Harry Lee Cummings

Harry Lee “Ching” Cummings died on Sunday, December 15, 2019.  He was born in Yemassee, South Carolina in 1922 to the late Charlotte Reeves and Franklin Cummings.  For more than sixty-five years, he was married to Emma “Sarah” Baughman, who died on March 23, 2008 of Alzheimer’s disease.

Harry graduated from Walterboro, South Carolina High School in 1941.  After graduating, he moved to Richmond, VA where he met and married Sarah in 1942.  That same year, he enlisted in the U.S. Marine Corps, and served his country during World War II in the South Pacific.

After the War, Harry enrolled as a student at the University of Richmond.  While going to school, he was employed as a night clerk in the Richmond, VA FBI office.  Upon graduation from college in 1949 with a BS degree in Business, Harry joined the FBI as a Special Agent.  He served in the Denver, CO; Detroit, Mich.; Washington, D.C.; and Norfolk, VA field offices where he retired in 1977.  After his retirement, Harry worked for ten years for the Virginia Beach, VA Office of the City Attorney.

Prior to moving to Lake Prince Woods in Suffolk, VA in 2004, Sarah and Harry lived on Bay Island in Virginia Beach for more than thirty-seven years.  They were members of Bayside Presbyterian Church.  In 1992, they celebrated their fiftieth anniversary, first in Edisto Island, S.C., and then in their home Church at Bayside Presbyterian with a renewal of their wedding vows in the presence of family and many friends.

 Harry enjoyed gardening, fishing and hunting.  He was a member of the Kempsville Masonic Lodge No. 196 in Virginia Beach, the Homeville Hunt Club, and the Tidewater Chapter of the National Organization of FSAFFBI.  He always maintained the slogans “once a Marine, always a Marine”, and “once a Bureau employee, always a Bureau employee.”

Harry leaves behind his daughter Sarah McLaughlin of Falls Church, VA; daughter-in-law Joyce and granddaughter Kimberly Cummings of Woodbridge, VA; granddaughter Sandi Mathers of Seattle, WA; grandson Gregory Mathers, wife Robin and great-grandchildren Lila Kate and Gavin of Lafayette, CA; granddaughter Susan Monaghan and great-grandchildren Connor John, Alexandra, and Tiana of Pleasanton, CA; sister-in-law Voncile Baughman of Richmond, VA; and the many other loving Cummings and Baughman family members. He was a loving father and grandfather and was dearly loved by his family who will always remember his high values and morals which he combined with a wonderful sense of humor!

The family will receive friends from noon to 1:00, followed by the funeral service led by the Rev. Gary Newsome at 1:00 p.m. on December 30, 2019 at the R. W. Baker Funeral Home and Crematory, 509 W. Washington St., Suffolk, VA 23434.  A reception immediately following the service is being held at the Lake Prince Woods. Burial will be held on December 31, 2019 at 11:00 a.m. in the family plot at the Washington Memorial Park, Sandston, VA. In lieu of flowers memorial denotations may be made to the The Salvation Army. Condolences may be registered at rwbakerfh.com.