Rodeo, racehorses and a dedication to others
Catholic priest
FATHER DAN CUMMINGS will be remembered first and foremost as a muchloved and respected parish priest who always put other people first.
He took his religious vows seriously, was a man of strong principles and stuck to them all his life.
He was also a gifted horseman, a national rodeo champion and a highly successful breeder, trainer and handler of harness racehorses.
Fr Dan served most of his working life in the Dunedin diocese of the Catholic Church, as a parish priest at St Mary’s (Kaikorai), St Bernadette’s (Forbury) and St Francis Xavier’s (Mornington), among others. He served as chaplain for Dunedin and Wakari hospitals and was police chaplain for 14 years.
During the Aramoana shootings in 1990, when 13 people were killed by a lone gunman, Fr Dan was the parish priest in Port Chalmers and police chaplain, both roles in which he worked closely with families who lost loved ones.
As director of Catholic Education for Otago and Southland for eight years, he was involved in the amalgamation of St Philomena’s and Christian Brothers into Moreau College and later Kavanagh College.
Fr Dan was diagnosed with terminal cancer about 15 months before his death but decided not to seek treatment. He died, aged 75, at home on the family farm at Tuapeka Flat on March 28.
Daniel John Cummings was born on February 23, 1945, the third of eight children of Cliff and Joan Cummings. Five generations of his family have farmed at Tuapeka Flat since the 1860s.
He attended St Patrick’s School in Lawrence and went on to boarding school at St Kevin’s College in Oamaru. He entered the priesthood straight out of school, beginning his studies at a junior seminary in Christchurch, where he also completed a BA degree.
He left the seminary for a couple of years to complete his master’s degree at the University of Otago, then returned to Holy Cross College in Mosgiel to complete his religious studies. He was ordained in Dunedin in 1972.
During his studies in Mosgiel, he joined the Outram Musical Society, laying the foundation for a lifelong love of music he shared with his parishioners. He also joined the Outram Rodeo Club, of which he was secretary for 13 years.
His elder brother, Peter, said ‘‘Danny’’ loved rodeo and was very good at it. He loved the competition, the social life and maintained those friendships all his life.
He held a New Zealand record for bulldogging — catching a steer on horseback, wrestling it to the ground and securing it in eight seconds flat. The record stood for many years.
Julie Davie recalls her brother kept a “tin calf” (a 44gallon drum) and a rodeo horse handy to St Mary’s in Kaikorai and Holy Cross College so he could practise his calfroping skills.
In the mid1980s, Fr Dan told a Motueka newspaper he took up rodeo as a relaxation from the rigours of religious study.
Under the headline ‘‘High priest of rodeo’’, he said he used to compete in steer riding and bareback, but since becoming a priest he opted for “less risky” events — calf roping and steer wrestling.
“Steer wrestling looks hazardous, I know, but it’s not a thing I find terribly risky or frightening or I would not do it,” he said.
While religion did not play any particular part in his chosen sport, “if religion has lost its contact with life, it becomes religion without a purpose. It becomes religion for its own sake,” he told the newspaper.
After 25 years of service, Fr Dan took a year’s sabbatical leave to visit London, where he studied a theology paper at university. For the last three months, he went skiing and worked in a horse stable in France, experiences he thoroughly enjoyed.
His last parish posting was to St Thomas Aquinas parish in Winton, central Southland, where he served for 14 years, handy to a racetrack and stables to train young horses in his spare time.
After his retirement, he returned to the family farm to focus on breeding and training young racehorses, but continued to relieve as a locum priest throughout Otago and Southland. He also celebrated Mass in Lawrence three or four times a week.
FR DAN was well known and respected in harness racing circles and was a driving force and secretary of Southern BredSouthern Reared, a consortium of OtagoSouthland harness racing owners and breeders.
Tuapeka Lodge was established by his mother, Joan Cummings, in 1965 and, since her death in 1977, has been run jointly in a family partnership with his brother Peter and sister Julie.
The stud was founded on two outstanding broodmares, Sakuntala and Maureen’s Dream, and has bred a succession of top racehorses including the New Zealand Cup and Miracle Mile winner Iraklis, Ideal Scott, Brad Adios, Tuapeka Knight, Ermis and Bonnie Joan.
The stud is the oldest surviving seller of yearlings at the annual New Zealand Standardbred Yearling Sales at Addington. It topped the sale 10 times between 1977 and 2008, the last time selling a yearling for $250,000, a New Zealand record that still stands.
“Danny was the brains and loved the breeding, which was Mum’s forte as well,” Julie said.
“He was well respected as a very good horseman, but also for his exceptional knowledge of training and breeding of racehorses.
“That’s why the Tuapeka Lodge partnership has lasted so long, in that for the three of us it wasn’t lifedependent. We all had other lives and we weren’t financially dependent on the business.”
Family, friends and business associates all commented on Fr Dan’s calm manner and exceptional skill working with horses, skills that carried over to his dealings with people.
“People enjoyed his quiet counsel,’’ Julie said. “He always put other people first, was a great listener and would listen to everyone, but we would all end up doing things the way Danny wanted it done. And noone ever knew how it happened.”
His family recall his innovative use of technology, early adoption of video clips to market the stud’s yearlings and his development of a website long before these tools became common.
He adapted human heart rate sensors to monitor the heart rate of his racehorses so he could tell how fit they were and how quickly they recovered. Other trainers now commonly use this technology.
His family said he packed a lot in to the last year of his life and “had a great time.”
He trained two and threeyearold horses to win races, visited the Hanmer Springs hot pools, visited a couple of studs and vineyards, and had a trip to Australia with friends, all things he would never normally do.
Fr Dan had a huge circle of friends spread all over the country and will be sadly missed by them, former parishioners and a large extended family.
— Rob Tipa