Donald Edward Cullum

 

 

 

 

 

(I sent the below to Dad for Fathers Day in 2003)

Some of my memories with you Dad

 

My first memories of you were before I was four years old.   These memories  include us living on the farm near the Little Richland Creek where I remember you working on the well, fighting snakes with Ruff, cutting trees with a chain saw, you hauling hay and killing snakes that were in the hay, us drinking coke from a coke cooler at the creek, swimming in the creek, you building a bedroom, building a  bathroom,  building a large built in desk in the living room and me riding way up in the air on your shoulders while I hung onto your forehead.  I remember playing with and exploring the mirror that hung in our living room.  I recall getting bit by a spider and Timmy and Tommy killing or pretending to kill the spider.    I remember the taste of moon pies and RC Cola. I remember you burning your face and ears when you pulled us boys out of the burning car.   I remember Aunt Maggie Lou Ellis watching us boys as we squirmed in the pews at the Ellis Grove Church when You  were up in the Choir singing.

 

I remember moving from the farm, visiting at uncle Loyd’s house and the patience that you had for me after I cut my arm when I broke Uncle Loyd’s storm door window.  I remember moving to Haramond where you built us a Rabbit cage and put some rabbits in it.  I remember you bringing  home oranges and tangerines for us to eat and slinkys for us to push down the stairs.  Remember the tiny pet turtle got lost, then we found it in tea cup. 

 

In Kingston I remember you taking us kids to the plant so that we could slide down the emergency escape tubes at the power plant.   I remember you coming out in the yard so that I could show you that I could run faster than my shadow.  I remember you in the JCs, typing away on our typewriter.  You using an ink well and quill pen to make advertisements for the JCs.  You playing softball and us boys being bat boys.   I remember you taking us on trips to the Smokey Mountains and Falls Creek Falls and the swinging bridges.  Camping in the Smokey’s with all of Loyd’s and Janet’s families, a bear going in our tent when we slept.  Pictures with the Smokey Mountain Indians with their colorful head dress.  Salt water Taffy from the Smokey’s.     I remember you doing body work to the VW van.   Remember Tim got bit by snapping Turtle.  The dog wood tree blooming in back yard.  Going to Grandpa’s house for Christmas, waking up and running to warm our selves by the pot bellied stove that was warming the living room.  Hearing Santa and the reindeer. 

 

In Simsonia I remember you buying “Thunder” the pony for us.  I remember you building a toy horse out of a barrel to store the saddle on.  I remember you building a wood lathe out in the metal garage and you using the lathe to build small wooden bats and other toys for us boys.  Brownie the dog was a puppy then.   I remember expecting you to be real mad when you had to walk out in the muddy field and rescue me when I was stuck so deep that I could not take another step, you just picked me up out of the mud and carried me to the house.   Remember Grandpa Cullum coming to visit us at our house.  Tommy came to visit us.  Mark and Melanie Winters, Daryl and Clint Jones coming to visit us.  Thunder moved to Tommy’s house, we moved to ND. 

 

I remember living in a great big Hotel when we lived in Riverdale.  A rattle snake rattle in the display case in the lobby of the Hotel.   Joe getting stung by a bee and his whole body swelling up.

 

Then we moved to Hazen and lived in a basement apartment where you  painted a picture of a mountain lion.  I remember the church Christmas party where you told me you were going to be Santa’s helper.  I do not remember seeing you helping Santa but I remember sitting in Santa’s lap.  And then the toys we got for Christmas, lots and lots of toys.   While living in that apartment, I remember taking Grandpa Cullum’s pocket watch apart to see how it worked .  It quit working.

