Barbara Cummings West

Ponte Vedra Beach - "Dance in the water" and "sing in the sun" was just a part of Bobbie West's key to longevity. Born in Brooklyn, NY in 1916 during the Spanish Flu outbreak, her father George Cummings, a recent graduate of Cornell Architectural School, moved his family to Binghamton, NY to start his business and raise his family. She lived in Binghamton until her marriage to A.Ward West in 1940. Prior to her marriage, she attended the University of Rochester and Cambridge University in England. She was a wonderful writer who would write short memoirs about her experiences growing up during the Great Depression, her travels through the world, her observations on life and death and her struggles in a male dominated profession. She wrote poetry and plays, acted, danced and loved to sing especially in front of an audience. Bobbie also had careers in radio, TV, advertising and public relations.

Ward and Bobbie raised a family in Binghamton, New Hartford and Clinton, NY before retiring to Sea Island, GA in 1980 and moved to Vicars Landing in 1995. While at Vicars, Bobbie started the first Book Club and chaired the first Ladies' Luncheon for new members. She ran Trivia for five years, enjoyed the Legacy group and was on the staff of Vicars Voice; as Arts Chairman, she hosted monthly art shows of members' works.

She traded golf & tennis for Bocce & Croquet, wrote and participated in several plays and, to honor 60 years after the end of World War II, she published and edited a book of memoirs by 50 Vicars Veterans. She always enjoyed her association with her friends at Vicars.

She was preceded in death by her husband of 61 years, & her eldest daughter, Anne. She is survived by her children Sally, Austin & David & their spouses, three grandchildren & their spouses, four great-grandchildren, Wendee Rogers & family, plus a multitude of friends & chosen family who loved her.

A service will be held at Vicars Landing at a later date. Interment will be in the Columbarium of the Siasconset Chapel in Nantucket where her husband's ashes are interred.

Last year, on Bobbie's 107th birthday, Vicars dedicated its pool as The Bobbie West Aquatic Center. Donations can be made to Vicars Landing Foundation-Bobbie West Pool Fund, 1000 Vicars Landing Way, Ponte Vedra Beach, FL 32082, or Community Hospice of Northeast FL, 4266 Sunbeam Rd, Jax, FL 32257, or Dana-Farber Cancer Center, 450 Brookline Ave, Boston, MA 02215.