Pete Cummins' Life Story
Cranbrook Class of 1963 --> Cranbrook Class of 1963 - Life Stories --> here
Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year Everyone!
It is my hope to raise a glass of good cheer to all of us on New Year's Eve because we have survived and are all still here. It seems that our first task was to survive "The Bat" and "The Crow". From that point on it was cake (not really), but they were up high on the list.
Just a little update for those I haven't been in contact with before. On Feb 25, 2006 I married Emily Davis. I know that doesn't mean much to most of you except that she is the girl on the piano in my informal Senior picture in the yearbook. Don't go on a search for the yearbook, I've attached the picture to this E-mail (photo credit to John Shufelt...anyone know his E-mail address?). Until the Fall of 2005 I had not been in contact with Emily since 1963 and had no idea where she lived. One night in August of that year I decided to look her up on classmates.com and she was there. I wrote an E-mail to her expecting a possible reply in a week. Lo and behold her reply arrived about 15 minutes later. After that it was history. Senior Prom date to wife 43 years later.
This truly is a small world. I say that because after one of my divorces I met Julie Severin, RN. Julie was the Assistant Director of Nursing at Heartland Health Care Center, Palm Beach Gardens, FL, which was the nursing home where my mother was residing. After too short of a time span Julie and I were married in 1996. (Bad move, but that's not the point.) In discussing my past I mentioned to her that I went to Cranbrook. She said she knew of Cranbrook and had visited the school. On top of that she said her cousin Nancy who lives in Hastings, MI was married to Chris Ricketts at one time. I told her that Boyce Ricketts was my favorite teacher at Cranbrook and she replied, "Oh yeah I knew Boyce." Julie was born and raised in St. Joseph/Benton Harbor, MI and Ft. Lauderdale, FL. I thought that the marriage would be a good one because of all the small world coincidences and that maybe I'd have better luck with an ex-Michigan girl (I'd already tried Missouri, New York and Florida). No such luck. (sound of buzzer) "Ehhh!" Divorce. It was after that "stretch in the Pen" that I made contact with Emily.
I'll back up quickly to give those of you who don't know my adventure since graduating from Cranbrook. Attended Parsons College in Fairfield, Iowa 63-65, married Maria Catanzaro from St. Louis (a pretty Italian, actually Sicilian girl from a very connected family).
Late 66 was drafted into the Army. I quickly drove from Missouri to Michigan to enlist in the Navy. I had until the end of December to get into the Navy or it was the Army for me. (No thanks, did not feel like slogging through the jungles of Vietnam). The Navy enlistment quotas were full, so I was put on a waiting list, number three out of two for December. At the last minute number two broke his leg and became number six. Thank you Mr. Broken Leg who ever you are. Spent Christmas 1966 in boot camp at Great Lakes. Then stationed in Memphis, TN for aviation electronics school. There was a graduating class every week. Three weeks out from graduation we heard that that class was sent to Vietnam for river boat duty. Over coming the horror of that news I asked "Why riverboats, we are aviation wing?" It was explained to me that the riverboats were equipped with aviation electronics and radar because of the compactness of the components. "Oh, just great! That's just wonderful". Class two weeks out - Riverboats. Class one week out - Riverboats. My orders upon graduation-Milton, FL. "Where the Hell is Milton, FL"? Don't ask, at least its not riverboats. Milton is just on the East side of the bay from Pensacola, FL. I was stationed there until my Honorable discharge in 1970. Maria and I were divorced on 1970. I rose through the ranks to become an E-5, Second Class Petty Officer, Quality Control Inspector and the head of the Federal Bureau of Standards Calibration Lab, Whiting Field Branch. We had upper level calibration equipment to test and certify all electronics test equipment used by the avionics techs on the base. The closest I ever got to a ship was driving by The USS Lexington, a WWII aircraft carrier that was used for pilot carrier landing training in the Gulf of Mexico. I never went aboard her and that was just fine with me.
After my discharge, turning down the Navy's offer of promotion to E-6 First Class Petty Officer and a $10,000 tax free re-enlistment bonus, I had to decide between music or art as my career. It was now crunch time. No more screwing around. I knew that avionics was really not my calling since the "Navy Way First Repair Procedure" was to hit it with a hammer. I flipped a coin and Art was the path. Attended The Ringling School of Art, Sarasota, FL, majoring in Advertising Design. Met Lynne Appleby from Pelham Manor, NY. Married her in 1972. Graduated in 1973. Found employment with a Bank Advertising Agency in Mt. Pleasant, MI. Stayed there for 3 years and then moved back to Florida. Started up Stirling, Hussey & Cummins, an advertising agency in West Palm Beach in 1976.