 

 

In Stanton I remember taking your big hunting knife with me as I roamed up and down the banks of the Missouri and Knife River.  I remember you showing us how to tie fish hooks and buying us a book on how to tie fish hooks.  Then how proud us kids were when we went off by ourselves and used what we learned to catch a big walley.  I remember you using magic markers to draw a steam boat on a bed sheet for some local celebration.  I remember you building us some real nice pinewood derby cars.  During those years I remember the vacations to Waverly and all the fun and swimming in the creeks during those vacations.   Sitting on Grandpa’s porch with all the other cousins.  Had a water fight with the cousins, with garden hose at Grandpa Cullum’s house.   Remember Danny when he was still in high school, talking about going to Vietnam.  I remember watching you and Uncle Loyd  trying to bring worms to the surface near  grandpa’s back porch by sticking 110 volt electricity wired to nails that you two stuck into the ground.   Watching Grandpa call and slop the hogs.   I remember using grandpa’s outhouse.   I remember us boys swinging on the vines in the woods with Tommy.  I remember at Aunt Janet’s house when Aunt Mary Lou checked for loose teeth then pulled my loose ones.  Remember Grandpa Frazee singing and telling stories.  The big Frazee family reunions in the park.  Back in Stanton,  I remember you building the corral and shed for Charlie Brown our horse.  I remember the horse back trip down the bank of the river, hobbling the horses, sleeping in the tent near the river.   Then the camping trip with Uncle Loyd and his family in the badlands, the morning when David cooked/burned all the bacon.

 

I remember you buying us the Honda 50  and Articat Snowmobile and the fun we had when we lived on the farm at Stanton.   Tim running into  a barb wire fence with the Honda 50, me untangling him from the barb wire.   Tim running into the porch with the snowmobile.   I remember Charlie Brown the pinto getting jealous and biting you when rode Midge the quarter horse for the first time.  I remember you teaching us to shoot rifles and shotguns.  Hunting pheasants with you and Ralph.  You hunting with Jim Aanerud and Ralph.  Tim, Joe and I shooting a real big great horned owl with bb guns, cutting its feet off, only to have it come back to life after the feet were gone.  Tim jumping from the hayloft onto one end of the make shift catapult, me on the other end being catapulted to the top of the hay loft.  Scooter our dog catching the wild baby ducks.   I remember the snowmobile and ice skating party.   I remember playing catch with a football with you.  Going on vacation in the green Plymouth Furry three.    Playing horseshoes and checkers with Uncle Lert while in Waverly.  Coming back from a Waverly vacation, some where on the road in the middle of the night the bugs were thick on the  windshield, we used coke for wind shield wiper fluid, it worked.  Vacationing in Yellowstone, seeing old faithful.   I remember writing letters to Uncle Danny when he was in Vietnam.  The giant Sequoias and driving “through” a giant hollowed out Sequoia,   Disney Land, San Francisco, Mexico.   The thrill of finding out that we were moving to Guam (in the middle of a North Dakota winter).   Driving down the Pacific Coast highway in the big blue Plymouth.

 

I remember loving the feel and the smell of the tropical air as we stepped off of the plane on Guam.  Riding in the back of the pickup on the way to our motel.  Living on the beach in a motel for a month.  Swimming in the ocean every day for a month.  Living within four miles of the ocean for two years.  The reef and tropical fish.  The coconut trees.  The jungle.  Lizards, snails, iguanas, fruit bats, tangan tangan trees, coconut crabs, the flowers, small sweet bananas and birds that do not fly but ran on the ground.   Listening to Janice Joplin on the radio, then hearing that she died.  Listening to “Aquarius” on Tim’s cassette player.  Listening to the song “Monday, Monday” while riding the bus to the Jr high school in Barragodda.  Listening to three Dog Night Sing “Jeremiah Was a Bull Frog” on the radio.  Colorful Island shirts and Friday fiestas.  Listening to “Hafa Day Totomaulic, how are you” and “put the lime in the coco nut” on the radio.  Tim, Joe and I wearing our Sunday best when we were Baptized at the Agana Baptist Church.  The Blonde who got “saved” every other Sunday at the Agana Baptist Church.  You being a Deacon at the Baptist Church.  Yamaha 60 and Suzuki 125. Cases of coke bottles delivered to our house.     The theaters.  The emergency room.  Flying fish and deep sea fishing in the deepest water in the world.   Being in the low side of a giant waves, looking up from in the boat and seeing only waves and fish flying out of the waves.  The big fish that we caught.  Two Lover’s Leap, swimming in a cave and thinking of the blue hole as I dived off the inarahahn cliffs.   At our urgent request, you finding a way to ship our Suzuki back from Guam.  Selling and giving everything away that we owned except what would fit in one crate. 

