Helen Margaret Cummings, daughter of the late George A. and Helen D. Cummings passed away on November 12, 2023. Born in Dorchester, she moved to Milton in 1964. She was a graduate of Girls’ Latin School in 1950 and of Emmanuel College in 1954, majoring in French and minoring in Spanish and Political Science. She obtained a Master’s Degree in Education from Boston State College in 1955, and a Master of Arts degree in French studies from Middlebury College in 1966 where she was graduated with the “Prix d’Excellence”. She spent the summers of 1952 and 1953 at Laval University in Quebec City, with French the focus of her program. In 1955 she was awarded a Fulbright Scholarship for a year’s study in Besancon, France. She was first appointed a permanent teacher in the Boston Public Schools in 1957 at Boston Technical High School, the only woman on the staff at that time. In January of 1963, she was appointed Department Head of Foreign Languages at Girls’ High School in Roxbury, the youngest woman ever with that title in the Boston Public Schools at that time. She remained there until 1968 when she transferred to Girls’ Latin School, also as the Department Head of Foreign Languages. In 1983, she was appointed Program Director for Foreign Languages in the newly created Department of Curriculum in the Boston Public Schools headquarters on Court Street. In that role, her responsibilities included promoting foreign language studies, grades 4-12, as well as obtaining grants for professional development for teachers. She established the study of the Japanese language, and also established student exchange programs with France and Israel. Throughout her career, she was active in several foreign language organizations. She was active locally and nationally in American Association of Teachers of French, serving as national vice-president from 1983 to 1985, in charge of a national summer program for teachers in Avignon, France. Her years of service to the Massachusetts Association of Foreign Languages culminated as conference chair in 1992 and as president in 1993. Her association with the Boston-Strasbourg Sister City Association began in 1983. This organization of public-spirited citizens began, in 1983, an exchange program for Boston Public high school students to spend three weeks in Strasbourg, France, Boston’s sister city. The program was for deserving students who would not otherwise be able to take part in such a program. Every other year, students from lycées in Strasbourg would come to Boston for three weeks. Helen was recognized by the French government three times for her support for francophone and francophile activities throughout her long career. She was honored with the award of

Commander in the Association of Academic Palms in 1998. Her many trips to France were culminated in 2005 with reunions with her dear friends in Besancon for which they called her “pilgrimage” – fifty years since 1955. She leaves her devoted cousins, John F. Dynan, Jr., Anne Metrick, Maureen Mannix, Janet Craven, Christine Lynch, Robert Dynan and Kathleen McCarthy and many friends and colleagues. In addition to her late parents, she was also predeceased by her dear friend, Samuel W. Allen.

Mass of Christian burial will be celebrated Friday, November 17th at Our Lady of Visitation Parish, St. Mary of the Hills, 29 St. Mary’s Road., MILTON at 10:00 am. Interment in New Calvary Cemetery, BOSTON. Relatives and friends are respectfully invited to attend.

Visitation will be held Friday, November 17th at the Dolan Funeral Home, 460 Granite Ave., EAST MILTON SQUARE from 9:00-9:30 am prior to the mass.

In lieu of flowers, donations in memory of Helen may be made to the Dana Faber Cancer Institute, 450 Brookline Avenue, Boston, MA 02215, Dept. of Hematology/Oncology (www.dana-farber.org) in recognition of the exemplary care given to her by Dr. David C. Fisher and nurse Kecia Boyd.