Cummings remembered
Tom Cummings, the second-generation owner of Cummings' Candy and Coffee Shop in downtown Butler, died Monday.
His 89th birthday would have been today.
His father, Bill, and uncle, Pete, were the first owners of the shop, which has existed in Butler since 1905. Cummings' Candy and Coffee has been at its Main Street location for 100 years.
Tom Cummings took over the shop after World War II, when he returned from serving in the U.S. Navy.
Jim Chiprean, owner of Miller's Shoes on Main Street near Cummings', said he's known Cummings for most of his life.
“I grew up with his kids. My grandfather owned the fruit market next to it, and we used to play in the candy store,” Chiprean said. “He had a great store.”
He described Cummings as a stalwart and well-respected.
Bob Dandoy, past president of Butler Downtown, said Cummings was a gracious and sweet business man.
“Like many, many people, I have known Tom Cummings since my childhood. And when I was a small child, I used to go to Cummings,” Dandoy said.
He remembered going to the Main Street shop while in grade school, high school and college. And then he took his children there.
“Now they're taking their children to Cummings,” he said.
The store became an essential meeting spot. Dandoy said it was always tradition in his family to stop at Cummings the morning they left for a family vacation.
“Tom was the one that nurtured that. It's a destination in downtown Butler to go to Cummings,” Dandoy said.
In addition to owning the shop, Cummings was a 1944 Butler High School graduate, a World War II veteran who served in the U.S. Navy, and he played semi-professional football in Butler in the late 1940s.
He is survived by three sons, including Barry, who now owns the store.
