Tributes

Beloved and loving wife, mom, grandmother, sister and friend, Marcia Cummins passed peacefully in her sleep, surrounded by her family, on October 5th, 2021. Born in Joliet, Illinois on May 24th, 1952, Marcia was the youngest of Harold and Pearl Miller’s seven children and their only daughter. She was raised with her six older brothers in Orland Park, Illinois and graduated from Carl Sandburg High School in 1970. Soon after, she met Paul. On October 28th, 1972 they were married. They made a home in the next town over, buying a house on 175th Street in Tinley Park, and lived there from 1973 until 2015. Two sons, Ryan and Aaron, came along in 1977 and 1979. Throughout the 1980s, Marcia worked as a waitress and took care of her two boys. She was the consummate “fireman’s wife”, accepting that at any given hour and for any length of time Paul could be off to a fire call while she was left with the kids. Before those kids came along, however, Marcia began her professional life as a secretary in downtown Chicago. She would return to the city once the boys got older. The last two decades of her working life were spent at Sidley Austin LLP. She was a thoughtful assistant and a stickler for detail. She was always willing to offer advice on the best way to complete a task. Maybe “offer advice” is being generous. She’d tell you the right way to do it, and you’d better think about doing it her way (or have a really good reason to do it yours). In 2015, after many years taking the 7:47am Metra train from Tinley Park-Oak Park Avenue to LaSalle Street Station, Marcia retired. Within just a few short months 40-something years’ worth of stuff was packed up, donated or dumpstered ahead of the move of a lifetime. She’d experienced her last Midwest winter. After living her first 63 years within a small area in south suburban Chicago, Marcia finally realized her dream of a life at the beach in Myrtle Beach. Marcia loved her family more than anything, but a close second was a project. In retirement, and even before, she filled her hours with baking, cake-decorating, knitting, basket-making, quilting, painting, wallpapering - you name it, she'd dive in headfirst. We are so lucky to have had so many treats along the way, and while pulmonary fibrosis cut her life short, she lives on with us in spirit and via the many useful things made by her hands that will remain in our lives for years to come. She is survived by her husband of nearly 49 years, Paul; her sons Ryan and Aaron; her daughter-in-law Abby; grandchildren Hannah and Connor; grandpets Bjügaarhæd (aka Booger) and Sherman; her brothers and sister-in-laws Tom (Sherry), Dan, Rick, Larry (Jackie) and Greg (Sandy) Miller; her sisters-in-law Sandy Fairchild-Miller and Shirley Gorman; and many nieces and nephews. She was preceded in death by her mother and father; her brother Ken Miller; her sister-in-law Marylou Miller and her brother-in-law Stan Gorman.

Tributes

Marcia Cummins

May 24, 1952 - October 5, 2021