Cummings family leads caroling visit to 102-year-old Rockland neighbor’s door

They arrived aboard a pickup truck and sports utility vehicle at the Rockland Road home of Marvin Reifsnyder about 3 p.m. on Christmas Day, gathering on his sun porch.

“They” were a local family of 10, plus a half dozen other friends and neighbors.  The weather was sunny, the group in full voice, singing a Christmas carol when 102-year-old “Uncle Marvin” appeared on his deck, lively but frail, eyes dimmed by age but twinkling on this day.  The voices made the inevitable hearing aids dispensable.

This caring Rockland family – the Cummings – called on their World War II Navy veteran and neighbor to make his Christmas bright, singing Christmas hymns and songs before the doubtful baton of … well, me!

Neighbors brought a surprise dose of Christmas spirit to the Rockland door of World War II vet Marvin Reifsnyder. Photo Malcolm Barr Sr.

Marvin, home alone this Christmas except for one of his two caregivers – this one named Sue – welcomed Clark and Anne Marie Cummings and their eight children, plus friends Heidi and son Cameron, me and my wife, Carol, and our son, active duty U.S. Air Force staff sergeant, Malcolm Barr Jr., with a smile on his face and, maybe, a song in his heart.

Antonia, at 23 the oldest of the Cummings siblings, said for all of them and the rest of us, “Being able to share in the joy of Christmas with a World War II veteran is a wonderful reminder to the children of what we owe to men like Marvin.

“As children of America, it is important that they respect what men (and women) have fought for to make our country the nation that it is, and to honor them.”

Marvin Reifsnyder, who entered his 103^rd year on Dec. 10, was born the year war broke out in Europe in 1914 and was aboard a destroyer anchored off the Pacific island of Iwo Jima the day Japan capitulated to American forces in 1945.  A Pennsylvania native, he has lived in Front Royal since 1986.  He played golf on the Shenandoah Valley course into his mid-90s and, despite diminishing eye sight, to this day he is driven to the Elks Lodge daily to play a couple of hours of pool.  He worked for the Department of the Army at the Pentagon almost 50 years, and was married for 69 years.  His wife Virginia died in 2006.

“Singing for Marvin on Christmas Day was a gift, not just for him but for all of us,” said Antonia Cummings at the end of the brief concert.

“It was an honor to share this day with this veteran of the Second World War,” said, Staff Sgt. Barr, himself an Iraq vet visiting his Rockland Road parents for the holidays.

(The Cummings children taking part were Marcus, 5, the youngest; Louisa, 8; Marri, 11; James, 14; Ioan, 16; Christian, 18; Joseph, 21; and Antonia, the oldest, plus their parents, Clark and Anne Marie.  Friends and neighbors included my son and wife Carol; and Heidi and her son, Cameron)