonderful Christian woman and loved the Lord dearly. She will be missed by husband John, daughter Candace (Stammers), son in law Tyrone Stammers, sons Jesse Cummings and his partner Sheila Roberts, Jacob Cummings and his partner Olivia Grim, Jordan Cummings and daughter in law Jacy Cummings along with our grandchildren Samantha Quint, Harrison and Jamison Stammers, her sister Kathy Lacy and brothers Terry and Earl Brown along with sister’s in law Marjorie Jackson and husband Richard, Carol Oliver and husband Ben and multiple nieces and nephews. Our sweet Valentine Connie, you will be so missed and may you Rest in Peace with God in heaven. We love you!