September 11, 2016
“Seebequah” Jeanette Nioce Cummings, 76, of Yakima, WA passed away peacefully surrounded by her family on September 11, 2016 ending her fight with Alzheimer’s.
Born July 15, 1940 to Joe and Alice Nioce, in Holton KS. As a member of the Prairie Band Potawatomi Nation she was raised on the common land the youngest of 6 siblings.
She is preceded in death by her parents and her sisters; Isabel Thomas, Vivian Nioce, Vestina Nonkin, Inez Aikin, and brother Edgar Nioce and granddaughter Sarah Marshall Partlow. She is survived by her sister Loretta Rosenthal of Cherokee, Iowa, immediate family, several nieces and nephews.
After graduating from Holton High she married Theodore (Ted) Cummings at Our Lady of Snows Catholic Church on June 6, 1959. Together they raised two daughters; Jo Ann Marshall (Kevin) of Yakima, WA and Vivian Alexander (Gregg) of Hutchinson, KS. The family grew to include 7 grandchildren and 11 great grandchildren. Over the next 57 years together they ran a business, nurtured a family, traveled, and played music across the US in their band ‘The Good Timers’. Jeanette’s life was full of family, friends, art, music, dancing, and prayer. And in her travels she enjoyed researching Potawatomi tribal genealogy. Where ever she traveled she took time to work in the Catholic Church. She always had her prayer lists from those requesting prayer. We all knew we could count on her to pray.
Jeanette was honored in a Christian Burial Mass at St. Joseph Catholic Church in Lynden, WA on September 16, 2016 with family attending and serving. Deacon and nephew Scott Aikin blessed the grave site at Ten Mile Cemetery. He sang a Potawatomi song using a Potawatomi drum and the drum stick of her father’s Sock-ka-nakabah. The family was blessed by the sight of two eagles that circled above the trees as the song filled the valley. Then the family gathered to sing the Blessing song and lay down roses in honor of See-be-quah Jeanette Cummings.
Blessed are those who mourn for they will be comforted. Mathew 5:4