PHIPPSBURG – Mary Ellen (Remeschatis) Cummings, 83, died on May 12, 2023 at Mid Coast Hospital after a brief illness and over 20 years of courageous living with chronic health conditions and physical disability. At her death, she was surrounded with the love of her children and grandchildren.
Mary Ellen was born in Brooklyn, NY in 1939 to Ralph and Ellen Remeschatis. She attended high school in Manitowoc, Wisc. where her family settled, and then pursued a career in nursing at the Massachusetts General Hospital School of Nursing, where she graduated in 1960.
Mary Ellen Remeschatis married Robert (Bob) Cummings of Bath in 1962, and she and Bob moved to Phippsburg to a home on Drummore Bay. After having three children from 1963 to 1967, she was elected tax collector and treasurer for the Town of Phippsburg in 1970. She embraced public service and worked diligently in these positions for 29 years. She also maintained her nursing license until 2018. In the 1980s she worked as a nurse for Hyde School and for Dr. Charles Burden as well as serving in her town position.
In 2000, Mary Ellen was hospitalized with pancreatitis, and the ensuing complications made it difficult at times for her to walk or stand. However, she later returned to work as a Unit Secretary at Maine Medical Center in Portland on the same floor (R3) where she had been a patient.
After retiring, Mary Ellen continued to serve others, volunteering at Maine Medical Center, preparing free income tax returns for others through the Tax-Aide program and serving as treasurer of the Cosmopolitan Club of Bath. She was an active member of the Phippsburg Congregational Church.
Mary Ellen is survived by three children, Brenda Cummings (Tim Richter) and Stephen Cummings (Darla Coy) of Bath and Charli Cummings of Phippsburg; as well as brother and sister-in-law Rick and Linda Remeschatis of Wisconsin. She is also survived by seven grandchildren; two great-grandchildren; and two nieces. Her husband Bob Cummings died in 2016.
A celebration of the life of Mary Ellen Cummings will be held on Saturday, June 3 at 2 p.m. at the Phippsburg Congregational Church.
A full obituary will be found on the David E. Desmond and Son Funeral Home website at http://www.desmondfuneralhomes.com.
Contributions in her memory may be made to:
the Social Justice Fund of the Phippsburg
Congregational Church or:
the Town of Phippsburg’s Good Will fund
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