I can say with confidence that in forty years of working for the media, I have not known a more obliging and dedicated person than Varvara (Varya for us) Cummins. I remember Varya forcing her husband to take her to the subway by car at four in the morning, so that she could be in his office by dawn. Not without reason, when the management of the media instituted the honorary title of “Employee of the Year”, Varvara Cummins was one of the first to receive it.
Varvara began her work at the Russian Department as an announcer and translator of breaking news received by teletype from the media central news service. Soon she became the host of such shows as “Events of the Day” and “Panorama” or the morning show, which started at midnight of our time. Over time, Varvara took of deputy head of the Russian service, then headed by Natalya Clarkson. After Clarkson was transferred to another position, Varvara was asked to take his place. Varya was hesitant: this meant taking responsibility for all the staff of the Russian department and for the maintenance of all, almost around the clock, programs in Russian. But Varya was persuaded. Carrying a heavy load, she managed to earn the respect of her colleagues and subordinates, not to let down the quality of Russian programs.
The last period of work on the “media” was marked by the return of Varvara to the air as a senior correspondent. Then the listeners, accustomed to her voice, had the opportunity to get acquainted with the appearance of Varvara: she became the host of the program Dialogue, broadcast live on television and on the Internet. On this weekly show, Varvara Cummins discussed current political events in the United States and Russia with guest experts at the studio.
My personal relationship with Varya at first was purely collegial in nature, it gradually turned into friendship. Then I started to find out what kind of person she was and how her destiny had developed before joining media.
Varya was born in Kiev. His family belonged to the city’s wealthy Karaite elite. Her paternal grandfather was a well-known doctor in Kiev, and even under Soviet rule the family continued to be relatively prosperous. But during the German occupation, Varvara’s father was shot. Mother, together with Varya and her very young son Sergei, began to work in Germany.
I think that’s when Varya developed a heightened sense of responsibility: she herself was a child, she had to take care of her three-year-old brother while her mother was at work. Varya continued to care for him and later followed him, after the war ended, to a camp for displaced persons. There the mother met and married a man who became Varya’s stepfather. Like many others, he strove at the first opportunity to get out of defeated Germany somewhere in another country, even if it meant engaging in physical labor unusual for an intellectual. Such an opportunity arose when displaced people were invited to work in the coal mines in Belgium. The work was hard and poorly paid. Varya dutifully studied in a French-speaking school, and in her free time she helped her family in every possible way.
When she was 18, Varya married Clifford Cummins, who was serving in the US Army in Belgium. Soon the newlyweds were transferred to a base in the United States, where their son Sasha was born. His daughter Susanna followed him.
Over time, the family moved to Washington, where Clifford joined the civil service. With their help, their mother, stepfather and Varya’s beloved brother Sergei also moved to America. After receiving an American education, they brilliantly graduated from the prestigious Princeton University. And Varya had to combine: caring for children, cleaning and studying at university, where she entered a master’s degree in French literature. With all this, she used her knowledge of languages to help financially secure her own home in one of Washington’s suburbs.
Subsequently, when Varvara became a skilled employee of media, the Cummings purchased an old mansion in the capital city itself. She had excellent taste and Clifford had “hands of gold”; they have rejuvenated and improved this house. We, his former colleagues, have memories of Varya’s Christmas vacation associated with this house, largely with refreshments and dancing.
If you know Varya only at work, with her uncompromising sense of responsibility not so much to the authorities as to the auditor, then one could not see her other qualities. In fact, in addition to work, Varya had many interests: she was fond of theater, music, contemporary art. She herself was feminine and spectacular, she liked to dress well. In her youth, when money was scarce, she sewed dresses for herself. Few people knew that Varvara had a great sense of humor and made his close friends laugh by impersonating common acquaintances. And here is another hidden quality – Varya’s kindness and responsiveness. She never refused to help anyone and generously supported charities, sometimes going without money until the next payday; She couldn’t count money.
After years of working for media, Barbara has retired. However, it was not necessary to rejoice at leisure; Varya was diagnosed with an aggressive form of cancer. She had three months to live. We were all shocked and deeply saddened by this verdict. But we underestimated Varvara: Varya decided to live. She underwent operations, repeated sessions of chemotherapy and radiotherapy, kidney dialysis… followed a special diet, allowed her to try new types of treatment… and continued to live: months , years… two whole decades. With will and deep faith, surrounded by the care of faithful friends and her son Sasha, she achieved her goal – to survive her husband, whom she was afraid to leave without her care.
Mark Pomar, former director of the media Russian Service
What I remember very well, and even after 40 years I remember, is Barbara’s special soul, her good heart and her unique gift for calming everyone down. Whatever problems we faced in the Russian service, we could always count on his sound advice, common sense and absolute composure. Even when we covered the 1986 Challenger disaster and the Chernobyl disaster, Barbara always kept her cool, ready to rush edit the breaking news or fill in the studio at the last minute. “Don’t panic,” she often told us when we tried to relay the latest news from the ticker.
In the 1980s, the Russian service worked 24 hours a day, seven days a week. The work was difficult and complex, and many journalists were constantly under pressure. There were often personnel issues, and I found myself in Barbara’s office, seeking refuge from these issues, and diligently followed her sage advice. His benevolence, openness and incredible ability to find elegant solutions to the most intractable situations, gave me hope that we could resolve all existing conflicts, face all difficulties and continue to create great programs.
I will always remember her as one of the most wonderful people I had the privilege of knowing and working with. Eternal memory
