Gary Cummings

Gary Cummings passed away on Sunday, June 6 after an 8-year battle with Idiopathic Pulmonary Fibrosis.

Gary was born April 8, 1940 in Roxbury, PA to the late Jay W. and Lydia M. (Holtry) Cummings. At six years of age, he was taken to be raised by his aunt and uncle, the late Emma and Edgar Daihl.

He was a graduate of the Chambersburg High School class of 1958 where he was a pitcher for the baseball team. He enlisted in the U.S. Air Force and was trained in Ground Electronic Counter Measures and was stationed at the base in Misawa, Japan in Security Service. After his discharge in 1962, he worked for Nitterhouse in Chambersburg erecting precast concrete on construction sites for five years. He then was employed by Federal Electric Corp. on the DEW (Distant Early Warning) Line near Barrow, Alaska and performed maintenance on radar and radio equipment. Gary attended Penn State University and graduated with a degree in Civil Engineering in 1973. After graduation, he was employed by Nassaux-Hemsley Engineers and then in 1978 joined Modjeski and Masters Consulting Engineers in Mechanicsburg where he was an associate until his retirement in 2003.

Gary enjoyed the outdoors with gardening, hunting, and fishing. He loved to take the grandchildren fishing in local streams and to the Letterkenny Dam. On vacations to the Outer Banks in North Carolina, he would take them salt-water fishing. He was a member and secretary of the Evening Kiwanis Club in Chambersburg. After retiring, he and his wife travelled in the United States and Europe. Gary volunteered at the Luhrs Center in Shippensburg, at Hershey Park, and for sixteen years volunteered with the AARP Tax-Aide program in Shippensburg.
He is survived by his wife Brenda Staver Cummings who he married in 1975. Gary is also survived by two daughters, Tonya Rideout and her husband Joe Bonaccorsy of Fairfax, Virginia, and Heidi Taylor and her husband Lee of Chambersburg, and five grandchildren Evan and Caleb Rideout, Grace and Katelyn Bonaccorsy, and Jillian Taylor. In addition to his parents and his aunt and uncle, he was preceded in death by two brothers Dana and Dennis.

Memorial services will be held Saturday, June 26, 2021 at 2 p.m. in Grace United Church of Christ, Shippensburg with Rev. George W. Heckard and Rev. Ronald L. Cook officiating. A visitation will be held one hour prior to the services in church.

In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions can be made to the Pulmonary Fibrosis Foundation 230 East Ohio Street-Suite 500, Chicago, IL, 60611. (https://app.mobilecause.com/vf/PFFTribute/GaryCummings) or Homeless Matters of Chambersburg 455 Stanley Avenue, Chambersburg PA, 17201 (https://homelessmatters.org).

On-line condolences may be expressed at www.fogelsanger-brickerfuneralhome.com.