Lois Kathay Cummings Cole
Lois Kathay Cummings Cole:
November 28, 1925 – September 18, 2014
With the passing of Lois, the world has lost a shining beacon of love and compassion. Lois was born in Peking (Beijing), China to Dr. Paul E. Johnson and Evelyn (Grant) Johnson. Lois’s parents were serving as Methodist missionaries in China. Following their return to the United States, Lois grew up in Iowa and graduated from Newton Wellesley high school in Boston where her father, Dr. Paul E. Johnson, taught at Boston University School of Theology. Lois attended nursing school in Boston graduating as a registered nurse. She married Rev. George Cummings in 1947, and together they served churches in Valier, Montana; Pullman, Washington; and others in this Conference. Lois re-established her professional career as a home health nurse on Maui until her retirement in 1988. Lois relocated to Grants Pass, Oregon following her retirement, where she met the second love of her life, Mr. Raymond Cole. They married and resettled in Fort Collins, Colorado to be near her family. Lois had an amazing passion and vigor for life! From multiple trips crisscrossing the nation in a Ford van with her husband and four children, to her expertise at Hula dancing and square dancing, hiking and camping, boating, corresponding with all of her family and friends on a weekly basis, reading voraciously, knitting hundreds of Christmas stockings, sewing matching clothes for the entire family, four-wheeling, fishing, teaching swimming lessons, teaching Sunday school, teaching people ways to live, and helping them to die when it was their time. She was a gifted healer who was a powerful presence in the lives of all she met. The world is a better place for her having lived in it. Lois is survived by her husband, Raymond Cole, her children Michael Cummings (Bernadette) of Maui., Hawaii; Martha Turner of Maui, Hawaii; Grant Matthews of Atlanta, Georgia; Mark Cummings (Brenda) of Fort Collins, Colorado; grandchildren Chisa, Marisa, Lesley, Mia, Phillip, Bobby, Billy, Mandy, Jessi, and two great grandchildren Victor and Madison! A private memorial service was held for the family, officiated by the Rev. Dr. Mason Willis. Her ashes will be scattered on the Chetko River in Oregon, and in the waters off of her favorite beach on Maui. Donations in Lois’s memory can be made to Pathways Hospice of Fort Collins or Hospice Maui. All of us in the Cummings and Cole extended families ask for your thoughts and prayers as we adjust to a world without Lois.