Artist reflects on his journey

By Vivian (Makela) Sazama

What is the meaning of life? Why do I exist? What is my purpose in life? What is life all about anyway? These are questions that many of us may have asked, or maybe are still asking. They are questions that Bob Cummings of Frazee faced as a young man. He is quick to say that he sought the answers through means that many young men and women would use. He sought answers through drink, parties, money, nice cars, nice clothes, and the company of young ladies. 

Bob and Betty met in 1973. Contributed photo

“I was a hard worker. I was muscular and strong and did a lot of construction jobs, and I partied a lot. One summer I worked on the missile silos in North Dakota because it paid well. I knew deep inside that the partying wasn’t right, but did it anyway,” he said. “I was living a foolish and selfish life... it was all about me!” It wasn’t until his mid 20s that Bob came to the end of himself.    

“I had given up on God, but He hadn’t given up on me!” he said.

Bob’s great grandparents immigrated from Norway. Bob’s father came from a family of twelve children, living in Chicago.

“Dad had to leave home at age 14 to work, so he had a rough time of it,” said Bob. “Mom was a sweetheart. She was the one who basically raised us, as Dad was always busy either at work, or helping out at church or other functions. In the 1950s we had a room in our house on West Avenue in Detroit Lakes that we had turned into a neighborhood store, so Mom had her hands full.”

Bob was the third in a family of five children. “My dad worked for Bell Telephone putting up phone lines and poles and installing phone lines in people’s houses. Us kids went to Holy Rosary Catholic School. One day the teacher gave us an assignment to pick out something in the room to draw. I saw a picture of Christ on the Cross, so I decided to draw that. As I was drawing some of the other students began standing around me saying they thought it was good. The teacher then came and said the same thing. It was the first time that I felt I had something to offer. I went home that day and told my dad that I wanted to be an artist when I grew up. He said, ‘That’s OK, but you better learn something else too to make a living.’”    

After that I would maybe draw some cartoons, but didn’t try any other art until my senior year in high school. By then we had moved around a lot. From seventh through twelfth grade we were in Thief River Falls. In my senior year I decided to take an art class which I enjoyed very much. I received encouragement for my art and the paper even put out pictures of work I had done in class.”

Artist Bob Cummings and his wife, Betty, at Detroit Lakes Public Library, with many of his paintings on display through the end of July. Photo by Vivian Sazama. 

At age 19, Bob joined the Army for three years. “I really didn’t know what else to do,” he said. “I spent most of that time in Germany.” After his time in the Service Bob decided to use his G.I. Bill to pursue an interest he’d had since he was that fourth grader at Holy Rosary. “I really wanted to learn fine art,” he said. “But that meant I would have to go to the Twin Cities, which I didn’t want to do. So I went to the Alexandria Technical College for a two-year program in Commercial Art instead. I did well, but it really wasn’t my cup of tea.” A few years later Bob still had some of the G.I. Bill money left so decided to go to the Detroit Lakes Technical College for Sign Painting. “It was a good experience,” he said.

Over the years Bob was to use his sign painting skills in the Detroit Lakes area. He painted several highway billboard signs that ranged around 10-12 feet high by 25 feet wide. “I painted a sign for Lakes Processing north of Detroit Lakes on Highway 59, one for Ketter’s Meats in Frazee off Highway 10 and another sign for Miguel’s Mexican Restaurant in Detroit Lakes. I would take four by eight foot plywood that I attached together vertically on a frame, then place others horizontally across the top so that the height was twelve feet. I would then draw out the design and paint it.”

Bob was to also make murals at his church using chalk pastels. “I made one scene of the Crucifixion,” he said. But the one mural that he enjoyed the most was for the church Christmas play. “It was 11x45 feet,” he said. “It filled the front of the church, then wrapped around to both sides. I made the framework of two by two’s, then stretched a canvas over the frame. Someone in Fargo was so kind as to donate the canvas.”

Throughout the years Bob worked construction, then decided to try a maintenance job at the Frazee Care Center. “It was winter and construction was done for the season so I thought why not,” he said. “I thought I would just work there for a year as it really wasn’t something I wanted, but I ended up staying there for 24 years! I learned a lot there,” he said.

Bob’s painting “Time to Dream”

In 1973 Bob met his wife Betty after giving his life to Christ and said of her, “She had something I had not seen in anyone else before!” and quotes, Proverbs 31:10-11, ‘An excellent wife who can find? She is far more precious than jewels or gold.’ He and Betty have five sons and a daughter, and 20 grandchildren and three great grandchildren. One of their grandsons helped Bob in publishing a booklet he wrote of his life and testimony entitled ‘Once Upon A Time’ an allegory. In it he refers to his younger life when he was seeking answers to those questions, as being in a swamp, which he calls the “Slough of Despair”. It was only after being in a “pit of hopelessness and depression” that he came to the end of himself and asked God to help him, now over 50 years ago. He encourages the reader not to wait and he asks, ‘What will you do with your life?’

Bob goes on to say that he and Betty have had many struggles through the years, including both having had health issues. Betty had cancer and Bob also was diagnosed with multiple myeloma in 2019. It was a battle for six and a half years, but thankfully, Bob is now in remission. Through it all they both feel they have had ‘blessings beyond their imagination’.

When nearing retirement Bob began pursuing his love of fine art. His oil paintings depict scenes that hold meaning to him. “They have become a part of me,” he said.

Bob’s painting “Early Morning Sunrise”

A number of Bob’s original paintings and prints are on display in the Detroit Lakes Library until the end of July. Alongside the paintings Bob has descriptions to help bring the viewer in. Beside his painting entitled, “Time to Dream” Bob wrote, “Breathing hard and exhausted at sunset, we would rest along the shoreline at one of our favorite spots, and watch the fireflies gossip with wonder. It was a dream come true.” 

Bob’s book can be purchased on Amazon