 

Staying two weeks in Hawaii.  Watching a young man at the Polynesian Culture Center as he  hulled a coconut with a sharp stick that was pounded in the ground and knowing from experience that the young man was skilled at what he was doing.  Carrying $25,000 in a brief case.  Leaving the briefcase in a car when we went shopping in a mall in California.  You buying a black two door Dodge Charger SE, cash.  Staying in a motel in Safford while we looked for a house in Thatcher.   Thinking it was cold in the winter in southern Arizona (compared to the last two winters on Guam).  Buying all new furniture.  The big cactus plants.  Mount Grahm.   Holly in the trees.  Pecans trees around our house.  Pecans everywhere on the ground at our apartment in Thatcher.    The giant Meteor Crater, Petrified Forest, Tombstone, boot hill and the OK Coral.  The book store in Tombstone where you found the “Wetzel” series of Zane Grey books that you had been looking for.   Scorpions under rocks.   Going shopping and buying a book every week at a book store.  The grand Canyon, snow in flagstaff.  Eating Gumbo Soup and playing football with you and guests in the courtyard by the pool on Thanksgiving.    Traveling to the edge of the state to find apache tears in a creek. 

 

Living on the edge of the Kentucky Lake for most of a summer.  The visiting and reunions.   Playing horseshoes.  Poison Ivy and poison oak.   Hauling hay on a hot day, then going to swim in the spring fed Blue Hole.  Smelling and tasting  the honey suckles and listening to the mocking birds.  Lots of time at Aunt Janet’s house. Van and his newborn baby (Allen)   Storing all our furniture in Aunt Janet’s Garage.   Driving the boat and running the trotline.  Alligator Gar and Catfish.  The smell and taste of reunions including Aunt Mary Lou’s sweet potato pie,  home made ice crème, Aunt Janet’s blackberries and biscuits, deep fried catfish  and hush puppies.   Reunions and worshiping with family at the Ellis Grove Church. 

 

Then moving up north and finishing the summer living on at a lake in New England.   Listening to the locals say “Pawk yaw Caw”.    Listening to “cat on a hot tin roof” and “smoke on the water”  on the radio.    Our furniture showed up, some of it missing and some of the boxes of books that did show up were not ours.   Living in the A frame by the river near New Market.   The river rising and falling with the tide of the nearby Atlantic Ocean.   Our new puppy, Kelly of Coleen of Kolan, the Irish Setter.   Joe’s over and under shotgun/rifle.   The New England fall and colorful leaves.  The deep snow.   The rock fences.  Tobogganing.   Boston.  Trips to Portsmouth to go to movies and to shop and buy books and drinking “frappes”. 

 

Driving across the US in a new van in the middle of the winter.  Tire chains were put on inside out.  Watching a genuine cowboy literally blowing the van  tire off of the rim at a service station.   Crossing the Rockies in the winter.    The Rain in Washington.  Living in a motel in Centralia.  Night Crawlers on the sidewalks.   Living on a farm with a barn near Chehalis.   The tarzan rope in the barn.  Camping at Spirit Lake on top of Mount St Helen.    Suzuki TM 125 dirt bike.  Racing the Dirt bike.  Poker run on the dirt bike.   Three Cullum boys riding across country in a bus to Waverly and back.  Going to the World Fair in Spokane.  Kelly the dog getting hit by a dead animal collectors truck and living through it.  On a clear day seeing Mt Rainier, Mt St Helen’s and Mt Hood from our house.

