Nancy Spies Cummins
Berlin
Nancy Spies Cummins, age 102, died peacefully on December 6, 2025.
She was the daughter of the late Henry Spies, Sr. (pronounced “Spees”) and Mary Macklem Spies. She was, in her words, “born and reared” at Square Farm, near Easton. The oldest daughter of a family of eight farm kids, she was a fantastic mother, an excellent cook and a beloved teacher. She was remarkably intelligent, the first in her family to graduate from college, the University of Maryland, in 1944. That summer she married James Cummins, Jr., whose mother, Kitty Whaley Cummins, was from Berlin. Then she started her career as a teacher at a high school in Preston. However, most of her career (1962-1985) she taught third grade at Thoroughgood Elementary School in Virginia Beach, Va.
She married Dick Cummins when he was back in the states on leave as a B-17/B-24 navigator for the US Army’s 15th Air Corp in eastern Europe. In 1945 he was shot down in enemy territory while on one of his 34 bombing missions and became MIA for over two months, but he made his way back to allied-held land. As always during this ordeal, Nancy showed she was a strong and resilient woman who loved her country. Like many military families, they raised their three children across America: Texas, Colorado, California, South Dakota, territorial Alaska, Virginia and Maryland.
Nancy loved life and people. She volunteered to help others throughout her life, especially in her retirement. She was a 20-year volunteer at the Virginia Aquarium and Marine Science Museum in Virginia Beach.
She loved her churches, Old Donation Episcopal Church in Virginia Beach and Saint Paul’s Episcopal Church in Berlin, Maryland. She enjoyed sewing, decorating, cooking, gardening, entertaining, reading and travelling. She had a great sense of humor she often exhibited with a “Spies laugh” that was both outrageous and contagious. For instance, she once explained why she didn’t like to cook pies. With a smirky-smile on her face, she recounted how, after spending hours preparing pies at Square Farm, her brothers would come in from working in the fields and eat them up way too fast.
Dick passed away in 1991. Nancy is survived by her youngest brother, Bill Spies, three children; Carolyn Cummins, Jim Cummins and wife Nancy, and Mary Kay Cummins-Korb and husband Alan; four grandchildren, Kitty Maves, Jamie Sullivan, Caroline Cummins Buege and husband Ryan, Dirick Cummins and husband Damon Branson; three step-grandchildren, Blake, Harrison and Chandler; five great grandchildren, Lana and partner Isaac, Ella, Tess, River, and Lilith; three great-great grandchildren, Duke, Drake, Dallas; and many beloved nieces, nephews, cousins, and friends.
Since 2017 she has lived at Chesapeake Manor, Willards. The family is grateful for the staff and the wonderful care they provided.