Joyce Mildred Cummings

Joyce was born on Valentine’s Day, 1927 in Winnipeg, Manitoba. She arrived in Salmon Arm at the age of 14 in 1941. She married Ken Cummings in 1946 in the Salmon Arm United Church and they were together until his passing in December, 2000.

Joyce worked in the packing house during WWII and her work career included Beer’s Ladies Wear, Wilcox Hall, the Bank of Nova Scotia and John L. Paul Jewelry on Front Street. Ken and Joyce travelled to many countries and their best times together were when they headed south to Arizona or to Hawaii. One of the most important family trips was to Holland in 1995 for the 50th anniversary of the Liberation of Holland. Ken, Joyce, Gaye and Glenda celebrated this special day in the city of Apeldoorn with Canadian War Veterans honored and appreciated by Dutch citizens.

Ken and Joyce were members of the Salmon Arm Kinsmen Club and were active members of the Salmon Arm Curling Club. They built life long friendships in Salmon Arm during these years.  They loved their friends and family and life in Salmon Arm. In 1959, they built a new home near North Broadview Road and Joyce lived there for 64 years. She moved to Piccadilly Terrace in 2023 and enjoyed the company of residents and the staff there. In March, she had a heart attack and stroke which lead her to the Shuswap Lake General Hospital followed by Long Term Care at Hillside. Her care in the hospital and at Hillside was excellent.

Joyce was predeceased by her husband, Kenneth and sister and brothers, Eleanor Newton (Wally), George Wagner, Arthur Wagner (Elsie), Gordon Wagner (Norma) and Frank Wagner (Mary). She also was predeceased by her sister-in-laws, Betty-Lou Wagner, Gladys Beech (Roy) and Virginia Smiley (Ken) as well as her brother-in-law, Harold Cummings (Lorene). In later years of her life, George Sperle and Joyce spent many years supporting each other and they travelled extensively until the year of the Covid virus.  

George passed away in the fall of 2020.

Joyce is survived by her two daughters, Gaye (Strat) and Glenda (Keith); four grandchildren, Paige Leggat, Shanni Eckford (Mike), Gabrielle Tilt (Evan) and Michael Richens (Lorrie); great-grandchildren, Nylah (Nima), Will and Colm Eckford, Leighton, Lachlan and Alexandra Eyre, Oliver and Nessa Tilt, Dakota and Elias Jones and Cinnamin and Cadence Walker. Joyce is also survived by her brother, David Wagner, and sister, Elaine Wagner. Both David and Elaine reside in Salmon Arm.

Joyce now lies in peace next to Ken in the Mt. Ida Cemetery. Joyce’s family would like to thank the Doctors and Nurses at the Shuswap Lake General Hospital for their excellent care for Joyce in the spring as well as the Nurses and Aides at Hillside who lovingly cared for her during her final two months of life. Thank you to Dr. Levins who provided wonderful medical care for Joyce for more than twenty years. Thank you, also, to all the Wagner and Cummings clans of nieces and nephews who we all love dearly and to whom we are grateful for the endless support they have shared with us.