Celebrating a century
KateLynn Slaamot
NLJ Correspondent
The experience of living for a century is not one that many people can boast about. In a world where the average life expectancy is under 75 years, seeing 100 years of life is quite remarkable. Elizabeth Cummings recently celebrated her 100th birthday – the second Newcastle resident to reach that milestone recently.
Cummings was born Feb. 28, 1920, north of Newcastle. She lived in the country until she moved to town when she was 5 years old. She started first grade at the age of 6 and attended school in Newcastle.
Spelling was Cummings’ favorite subject. She loved it, and it came naturally to her, she said. Whenever she came across a word she didn’t know while reading, she looked it up in the dictionary. According to Cummings’ daughter-in-law, Tracie Cummings, she still looks up unknown words.
When Cummings was a child, there were many things she enjoyed doing for fun. She liked to swing, sleigh ride, sled and more. She liked to meet up with her friends and go to the roller rink to roller skate. She and her friends also enjoyed going to a swimming hole near Salt Creek.
“We would walk around town,” Cummings said. Sometimes, she and her friends would meet up and spend the whole afternoon strolling around town.
Cummings also loved going to the movies.
“At that time, they were 10 cents apiece,” Cummings said. Her favorite movies were the “cowboy ones,” in which there was a lot of adventure with “horseback riding” and “catching the bad guy.”
However, not all of Cummings’ time was spent in fun and play. Her family struggled financially, and her brothers took every job they could find. At different times, her dad worked at Cambria Coal Mine, he farmed, and then he delivered coal on a coal route.
“I used to clean house for people,” Cummings said.
The second youngest of 11 children, Cummings still had to do her part. She also helped her mother wash dishes, set the table and iron clothes. Cummings said that she didn’t mind the work.
In high school, Cummings played on a girls’ basketball team. Girls played half court at that time because it was believed that full court would be too strenuous.
“I was a guard,” Cummings said.
Cummings graduated from high school in 1938 and worked at a clothing store downtown for a time. One day, when she went roller skating, she said, a boy came and asked if he could skate with her. They skated together and then went on their own way. Unbeknownst to Cummings, this young man was Bill, who would later become her husband.
At the age of 19 or 20, Cummings signed up to go to Yellowstone Park for a summer to work. Cummings rode the train to Bozeman, Montana, where a bus was waiting to drop the workers off at their designated places throughout the park. About eight people were from Newcastle, and Bill was one of them. Cummings worked at a hotel in the park and ran the mangle, which was a large apparatus used to iron sheets. Bill and Cummings began dating during their time in Yellowstone.
After a couple of years, they married on Sept. 1, 1941. Cummings and her husband loved to travel and camp. Cummings has been to 48 states, and the couple was part of a camping club. The club occasionally had potluck dinners that Cummings and her husband enjoyed attending. Bill liked to go to dances, and he and Cummings attended many of them.
The Cummings’ married life wasn’t always easy.
“My husband was in World War II,” Cummings said. “It was scary.”
Cummings also had three brothers in the war. Both of Cummings’ parents emigrated from Hungary when they were young, and her mom didn’t write in English, so Cummings wrote to all three of her brothers every week. She also wrote to her husband every day.
Cummings and Bill ranched for about 30 years. For a few years, they lived in town and traveled to the ranch west of town before moving there in about 1957. They lived on the ranch for 25 years. They raised sheep and cattle, and the Cummings’ kids had animals in 4-H.
Married for 44 years, Cummings and her husband have three kids, seven grandkids and 10 great-grandchildren. Bill passed away in 1985.
Cummings used to love to crochet and socialize. She also collected cookbooks, and she greatly enjoyed cooking.
“She is a tremendous card sender,” Tracie said. Cummings sends cards to everyone for all occasions: birthdays, anniversaries, congratulations and more.
Cummings said that she credits her longevity to not smoking and not drinking. Long life also runs in the family genes; she had a brother who lived to 103 and a sister who lived to 101.
Cummings received tremendous support at her birthday party on March 1, and over 125 people signed her guest book. She received a hefty number of cards and is still receiving more.