Marie Anne Cumming

Marie Anne Cumming, 104, of Oakland, California, died peacefully on August 19, 2025. Born on Christmas Day in 1920 in Yorkton, Saskatchewan, Canada, she was the daughter of Augustus and Maude Filion.

Over eight decades, she was a devoted mother to her six children: her eldest son, Victor, took his name from the father he never met, Victor Roberge, Marie's first husband, who died on the Western Front near the end of World War II. After moving from Canada to California, and as a young war widow with a young son, Marie went to work for a shipping firm along one of the piers in San Francisco. It was here that she met one of her dearest friends and the sister she never had, Peggy (née Cumming) Lange, who would introduce her to her brother, Ed, and shortly after Ed and Peggy's mother passed, Ed and Marie began a courtship.

On June 11, 1955, Marie and Ed were married in Burlingame, CA. Marie had five more children with Ed - Loretta, Edward, Robert, Victoria, and Rita. They moved from Burlingame to the Oakland Hills to raise their family. From that time on, the Lange and Cumming families not only shared every holiday celebration, but also every family birthday. Marie and Peggy cooked countless large dinners each year, and their children (including cousins, Mary, Kathy, and Becky) have the fondest memories of those parties.

The longest-lived of all friendships that Marie and Ed shared was with the "Bridge Group" (four couples that met at the Newman Center, a Catholic Church on the U.C. Berkely campus) where most attended college. For once a month over six decades, they gathered to play bridge into the wee hours of the night. The group also went on shared vacations, attended Cal football games, spent annual family camping trips at the "Lair of the Bear" in Pinecrest, and joined each other's various family events. Marie and Ed also shared long friendships with Ed's childhood friends, celebrating every 4rth of July. Marie also developed cherished friendships over 40 years with her fellow volunteers at the Providence Auxiliary at Alta Bates Summit Medical Center. In the early 1960's, Marie became an American citizen.

Like her mother, Marie was a deeply religious woman who never missed weekly mass, listening to the Catholic liturgy in recent years when she had become blind. Her final days were spent in prayer, reciting her favorites with her children at her side, rosary in hand. Marie was also a voracious reader and listened to books on tape up through her final days.

Marie's greatest joy and accomplishment were her children, upon whom she doted on to her last day. She relished her years cooking family meals and baking big batches of cookies and pastries with her mother, Maude. Her children recall these memories with fondness. Marie also enjoyed being a grandmother and great-grandmother.

At St. Paul's Towers, a retirement community where she lived the last 12 years, Marie was known as The Queen - not because of the way she held court, but rather because of her endless kindness to others, giving her a regal quality that endeared Marie to her friends, all of whom she knew by the unique sound and pitch of their voices. Her nurses and caregivers became part of her extended family. Even after a brain hemorrhage earlier this year, her sharp memory remained legendary.

Marie is survived by her six children, eleven grandchildren (Paul, Carolyn, Ian, Lauren, Christopher, Devon, Liam, Farrah, Malcolm, Oliver, and Satine), four great-grandchildren (Annaleigh, Weston, Teddy, and Clara) and many relatives in Montreal from her first marriage. She was predeceased by two younger brothers, Bill and John, as well as her husband Ed and his sister, Peggy.

A memorial service for Marie will be held on October 4 at 11:00 a.m. at Corpus Christi Church, 322 St. James Drive, Piedmont. Parking is located on 1 Estates Drive. In lieu of flowers, she hoped that friends and family might give to their favorite charity in her name.