 

Staying at Little America during the moving trip to Rock Springs.  Attending my first ever football practice while living in a motel in Rock Springs.   Lots of rocks.  Tim and I running in high school track meets all around the state, traveling to the track meets in a large grey hound type bus, staying in motels with the track team.  .   Jackson Hole.   Seeing Wolf Man Jack at a car Show in Salt Lake City.   The pool table.  The ping pong table.  Tim’s  jeep.  Riding in the jeep and listening to  BTO, Bad Company, American Woman and “driving my Chevy to the Levy”.  Tim driving the jeep into the moving van. 

 

In Turtle Lake, Tim Driving the Jeep out of the moving van.  All three of us boys playing football while we were living with Ralph and Dorothy.    Buying a house in Turtle Lake.   Kelly the dog trying to chase Sand Hill Cranes, Sand Hill Cranes chasing kelly the dog.  The sound of Geese and Sandhill Cranes flying overhead.  You beating all of us boys in a foot race at our house.   Football, wrestling, track and baseball in the summer.   You playing softball.    Us boys helping you remodel the house.   You finishing the remodeling of the  bedrooms while we were at football camp.  Aunt Jane, Aunt Pearl, Sheila’s daughters  and Mark coming to visit us at our house.   Painting pictures on the walls in the basement.   Pool table in the basement.   Band in the basement.   Thanksgiving at our house with Gentry Butler and family.  Joe passing to me for several touchdowns.    Joe getting his knee drained before every football game.  Joe breaking most yards gained passing in same year that I broke record of most yards gained rushing.

 

Mount Rushmore.  The Alamo.  The river walk in San Antonio.  Go carts in San Antonio.  KOA in San Antonio.   Driving big motor home to Waverly.  First real big Cullum Family reunion.  Jimmy driving into ditch and through a fence, with me in car.  Billy flexing muscles for family reunion picture. 

 

Janet, Tommy, Beverly and Donna traveling with you in a motor home up to ND for a visit.  Camping out with them in the badlands.  Large fields of Sunflowers.  Blue fields of  flowering flax. 

 

Oil wells near your apartment in College Station.  Thanksgiving at your apartment in College Station.   Texas A&M Bonfire.  Tarantula spiders at your house in the country.   Wild flowers in your yard.   You building an A frame.   Tim, Kathie, Kaycee, Jessie, and Dusty moving to Texas. 

 

You were there when Diane and I got married.  You had breakfast with us the day after the wedding, just before Diane and I were to leave for our honey moon in Hawaii. 

 

Diane and I made the trip to your house at the river in Utah.  We saw dinosaur bones.   Remember the white bread and  white water rafting in the mountains?    Me pulling you back in the raft after you fell out?  Me laughing and wondering when it was my turn to jump in!   Diane running with Osca the dog.   Your heating system invention for your house in Utah.  Target practice with the pistol that I gave you.  Meeting you for thanksgiving at Jackson Hole when Diane and I delivered a water pump that you bought from Ralph.  The snow on the trees in Jackson Hole on the day we left. 

 

Your cabin by the lake near Hugo.   Osca, possums and armadillos.   Diane and I visiting you with six week old Eddie.   You coming up to Turtle Lake to visit when Tony was born.

 

Worrying and praying for Joe as he is on a Battle Ship in the Persian Gulf war.   Joe’s homecoming from the war.

 

As the years past, seeing all the remodeling that you have been doing at your house.   Shingling the shed you built.  Ed and Tony playing on the slip and slide.  The slide that you built onto the shed for the boys.   Touring the lake on your pontoon boat.  Visiting on the deck you built for your hot tub.  The car port you built.   Walks to the golf course and back.  Jim Stafford and other shows in Branson.  Ed and Tony’s tough guy photos at the pro Bass shop in Springfield.

