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Overseer Ruth Elma Cummings, the mother of Rep. Elijah Cummings, has passed. She was 91 years old.

Mrs. Cummings was one of 17 children born to the late Willie Cochran and Gussie Johnson Cochran on July 7, 1926 in Manning, South Carolina. She was educated in the public schools of Clarendon County, South Carolina. She met and married Ronald Cummings in 1945 and moved to Baltimore where they worked and raised their family.

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Mrs. Cummings became a member of Faith and Deliverance Church of Christ, where she was called to pastor. She established the Victory Prayer Chapel in the basement of her home. The church later moved to the corner of Walbrook Ave. and Monroe St. As the church grew, the congregation relocated to the Forest Park community, on Ayrdale Ave., in Northwest Baltimore. It was here that Pastor Cummings was elevated to overseer and she appointed Katherine Sykes as pastor. Eventually, Victory Prayer Chapel settled at its current home at 4848 Reisterstown Rd., in Northwest Baltimore.

Rep. Cummings had this to say about his mother: “Through her example, my mother taught me to lead with integrity and that service to others is the highest calling. Although my heart is heavy, I am grateful for the memories I have to share with my family, Victory Prayer Chapel, and the greater community of a phenomenal woman, who filled our lives with principled guidance and joy.”

We certainly are holding the entire Cummings family in our prayers.

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