In 1981 my daughter Samantha was born. She is now married and living in Salt Lake City, Utah. She has her major in Ballet from the U. of Utah and is now back to school to become a Ballet Physical Therapist.
In 1984 I lost my older brother Harry from a heart attack. He was an attorney in my father's law firm, Cummins & Cummins, in Lansing, MI. In 1989 Lynne and I divorced. In 1990 I quit the agency and started free lancing specializing in Architectural Renderings. Also in 1990 I married Jacque Baer, a family friend since 1981. She was the one who discovered that my business partners were cheating me and convinced me to move on and free-lance. It was during that marriage that I was diagnosed with clinical depression and was told that I probably suffered from it my whole life. (Duh....Cranbrook?) Divorced in early 1996. Then on to Julie, who I mentioned earlier. During the nineties I lost my father and mother. In the Fall of 2004, had a major bout with depression. Julie wanted a divorce, my Free-Lancing business had dried up due to 911 and the demise of small home builders. So I started working at The Home Depot in Jupiter, FL as a Millworks Specialist, a step up from working on the floor. I snagged that position since I knew how to read blueprints. Initially I regarded that job as being the bottom of the barrel, but soon it became a blessing. The huge amount of socialization that engulfed me from associates and customers bouyed me up from the depths of my depression. It got me through my divorce from Julie in 2005. The depression is always there, but not as strong as it used to be. Working alone at home as a free-lance artist for 14 years certainly did a lot to feed my depression. I need to be around people and most of my life I didn't know that.
Most of my life was spent in Florida, minus 6 months in Las Vegas, NV. Emily, who was living in Perry, MI when I found her, could not handle the Florida heat and humidity. So after surviving five Hurricanes and Florida's out of control economy, Emily and I moved back to Lansing, MI in the Fall of 2006. Just in time for Winter. I was able to transfer from Home Depot, Jupiter to Home Depot, West Lansing. We bought a little house that overlooks The Grand River. (Hey, I have to be near the water! It's not the Atlantic, but it will do.)
March of 2007 started my medical adventure starting with additional hernia repair. First operation was in 2003 resulting in mesh to repair multiple hernias. A few weeks later became terribly ill due to a perforated large intestine. Back into hospital for mesh removal and a new friend, my ostomy. Back into hospital three days later for blood clots to my left leg. Intestinal reconnect surgery scheduled for late July. Surgery failed, result my newer friend another larger ostomy. Somewhere during tests and exams it was discovered that I have an illiac aneurism that extends from the aorta down into the right illiac artery to my right leg. That will be dealt with someday, not sure when. I've become allergic to hospitals. It is hoped that my reconnect surgery will happen in July 2008. My surgeon is a hard-ass and said he won't perform the surgery unless I lose weight and stop smoking. I'm sure you know that losing weight and stopping smoking do not go together at all. I'm trying. Now all the hernias have regrouped to the point that I feel there is no abdominal muscle left.
One more thing. I've owned many British sports cars through the years starting with Austin Healeys (2), Sunbeam Alpine, MGBs(3). Also a few Italian jobs, Alfa Romeo Guilietta and a Fiat 124 Sport Coupe. The MGBs came along in a string starting in 1979. My current MGB I bought in 1996, restored it over 3 years(Julie hated that car) and drove it daily until moving to Michigan. It now spends Winters in the garage. Having been through three Hurricanes sitting outside, the poor car needed a refresher restoration. To my delight, Emily enjoys working on cars and loves the MG. Reminds her of when we dated in my 1959 Austin Healey 100-6. So we spent all last Summer working on the MG and repainting it ourselves. It was wonderful rehab for me while I was off work on short term disability. (Thankfully I signed up for that at work.) Thank God for Health Insurance which I never had in my life until Home Depot. I've attached a few pictures of our MG adventures including what it looked like as a rusty old red, its first paint job after the main restore (Champagne Purple Beige-Julie's choice), second paint job (my revenge Balboa Blue) and third paint job a redo of Balboa Blue. Also Emily wet sanding the paint.
Sorry, I guess my life recap was longer than expected. I do envy those who have married and have stayed married. I'll never be able to rack up a 20th, 30th or 40th anniversary. Well I guess I could, but collectively. I have however lived with some very interesting women. I should have started with Emily ... naw, that wouldn't have worked either. We both needed time to mellow and age. At least I'm married to the best woman there could ever be. She has been a real angel throughout my whole medical ordeal. Without hesitation she jumped into the medical fray, learned how to care for an ostomy and has had no problem with changing my appliances every few days, monitoring tissue re-growth and healing and beating me over the head when I fail to follow Doctor's orders. I would not be here today if it hadn't been for her.
One final question ... Why is it that all Christmas parties have a Luau theme?
Later guys, hopefully at the next reunion,
Pete Cummins
