Molly Jacobs Cummins

Molly Jacobs Cummins

by Judy (Earle) Waters

Unlike other profiled classmates, Molly Jacobs Cummins takes us all the way back to her childhood to begin. She had the distinction of being the youngest of ten children in her family of eight girls and two boys. When Molly was born, her oldest sibling was already 22 years old. She says the best thing about being the baby in such a large family was that all of the older kids spoiled her. The worst thing was that they all wanted to tell her what to do. Molly grew up in a small house near 35th Street and 24th Avenue in Rock Island. Her father worked at - and later retired from - John Deere Plow & Planter Works. Molly attended Denkmann Elementary School and Washington Jr. High before heading off to high school.

During her freshman year at Washington Jr. High, she met Bill Lofgren, who was then a sophomore at Rocky. They began dating, and she and Bill spent a lot of time at her parents' cabin on the Mississippi River where they enjoyed many hours of boating and water skiing with Molly's family. They also got involved with the Sid Selhost ski team on the Rock River and spent most of the summer skiing together.

The summer prior to Molly's sophomore year at Rocky, she met Sharon and Karon Sloan, twin cheerleaders from the class of '61. "They encouraged me to try out for cheerleading and spent the rest of the summer teaching me the cheers," she says. Molly says that she felt so privileged to later be chosen as a sophomore cheerleader and adds, "It was the best time of my high school days." She and Bill attended the dances after the Friday night games. "Bill and I loved to dance, and we entered dance contests and won several record albums, which was a big deal back then!"

Ultimately Molly and Bill married, and their first daughter, Sue, was born, followed by another daughter, Julie, and a son, Jeff, within the next five years.

Sue, now 49, resides in Summerville, South Carolina where she runs the family business along with her sister, Julie, now 47, and Julie's husband, Steve. Sue has a son, Chase, who is 17 and a high school senior, and a 15-year-old daughter, Sara, who is a sophomore. Sue lost her husband to cancer a year and a half ago. Julie and Steve have no children. Molly's son, Jeff, 44, retired from the military after 23 years and resides in Columbia, South Carolina. He has a 21-year-old daughter, Holly.

In 1968, Molly and Bill divorced. Molly married Don Worden in 1970 and had another daughter, Sherri, who will turn 40 this year. Sherri lives in Des Moines with her two children, Emma, 12, and Donnie, 8. Molly and Don divorced in 1985.

While Molly's first child, Susie, was young, Molly worked at McCabe's Department Store in Rock Island but, for the most part, she was a full-time mother while her children were growing up. She had always wanted to work in the airline industry. Four years after her marriage to Don ended, Molly was working as an administrative assistant to the executive director at the Quad City Travel and Tourism Bureau associated with the Rock Island Chamber of Commerce. While working at a golf tournament, Molly was introduced by her cousin, State Senator Denny Jacobs, to her now wonderful husband, Lindy Cummins. Lindy and Molly dated for three years, but she never thought that she would ever marry again. "Never say ever," says Molly now. "That was almost twenty-five years ago." Lindy hails from the small farming town of Athensville, Illinois and is a graduate of the Missouri University of Science & Technology in Rolla.

Molly and Lindy bought a home in Rock Island, and Molly went back to school to learn more about travel and tourism. Shortly after completing her classes at Trans World Travel Academy in St. Louis, she went to work at the Quad City Airport for TWA. "I worked different positions for TWA, including a customer relations position at Lambert Field in St. Louis, and I boarded the plane to fly to work in the morning and flew home in the evening," Molly remembers. "I really enjoyed working for TWA up until they sold out to American Airlines."

In 1998, after Molly's oldest daughter and her husband moved to South Carolina, Molly and Lindy decided that Lindy would semi-retire and they too would move to Summerville, South Carolina to be near the kids and grandchildren and to escape the Quad City winters. Since moving to Summerville, Molly has been employed by AirTran Airways and the U.S. Department of State at the Charleston Passport Center. Lindy continues as a civil engineer at Thomas & Hutton Engineering Company.

Molly and Lindy are active at Knightsville United Methodist Church where she serves on the Staff/Pastor Parish Relations Committee and he is a trustee. They like to play golf and fish. Molly enjoys biking and walking and has recently taken up quilting and is enjoying that as well.

Molly and Lindy are now trying to figure out the last chapter in their lives. They hope to retire in a couple of years and plan to live in Illinois part of the year, keeping their home in South Carolina for the winters and good times with the children and grandchildren they adore. At one time, they owned a 5th wheel that they kept at Hilton Head and are contemplating motor home traveling in the future to visit family and friends. They've not ruled out going to Florida in the winter, but spring, summer, and fall will be in Illinois. Lindy's mother still has a farm with a seven-acre pond near Jacksonville, and Molly and Lindy enjoy time with family there.

Molly says, "Time passes so quickly, and I am so blessed to have known all of my classmates at Rocky. It was the best time of my life, and I will always remember how much fun my high school days were and especially my sophomore year. I am so much looking forward to the 50th class reunion and would enjoy hearing from the classmates of 1962 at lcummins402@aol.com

Sue and family	Julie and Steve
Jeff	Sherri and family