Thomas James “Tom” Cummings, 67, departed this earth for glory on July 1, 2023.
A funeral service will be held on Sunday, July 16, 2023 at 2:00 p.m. at Maddox Funeral Home conducted by the Rev. Buzz Moore and Steve Foster. Interment will follow in Rockland Cemetery.
Tom was born November 11, 1955 at Quantico, Virginia, son of the late Patricia F. Cummings and Russell Rock Cummings.
He leaves behind siblings, Fran Mellott, Nancy Hedge, Mary Conklin, Rick Gaines, and Russ Cummings. He was preceded in death by his beloved in-laws, Dale and Jerri Ridgway.
Tom had a passion for Porsches and Harleys. He enjoyed exploring the dirt roads in Warren and surrounding counties. Tom enjoyed his work as a Network Engineer for T Mobile until his retirement in April. Ten years ago, Tom found his greatest joy, being a grandparent. His grandbabies were never far from his thoughts and were always in his prayers.
Tom is survived by his devoted wife, Mechelle “Shelley” Cummings; his children, Christopher Michael Cummings and Stephanie Dawn Yamamoto and her husband Luis; step-daughter, Dale Taylor Williams; step-son, David Brent Williams; and the joys of his life, his grandchildren, Myles Christopher Pfeifer, Rowan Daniel Gustafson, Emilia Grace Yamamoto and Archer Ridgway Winterkorn. Tom was eagerly awaiting the birth of another grandson, who will carry his name.
Tom met his best friend, Bob Mulligan, at the beginning of eighth grade. He cherished their relationship. Tom was proud to be an “honorary” Mulligan and being lifelong friends with Bob, Dave, Jack, Marilyn, Corrine, and Janet; and also later with Bob’s wife, Gini. Dave English, a former brother-in-law, remained close as a brother to Tom. Julie Mullins, who introduced Tom and Mechelle, continued to be a close friend through the years.
Tom was fortunate to have worked with a fine group of people. Several became treasured friends, including Mike Mancil, Jeff Bradley, Andrew Haislmaie, Niyut Patel, Shazad Quershi, and Sherdina Tyus who encouraged him during the last two months with humor, prayer and friendship.
Tom considered Amazing Grace Gospel Barn to be his home church.
Pallbearers will be Bob Mulligan, Dave English, Mike Mancil, Jeff Bradley, Jesse Budd, and Chris Winterkorn.
The family will receive friends on Sunday, July 16 from 1-2 p.m. at the funeral home.
In lieu of flowers, memorial donations may be made to Amazing Grace Gospel Barn, c/o Steve Foster, 4796 Reliance Road, Front Royal, VA 22630.
I’m so sorry to hear of Tom’s passing. I worked with Tom for 8 years at Sprint and enjoyed our conversations.
I’ll always treasure our friendship and those memories. RIP my dear friend. Prayers for the family.
Thank you for your kind words. As Tom was going through “garden leave” He often lamented that even though he had worked remotely, he missed being surrounded by his friends and coworkers and hoped dome of them would stay in touch after his retirement. God bless you!
Shelley, you are in our thoughts and prayers. May God’s love bring you peace and your memories bring you comfort in the days ahead.
Tom was and will ever be my brother. Work and just talking about life won’t be the same without him around.
Swags…thank you brother for introducing me to the best things like BB King, Clapton, The Marshall Tucker Band and on and on.
Tom Tom is someone I will never forget. I love you sir.
Mechelle….if you ever need anything at all…and I mean anything, please let me know.
God Bless you and your family. Tom and all of you will always be in my thoughts and prayers.
Thank you Mike! Tom truly treasured your friendship. Although he loved working remotely, he missed his office time with you and the rest of the team. I am so glad you, Jeff and Andrew came to Front Royal to have breakfast with Tom the day before we traveled. It meant so much to him.
I was so sad to hear of Tom’s passing, but I am encouraged to know he is with Jesus, and we will see him again! I would often talk to Tom at shift change when there was something he needed me to do for a customer after hours. We would always chat for a while about God, country, and grandchildren! Tom was a wonderful man. I’ll sure miss talking to him. ❤️ Mechelle, you and the rest of the family are in my prayers for comfort and peace.