 

The time when Aunt Mary Lou, Uncle Garland, Aunt Janet and Uncle Noble and you all came up to visit me at my house.  The day my horseshoe pit became a real horseshoe pit by having you, Noble, Garland, and Joe all throw ringers, during fierce competition.   Noble Carrying Tony up the long stairs after the Medora Musical.  

 

Visits to Waverly when Tommy and George deep fried fish and hush puppies!   Jerry Ray lighting fire works. Taking Ed and Tony to the Tennessee creeks,  watching Chase, Jacob and Josh  teach Eddie and Tony to catch crawdads and then let the crawdads hang on to their ear lobes.   The boys getting chased by the rooster.  Helping uncle Noble move chickens to new coop in the middle of the night. 

 

Visits to our house by you and Brenda. Visiting the federal building memorial in OK City.  You catching the ball at the minor league baseball game.   The Arizona trip!   Live Music at our motel by pool in New Mexico.  Petrified forest, Tombstone, Carchner’s Cavern.  Diamond Backs verses Braves!   Rocker the closer.  The hometown fans at Bank one ball park.   Watching Eddie and Tony watch the game.  The street musician playing “Old Rocky Top”

 

Golfing with you in Hugo.  Eddie and Tony driving the golf carts.  Us swimming in your pool with you, Tim and Joe.  Going to the baseball game with you at Arlington.  Watching Eddie and Tony watch the Rangers whip the Yankees!

 

Being with you,  watching Ed and Tony participate in track & field, play baseball, football, and basketball.  Some of these memories are with me every day.    In the early 1980’s I paid a watch smith to restore  Grandpa Cullum’s pocket watch.   I keep the watch in a keep sake shelf in my living room.   The Mirror that hung in our Little Richland Creek house made the trip to and from Guam and is now in my bedroom.   The picture of the mountain lion that you painted  is in my family room.  Your old first basemen’s mitt is also hanging in my family room.   There are some coffee cups in my cupboard that you drank from when I was a baby.  These are some of the  things that were  packed into the one crate that we brought back from Guam.   The antiques are yours again for the asking but the memories are already a shared treasure!

 

 

Happy Father’s Day Dad!, With love, Bub 

(I sent the above letter to Dad for Fathers Day in 2003)

 

 

 

(The below was the obituary that I wrote and sent to the Bismarck Tibune on the 14th of June.  This ran in the Tribune through Sunday of which was Father’s Day.) 

 

My Dad (Donald Edward Cullum) was born in a rural house in Waverly TN June 26th 1934.    

 

After playing on an undefeated Waverly high school football team, he left high school early to join his brother Loyd in the Navy during the Korean War.  While on the ship he and his shipmates participated in the Korean War effort.   

 

After his four years in the Navy Don got a job working for Tennessee Valley Authority in New Johnsonville Tennessee.   Shortly after returning from the Navy Don met and married Mary Melissa Frazee of Waverly TN.  Don and Mary had three children Tim, Don (Bub) and Joe.    They lived in a wooded area (Ellis Grove) several miles from the city limits of Waverly TN and were members of the Ellis Grove Presbyterian Church until 1963 when they followed a TVA career move to Kingston TN where he studied Nuclear  and advanced power plant technology at Oak Ridge.  From there he and his family made several power plant career moves that included power plant startup coordinator and plant manager positions.  Homes in chronological order included Waverly TN, Indiana, Waverly TN, The Navy, Waverly Tenn, Harrimon KY, Kingston TN, Simsonia KY. 

 

About that time (the mid 1960’s) the rural electrification effort was getting underway and the first large power plants were being built in ND.  Don was hired to work at UPA in Stanton where he was eventually promoted to plant manager.  While working at UPA his homes included Riverdale ND, Hazen ND, Stanton ND, rural Stanton ND.  Don and his family left Stanton in the middle of the winter in 1969 and moved to tropical Guam where Don was the plant construction coordinator and manager for Guam’s first large power plant.  Their homes on Guam included a motel on the beach and then Dededo of which is four miles from the ocean.   Don and his family enjoyed fishing,  swimming and snorkeling a lot during those two years on Guam.  

