Cummings, Carolyn Gray (Parham)

Carolyn Gray Cummings

Wednesday, 01 July 2009


Carolyn Gray Cummings, age 78, recently of Malvern, died Sunday, June 28, 2009 in the Malvern Nursing Home. She was born on November 23, 1930 in Dallas County, Arkansas to the late Wiley Jennings and Louise Ione Gray Parham.   Reared and receiving her early education in Thornton, she graduated with an Associate’s Degree in nursing from St. Vincent Infirmary School of Nursing.  As a registered nurse, she had worked for over 30 years in the field, including positions held at the Missouri Pacific Hospital and St. Vincent Infirmary, and was for a time Assistant Director of Nursing at the Arkansas State Hospital.  She was a United Methodist, had been a member of Berkley United Methodist in Texas, the Markham Street United Methodist Church in Little Rock, and attended Temperance Hill United Methodist Church as a child.  Carolyn loved to sing, to listen to opera, and was an avid reader.  Throughout her life in the medical profession, she always kept up with advances being made in health care.  She was a doting and loving grandmother to her only grandchild, Joseph.

She is survived by two daughters, Melanie Louise Cummings of Louisiana and Laura Elizabeth Orlando of Austin, Texas; by three brothers, Edward Parham of Fordyce, Arkansas, Robert Parham of Hope, and Charles Parham of Malvern; two sisters, Lola Daniels of Springdale, Arkansas, and Mary Beth Mann-Carney of Springfield, Missouri; and by a grandson, Joseph A. Orlando of Austin, Texas.

Carolyn was also preceded in death by a brother, Wiley Parham, Jr. and the father of her children, Joseph Spencer Cummings.

A graveside service will be held on Tuesday morning, June 30, 2009 at ten o’clock at the Temperance Hill Cemetery in Dallas County.  A visitation in the nearby Temperance Hill United Methodist Church will precede the service beginning at nine o’clock.

Online condolences may be sent via jafunkfuneralhome.com.

Last Updated ( Thursday, 09 July 2009 )


© Jamila Sloan Barahona 2004~ Present~ ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. Material on this site may NOT be commercially reproduced, displayed, modified or distributed without the prior written permission of the copyright holder. You may copy the content for your personal use, but please acknowledge this website as the source material.