Thank you Kelly! Tom had some amazing friends there at work. I take comfort in God’s promises of life everlasting for the faithful. His grandson Rowan, one of his Joy’s, will be reciting John 3:16 at his memorial service. We taught him that when he was four years old. I know Tom will be so proud of him.
Tommy was a rock in our lives. We didn’t get to see each other often enough and that seems to be a lame excuse at this time
I met Tommy as the first friend of my husband Bob. Tommy had this little imp of a girl, Stephanie With him at maybe 4 or 5 years old and it was love at first sight for me. She was a mini tommy and thank God she outgrew that. Next couple of years Steph and I spent a lot of time together I didn’t have children of my own so poor Steph had to put up with it. Wow what a beautiful woman and mom shes become. Steph and Amelia were the light of his life. He was so happy as a granddad.
One more favorite story of Toms impact on our lives. One day, years ago, I get a phone call from Tom He had found a little red Porsche for bob but wanted my “okay” before passing the info on to Bob. What a set up. We still have that car and it is one of bobs favorites. That started bobs obsession with the fast cars to this day.
They had very similar motor cycles although Tom rode a lot more than bob did. What a great time. So Tom and bob had these great big bikes and I wanted one so Bob purchased an electric Whizzer Toy bike, Max speed 35. Best memory,they were leaving our house for a ride so they headed up the street with me on my whizzer out front flanked by two Harley hogs. Neighbors lined up to watch and laughed their bits off
Stories could go on but those are a few of my memories
I love Tom and always will.
Sent from my iPhone
Gini, Tom thought the world of you and Bob… The whole Mulligan family. You all played a major role in Tom’s life and his kids’. Family through love not blood. I thank you so much for your encouragement and support over the last couple of months.
Always, Mechelle
When I think about Tom, some of the the qualities that immediately come to mind are kind-hearted, compassionate, honest, intelligent and hard worker. He was a gentle soul and I was fortunate to have known him for past 20+ years. What started pour a professional relationship grew into a genuine friendship. I’ll miss our conversations about Mechelle and his children, grandkids, motorcycle trips and cars. He has touched so many of our lives. We are all truly blessed to have had him in our lives. Tom, I’ll miss you very much!!
Thank you for your kind words, Niyut! Tom was so fortunate to have made such treasured friendships over the years. It has brought me such comfort the last few weeks to hear how much he was liked and respected by his colleagues. I know what a wonderful man my Tom was. I am glad so many others felt the same. Take care “Son.” Always, Mechelle
So sorry to hear this. I grew up with Tommy, Nancy and Francis. Praying for Tom family.
We always talk about our work family and how we often spend more time than our families at home. Tom was very much a positive light and friend in our family. Before I even came into our group, I knew Tom from hallway discussions and started our friendship. Very glad to say that I was able to get to know him better over the last 5 years. I am better for that. Thank You. He will be missed greatly by those in our whole “work family” and many have reached out to make sure that his home family knows how much we all cared for him. Thank you for sharing him with us. Our collective thoughts and prayers are with you.
I’m so sad to hear about Tom’s passing. I worked with Tom at Sprint for several years. He was always so kind.
While I worked at Sprint I did my best to help Tom with your cell phone issues at your house.
Helping him get an airrave. I’m Not sure I was ever able to fix things but I remember working with Tom on this and how concerned he was that your cell phone would work at home.
I was happy when Tom got in contact with me a year or so after I left Sprint.
I had shared some of my scripts to log into routers with him and a software update at Sprint had broken them. He of course was so concerned with me wasting my time on it. But I was truly honored that he felt he could reach out to me about it. I liked fixing the scripts for him, knowing he would continue to benefit from using them.
While at Sprint, I had spent a lot of time documenting various fixes.
Tom reached out to me again a couple years later in 2021 just to thank me for some documentation I put together in 2016 that he was able to use.
I was happy to know I was still able to help him.
It made me really miss working with him at Sprint.
When I moved to Northern Virginia after college, Tommy was one of the first people I met when Bob introduced us. That group of us hung out together a lot, but after a while we sort of lost contact. It was good to see him again at Dave’s celebration and to meet you, Mechelle. I missed a lot by not staying in touch. Be well, Mechelle.