 

From there Don and his family moved to various places where Don worked as a power plant start up engineer including Thatcher AZ, Kentucky Lake near Waverly TN, A lake shore home in NH, Newmarket NH, Chehalis Washington rural Chehalis Washington, Rock Springs WY.  From Don’s house in Washington we could, on a clear day, see Mt hood, Mt Rainier and Mt St Hellens.  In 1973 we camped out at Spirit Lake in the volcanic crater on top of Mt Saint Hellen.

 

In 1975 Don accepted a startup /plant superintendent and eventually Plant Managers position at Cooperative Power’s Coal Creek station during which time he lived Turtle Lake and Washburn ND.  Adventure called again and Don moved to accept a new power plant manager challenges at TMPA where he lived in College Station TX, rural College Station TX, then manager at another plant in Vernal Utah,  then finally manager at Western Farmer’s power Plant near Fort Towsend OK where he lived at Hugo Lake OK, Hugo OK until he retired at the age of 66. 

 

Once retired, Don then built a swimming pool and guest house for friends and family to enjoy when they visited him and Brenda in Hugo OK.  Last fall Don sold his Hugo home then he and Brenda bought a home in rural Waverly TN where he spent many, many hours preparing his new home for visits from friends and family.  While in Waverly, Don and Brenda found themselves surrounded by many good friends and relatives.  Don spent countless hours helping others including helping build a fellowship hall and remodeling of their church in Hugo OK and also building a steeple for the Ellis Grove Presbyterian church in rural Waverly TN.  Don and Brenda were always there for those in need including coming to ND to help when Diane was sick with cancer and to help Jason and Bridgette move to Turtle Lake.  Don spent a great deal of time traveling to visit his brothers, sisters, his boys and their families and spent equally as much time planning and preparing for the traveling and visits that others would make to his home. 

 

During the last two weeks of his life he visited of his brothers and sisters, all three of his boys and most of the rest of his family including those in Turtle Lake North Dakota, Florida and Waverly.  The evening that he died he relived many of his most recent fun memories with his family and friends during a phone call with his middle son.  His phone conversation included laughter and excited stories that gave clue that he was as happy and content as he had ever been during the last few weeks of his life including during the evening hours just prior to his death. 

 

Donald Edward Cullum 71, died of a heart attack at his home in rural Waverly Tennessee on 6-13-06. 

 

He will be missed by all who truly knew him as the caring and kind person that he truly was.  Donald Edward Cullum is survived by his wife of 13 years Brenda Cullum, sons and daughter in-laws Tim and Kathie Cullum of White Springs Florida, Donald B and Diane Cullum of Turtle Lake, ND, Joe and Sandy Cullum of Arkansas, step children Jason and Bridgette Bloodworth of Turtle Lake, ND and Keela and Jeff McNutt of Oklahoma City OK, grand children including Kaycee Maxell of Turtle Lake ND, Jessie Cullum and Dusty Cullum both of White Springs Fla, Shani Cullum and Patrick Cullum and Andrew Cullum of Texas, Edward Bert Cullum and Donald Anton Cullum of Turtle Lake ND, step grandson David Bies of Wisconsin, great grand daughters Tori Cullum of White Springs Florida and Kasidee Cullum of Turtle Lake ND, step grand children Jonathon and Bailey McNutt.  Brothers Loyd and his wife JoAnn Cullum of Florida, Danny Cullum and his wife Karen of Nashville TN, sisters Janet and her husband Noble of Waverly TN, Mary Lou Crouder and her husband Garland of Lafayette Tn.  Many, many nieces and nephews.  Preceded in death by his parents, his first wife Mary Cullum and step granddaughter Stacey Bies.  A memorial service was held at Ellis Grove Presbyterian Church in Rural Waverly TN on Saturday June 17th at 2pm.   A Memorial Service was also be held at Hugo Wesley United Methodist Church on Saturday July 8th at 2PM.     Dad’s Friend Oscar brought the main message with assistance from the new minister.

