Milton Cummings

Groton — Milton C. “Milt” Cummings, 88, formerly of Pequot Village in Groton, passed away Nov. 4, 2020, at Pendleton Healthcare in Mystic. He was the son of William and Lena Cummings.

Milton had a wonderful life. He worked at Electric Boat for many years and joined their softball league. He also worked at the Main Gate in Groton. For recreation, he planned for himself a compact, portable life which allowed him to travel wherever his curiosity drew him. As a young man, he traveled to Europe; and he subsequently spent much of the remainder of his leisure time visiting all 50 American states, going back several times to the ones that contained family, friends or points of ongoing interest.

Milton was a big baseball fan, with an encyclopedic command of player and game statistics. He was a fixture at Yankee Stadium; and proud to count some historic Subway Series among his most cherished memories. He also parleyed his interest in visiting the states to visiting every major league ballpark, at times following the Yankees like others might follow a rock band such as the Grateful Dead. He was not, however, a Grateful Dead fan. He was a Bing Crosby fan, had all his records, CDs, tapes and movies, along with a head full of Bing fanlore, to compete with the Yankees. He did a wonderful impression of the crooner and may very well have been Bing’s most devoted fan on the entire Eastern Seaboard. If there was another, Milt surely would have found this fan in his extensive travels. He was officially a member of the Bing Crosby Fan Club and regularly visited Crosby’s hometown of Spokane, Wash., to meet other fans; so he was fairly well apprised of his standing with the West Coast crew.

Milton was predeceased by his six brothers and sisters: Kenneth Cummings, Roland Cummings, Marion Curzio, Evelyn Santacroce, Patricia Hollis and Shirley O’Rourke. He leaves his nieces and nephews: Gordon Weller, Barbara Weller, Joan Swift, Diane Moshier, Carl Curzio, Carol Flynn, Janice Bell, Richard Cady, Stephen Cady, Barry O’Rourke, Linda Gentry, Ken Hollis and Mark Hollis — all of whom loved and cherished him, his kind- hearted generosity and his open and unconditional acceptance of others. Milt was a sweetheart; and he will be sorely missed.

Due to COVID- 19 protocols, services will be private. Please visit www. byles. com to share a memory or condolence with the family.