John’s Memorial Fund
John became a father figure to many different people through the years. He especially cared for young people who needed encouragement and emotional and spiritual guidance. We want to honor his memory by continuing this tradition through supporting children and young adults to achieve their highest potential.
Obituary
John J. Cummings, an April Fool’s day baby, passed away peacefully at the age of 60 while surrounded by his loving family on August 29, in Albuquerque, New Mexico after an inspiring year-long battle with cancer. John’s life began on April 1, 1963, in Wichita, Kansas, born to the late John and Betty Cummings.
John leaves his loving and beloved wife, partner and friend of 25 years, Ruth Zimmerman Cummings and their children, Elizabeth, and Jake Cummings, of Albuquerque, NM. John graduated from St. Pius X High School in Albuquerque in 1981, and graduated in 1985 from Santa Clara University in Santa Clara, California. John was a successful business owner serving as a financial advisor for the Albuquerque community for over 30 years.
John was a fierce family man – loving, loyal, thoughtful, dedicated, and generous. His family included immediate, extended, and chosen. John knew how to foster meaningful and lasting relationships and maintained many deep and abiding friendships. In his presence, you always felt seen, heard, understood, known, and loved.
John was a deeply spiritual person with a peaceful, kind, and gentle heart. He dedicated his days to bettering himself spiritually, emotionally, and physically. He rarely gave in to worry and had an innate ability to make heavy things lighter. His sense of humor came forth in every conversation and situation–he could make you laugh in the darkest of times. John wanted to live his life with a loving and positive attitude. He was the most encouraging person to talk with when you needed to be uplifted. He frequently meditated and loved to talk about deep, meaningful, and philosophical questions.
John loved books, music and cooking, thrift stores and bookstores, golf and basketball, road trips and hotels. He could also make a mean breakfast of cheesy eggs and cooked the best steak or burger you’ve ever had.
To share your stories & browse pictures, slideshows, his music playlists, and recipes or to learn more about John, and how to donate in his honor to his memorial fund visit johnjcummings.com.
A memorial service will be held Sunday, September 3, 2023, at 2:00 p.m. at Faith Lutheran Church, 10000 Spain Rd NE., Albuquerque, presided by Monsignor Richard Olona.
In lieu of flowers, donations in John’s honor may be made to the New Mexico Dream Center nmdreamcenter.org.
Elizabeth’s letter about her dad
My dad took me on a date every month for almost 21 years.
These dates made me the woman I am today. I loved my father so much that I wanted to love everything that he loved so that we could do it all together. So as I grew up, his hobbies became mine and we planned dates for doing the things he taught me to love.
My dad loved to read and so I picked up every book I could find and had him read it to me. When I learned how to read, we would grab our books and find a spot in the house and read together for hours. He took me to my favorite book store every chance he got. We’d meet up after browsing for a while and give each other summaries of the books we picked out and help each other decide which ones sounded the best. And when I was old enough, he gave me a stack of books that he had re read countless times that he had annotated for me to read. I would annotate them all and give them back to him. We’d go to our favorite Indian restaurant and discuss them for hours. I loved to disagree with him about things because he was always so open to new perspectives and to seeing the world in new ways. He was the smartest and most open minded man I ever knew.
My dad also loved to cook. If you knew him you knew that his burgers were the best you would ever eat, And if you’ve ever come over for dinner I’m sure he’s made you at least one steak. And I’m sure you’ll see it on the slideshow, but he cooked with Jake and I from the day we were born. He made Jake and I lunch every single day when we started school and he made us breakfast every morning. When I was old enough, he’d put me on a stepping stool to reach the counter, and we would put on our favorite playlist and cook dinner for everyone. The older I got, the fancier our dinners became. The hardest thing he said to me before he died was that he was proud that I had become a better chef than he was and he was so glad that he had been the one to teach me.
One thing I think my dad loved more than anything else was music. It was always playing in our house and he showed me everything I know. Music played such a large role in our families relationship because of how important it was to him. Music was also a key aspect of our drives. Since I was a baby, I absolutely loved to go on drives and sit pressed against the window and listen to my dads music. So, my dad would take me on drives for hours almost every day. We had our special routes we would take. We would drive by the fancy houses in the nice neighborhoods and drive through the mountains with a view of the whole city. We would drive to paako golf course where he proposed to my mom and then continue on to Madrid to get a burger to share and an ice cream sundae. We’d hold hands the whole time. He would always joke that when we went anywhere together that people must have thought he was a dirty old man with his young wife because of that. We never did stop holding hands.
I think holding his hand will be what I miss the most. We did it everywhere we went. Ever since I could walk, we would walk around everywhere, holding each other close and talking about everything that ever came to mind. When I was younger, we would walk every day to our favorite park, hand in hand, and make up funny stories about our neighbors. After years, we had come up with complete story lines for every single one of them. We drove by last week and he remembered every single story. But our favorite tradition on these walks was our neighbors apple tree. We would always sneak up, he’d put me on his shoulders(at least while he still could) and we would steal an apple. We’d run away laughing. We never did eat a single apple that we stole but we never stopped stealing them. It was something that was ours. I loved to walk with him. He was so full of ideas and I was never bored when I was with him. We would often walk in silence, every so often pointing out things that we’d seen or silly little thoughts we had and continue on our way. I’ll miss walking with him, how he could always make me laugh and how he always remembered every little detail about me, and how every now and then he’d tell me a crazy story from when he was young. I loved those stories. I’ve made him tell me about 1000 times. He never got tired of telling me, never got tired of how much they made me laugh.
My dad could make anyone laugh. He was so lighthearted and fun. That’s probably why he had so many funny stories to tell me and why he knew just about everyone we ever ran into in the grocery store. Even if he didn’t know them, it was as if they were best friends after two minutes. He could talk to anyone. He remembered everyone’s name and all the little things about them. He was just always so engaged and caring and I never met one person who wasn’t enamored by him. I mean just look at how many people have come here today to honor him. The man was nice to just about everyone. He never held a grudge and would forgive anyone because he never saw a point in holding onto anger. I hope that one day I can be as loving and kind as my father.
There are a billion more things and memories that I could talk about because he was my absolute favorite person, but If i do that we would all be here for hours. I know that my dad knows how much I love him, but I will continue to talk to him and tell him these stories and how much he meant to me every single day. He always told me that I chose him to be my dad and I know that in every other life time I will choose him again. I love you dad and I will be your girl forever and always.