 

(The below was the obituary that I wrote and sent to the Bismarck Tibune on the 14th of June.  This ran in the Tribune through Sunday of which was Father’s Day.) 

 

 

The I wrote the below in the spring of 2003 and it was published in the “1905-Turtle Lake Centenial -2005.”

(I sent a copy of the book to Dad, Tim, and Joe for Christmas in 2005)

Our Story as it relates to Turtle Lake ND.

 

Below is some family history that relates to Diane and myself, how we got to know each other and how that all ties into Turtle Lake.  Also mentioned is some of the Turtle Lake business property that I have bought and some of which I have sold.  The attached is a word doc that contains the same info as is contained in this e-mail.  I will send a family photo in a separate e-mail.  Thank you for your effort to produce this local history book!  Sincerely, Don Cullum

 

 

My Dad (Donald Edward Cullum) was born in Waverly Tenn in 1934.  Grandpa Bert Cullum worked in a feed mill and at one time owned a small country store.  Grandma Cullum sewed shirts in a shirt factory.  My Mom (Mary Malisa Frazee) was born in Huntington Tenn in 1936.  Grandpa Eddie Frazee was a logger in his early years and worked in a saw mill in his later years. 

 

After playing on an undefeated high school football team, my Dad left high school early to join the Navy during the Korean War.  While on the ship he and his shipmates participated in the Korean War effort.    After his four years in the Navy Dad got a job working for Tennessee Valley Authority in New Johnsonville Tennessee.   Shortly after that Mom and Dad met and were married. 

 

My brother Tim was born in January 31st 1958, I (Donald Bert Cullum) was born  Nov 7th 1959, my younger brother Joe was born Feb 27th 1961.  We lived in a wooded area several miles from the city limits of  Waverly Tenn,  in the hills near Little Richland Creek.  Some of my earliest memories include swimming in the creek, playing in the forest and our dog ruff killing rattlesnakes and copper heads. 

 

When I was four years old, Dad was selected for specialized nuclear power plant training at Oak Ridge Tenn.  While Dad was continuing to work for TVA we moved to Harrimon Tenn, Kingston Tenn and then to Simsonia Kentucky.   About that time the rural electrification effort was getting underway and the first large powerplants were being built in ND.  Dad was hired to work at UPA in Stanton where he was eventually promoted to plant manager.  During those years at UPA we lived in Riverdale, Hazen and Stanton.  I have vivid and fun memories of living on a farmstead near Stanton including laying a plank across a block of wood, Tim jumping off of the hayloft onto one end of the plank and then myself being catapulted from the other end of the plank into a standing position on top of the hayloft. 

 

We left Stanton in the middle of the winter in 1969 and moved to tropical Guam where Dad was the plant construction coordinator and manager for Guam’s first large power plant.  We lived four miles from the ocean and went swimming and snorkeling a lot during those two years on Guam.   From there we moved to various places, most of which Dad worked as a power plant start up engineer.  These places included Thatcher Arizona, Kentucky Lake near Waverly Tenn, NewMarket NewHampshire, Chehalis Washington and Rock Springs Wyoming.  From our house in Washington we could, on a clear day, see Mt hood, Mt Rainier and Mt St Hellens.  In 1973 we camped out at Spirit Lake in the volcanic crater on top of Mt Saint Hellen.

 

Dad had first worked with Ralph Sullivan when we lived in Kentucky, then Dad hired Ralph to work at UPA in Stanton, then in 1975 Ralph hired Dad to oversee the construction and start up of Coal Creek Station near Underwood ND.  While looking for housing, we moved to Turtle Lake into the basement of our good friends Ralph and Dorothy Sullivan.  Eventually Mom and Dad found a house in Underwood that they wanted to buy.  Tim, Joe and I asked if we could instead buy a house in Turtle Lake because we had already joined the Turtle Lake high school football team and therefore did not want to move to Underwood.   Mom and Dad saw our point and decided to buy a house on the south east end of Walnut Street in Turtle Lake. 

