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Norman R. Cummins

August 06, 1915 - April 28, 2010

Norman Clifford Roy Cummins of Port St. Lucie, Florida passed away on the evening of April 28, 2010. Even though he would have celebrated his 95th birthday this year, his passing was unexpected. He was sharp and active to the very end.

Born to Clifford and Gertrude (nee Dale) on August 6, 1915 in Pinner, England, he attended City of London College, gaining a love of knowledge and an intellectual curiosity he kept his whole life. During World War II, despite being color blind, after much persistence he was admitted into the R.A.F. Due to heavy bombing, he completed his flight training in Pensacola Florida, with corrective goggles. It was while on leave in N.Y.C., he met his bride, Dorris Lillian Crate. They were married before he deployed, on Prince Edward Island in Canada. Crossing the Atlantic on a convoy and pregnant with their first child, she eventually joined him in London, during the Blitz. She was much encouraged to be greeted by the word “Courage” emblazoned across the warehouses at port, only to later learn it was popular local ale. Before they would leave for America, they would have two children, a daughter and a son. During the war he would serve in several theatres, ferrying cargo and personnel in DC-9’s across the Middle East and Europe. Always the entrepreneur, he would later recount how pilots would take a little extra cargo, trading coffee in Iraq for rugs in Cairo , then for Swiss watches, and so on, whatever could be found. He also flew paratroopers, including during the ill-fated Operation Market Garden. He had several close scrapes, once bringing in a plane that almost had more holes than sheet metal. He was not known to be a frequent flier later in life.

A purposeful and driven man, he returned to America and took to the construction trade. Within a few years he was building his first homes in the Long Island area, living in Amityville, Brookhaven and Bellport. The family would relocate to Belvidere, in northwest New Jersey. Buying a large tract, he would embark on a multi-home development, Settlers’ Ridge. Several dozen homes would be built. Trips to Florida during this time prospecting for new projects would never come to fruition, but portions of the family, now at six children with five grandchildren, would relocate to south Florida, and he would also find his future home in Port St. Lucie (which he built himself while in his sixties). He would continue to winter in New Jersey, staying with close friends and finding enjoyment at bridge, golf at the Apple Mountain golf course, going to auctions, collecting and selling at flea markets in New Jersey and Stuart, Florida. He would continue to make these seasonal drives very late into life. He would later greatly enjoy the solitude and natural surroundings of his home in Florida, caring for the wildlife, sitting in the sun on the porch overlooking the pond, and listening to the wind through the trees.

He was predeceased by his wife; his brother, Alan J. Cummins of Palm Beach Gardens, Sister Lorna Crate and brother in-law Alfred Crate of North Palm Beach, and daughter Caroline Anne of New York City.

He is survived by children, Kathryn LaRose (Theodore)of Whitehall, Pennsylvania, Clifford Cummins of Port St, Lucie, Constance Cummins of Aptos, California, Christopher Cummins of West Palm Beach and Kevin (Melissa ) Cummins of West Palm Beach; grandchildren Jacqeline Willard, James Slaska, Margaret Slaska of San Diego, Mark Slaska of Los Angeles, Jessica Beasley (Jack) of Suwannee, Georgia, Hazel and Ogden Cummins of West Palm Beach; numerous great-grandchildren; nephews and nieces Nicholas (Linda) Crate , Tom French, Susan Crate; and good friends, including Jim and Harriet Verbick of Belvidere, New Jersey.

Funeral Information

Private services per the families request.

Norman R. Cummins

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