SEQUIM –– Friends and political foes are remembering David Cummins, a land surveyor and stalwart of Clallam County conservative politics, as a man of loyalty, faith and integrity after he died last week.
“He was an absolute prince of a man,” Clallam County Commissioner Jim McEntire said.
Mr. Cummins, 61, died of a brain hemorrhage Thursday at Harborview Medical Center in Seattle.
A memorial service will be at 1 p.m. Wednesday, Aug. 6, at the Independent Bible Church, 116 E. Ahlvers Road, Port Angeles.
“He was one of those classic kind of guys who put his God first, his family second and his political party third,” Commissioner Mike Chapman said.
A Sequim native who lived in the Dungeness Lighthouse with his Coast Guard father during his early boyhood, Cummins was active and influential as an adult in the Clallam County Republican Party, serving as state committeeman and Precinct Committee Officer for Lost Mountain precinct No. 245.
“He was very, very committed to politics, and he worked hard at it because he believed in it,” said Donna Cummins, his wife of 43 years.
He ran unsuccessfully for county commissioner and state representative.
“The party and indeed this entire community will miss him,” said Dick Pilling, chairman of the Clallam GOP.
Cummins was vice chair of the party when it decided to exclude Chapman from its ranks for his endorsement of Democrat Steve Tharinger in the 2008 county commissioner contest.
“He agreed with you until he didn’t, and he always let you know how he felt,” Chapman said.
“But he put his party first, and he had the decency after they made their decision to call me and tell me I was going to get that letter.
“I’ve always respected him for that.”
Shortly after graduating from Sequim High School in 1970, Cummins and a then-15-year-old Donna eloped in the middle of an October night.
He then began working for the U.S. Geological Survey, where he mapped seven Western states and Yellowstone National Park.
The couple had two daughters, Meredith (Gilliam), now of Renton, and Kimberly (Odegaard) of Martinez, Calif.; eight grandchildren, and one great-grandchild.
After their children’s birth, the couple moved back to Sequim where Mr. Cummins started a surveying business with his father-in-law.
He later took over the business and ran David Cummins & Associates for the next 30 years, Donna Cummins said.
Cummins struggled with diabetes after being diagnosed in the mid-1990s.
“He was never too sick or too busy to answer questions and sit down and talk to anyone who need to talk,” Pilling said.
A devout and passionate Christian, Cummins was also heavily involved with the Independent Bible Church and volunteered to perform church services for the elderly residents of Crestwood Convalescent Center in Port Angeles.
The family asks memorial contributions be made to the Indpendent Bible Church’s mission fund. Contributions can be made through the church’s website: www.indbible.org.
He will be interred at the Dungeness Cemetery.
“He wanted to be there so he’d have a view of the lighthouse,” Donna said.
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Sequim-Dungeness Valley Editor Joe Smillie can be reached at 360-681-2390, ext. 5052, or at jsmillie@peninsuladailynews.com.
