Phyllis Nason Cummings Corcoran

GRAY – On Dec. 26, 2019 we lost Phyllis at age 95. She was born in 1924 in Hiram, and spent the next 10 decades as a Maine resident. Adept at everything necessary whether handling a workhorse, driving a tractor or baking cookies, Phyllis was hard-working, generous and a caring mother, grandmother and friend. Her ceaseless mind and memory fueled her nickname, “Gray News Junior”.As a child, she lived with her family in Hiram and South Portland before settling at Dutton Hill Farm in Gray. When their mother became terminally ill, Phyllis was “Mom” to the younger children. She graduated from Pennell Institute in 1941 and worked at the Gray Telephone Company.In 1943, she married Milo Cummings II of Gray, and they moved to the Cummings farm and began their own family. After his service in WWII, they moved to Cumberland. But a fatal accident left Phyllis a widow with five children under the age of 8. She became a housekeeper, and in 1955 she married Horace Corcoran and they had three more children. In 1967, the family moved to Freeport, then later returned to the farm in Gray. Phyllis, through these years, was a mother, a CNA at a nursing home at Pineland, and helped Horace run the Freeport poultry farm. Horace passed in 1979, but six of her eight children settled their families on adjacent lots. She became an involved grandmother, but traveled extensively with family. Venezuela, England, Prince Edward Island and many states felt her eagle eye, and there were few island nooks in Maine’s Casco Bay that escaped her notice. Beginning in the 80s, she rented a camp in Denmark–enabling the third and fourth generations to knit life-long family memories. Phyllis was able to live at home until 95 years of age, and has been cared for and loved tirelessly by her family, friends, and health care staff of Falmouth by the Sea, Friends-in-Home Care, and Compassus Hospice.Phyllis was predeceased by her parents; her nine siblings; a grandson; and one son, Milo Cummings III. She is survived by Earle Cummings of Windham, Catherine Cummings Wright of Cumberland, and Nancy Cummings Ashley, Daniel Cummings, Donald Corcoran, Betsy Corcoran and Bruce Corcoran of Gray; along with 13 grandchildren; and 26-plus great-grandchildren.Phyllis will be sadly missed but she is very deserving of her final rest. “My life’s been full, I savored much. Good friends, good times, a loved one’s touch.” In lieu of flowers, the family asks that you do a random act of kindness while thinking of Phyllis.