 

Having just moved from Rock Springs Wyoming, of which at the time, had the most murders per capita than anywhere else in the United States, I was very pleased with the relative wholesomeness and peacefulness that Turtle Lake had to offer.    I spent my last three years of highschool at TLMHS where I played football, was on the wrestling team and ran track.   I worked for Haas Cheverlet as a mechanic’s helper during my senior year of high school and also for the summer after I graduated from TLMHS in 1978. 

 

For the next three years I worked power plant outages, rented the pool hall from Jim and Edie White and ran the pool hall.  Worked as an oil field  pipe inspector in Williston, worked on a 24 inch diameter gas pipeline in the north unit of the badlands, took some college classes, started buying up rental properties (including the old cleaners building/pool hall)  and submitted many, many applications to area power plants.  In the fall of 1981 I was hired as a power plant operator at Basin Electric’s Leland Old’s Station power plant near Stanton ND.  Shortly after starting work at Leland Old’s,  I fixed up and managed the old pool hall that I had bought from Jim and Edie White. 

 

I was working at Leland Olds near Stanon ND when Diane Larue Schafer asked me to help her line the track in Turtle Lake for an upcoming Special Olympic track meet.  Before I was done helping with the track I had borrowed a megaphone form work for the track meet, rented a bobcat to clear the snow from the track and was recruited by Diane to be the starter at the track meet.  Renting the bobcat was kind of expensive but that Diane Schafer was a good looking single young woman. 

 

Diane and I eventually started Dating including dates to various road race competitions.   Turns out that Diane was really into sports.  As we dated, I learned that Diane had been a highschool standout in basketball scoring as many as 35 points a game.  I found out she went to UND on academic and athletic scholarships, was a recipient of the “Kathy Jean Burke” athletic award at UND and lettered in cross country, track and field hockey, while achieving a 4.0 average on her report cards.  After graduating from college in 1978, Diane worked as a teacher, basketball coach and track coach in Leer ND.  1n 1980 Diane accepted a job at TLMHS teaching and coaching girls high school basketball and track. 

 

Many who know Diane’s story know that was an accomplished road racer and marathon runner.  She had in fact qualified for the Boston Marathon in 1981 but was unable to participate because just prior to that Boston Marathon, a drunk driver hit the car that she was driving and put her into a coma.  As Diane was learning to walk and talk again, the doctors told her that she would never run competitively again.    Diane won the ND state Marathon in 1983. 

 

Diane eventually invited me to her parents house in Flasher ND to meet her Mom, Dad, four sisters (Deb, Candy, Kirsten and Melanie) and two brothers (Scott and Brady).  Diane’s mother (Ardys Zemple) is of Norwegian heritage and was raised in Almont ND.  Ardys’ dad was a cowboy and both Ardys’ Mom and Dad were rodeo stars.   Diane’s Dad (John Anton Schafer) was raised on a farm in Rural Flasher, ND.  John’s Dad was a big man (about 6'2" tall), was a German from Russia and came over on a boat.   During my visits to Flasher, I found out that Diane’s Dad was a rural mail carrier, a state union steward for the rural mail carriers, had been the state Legion Commander and had lost a brother in Normandy in WW2.  I also learned that Diane’s Dad had been in the army during the Korean War where he and one other person were the only solders to survive in the last battle that Diane’s Dad had fought in.  During his service in the Korean War, Diane’s Dad earned three purple hearts and was awarded the bronze star.  

 

 

It took a few years for Diane to completely recover from the 1981 car accident that had left her in a coma.  We joke with each other that when she finally recovered from the coma, she fully awoke to find that sometime in the years prior to her recovery she got married and had two kids.   Diane and I were married in Underwood on June 14th in 1985.  Our wedding dance was held at the legion hall in Turtle Lake.  I took Diane to Hawaii for our honeymoon.  During our first years of marriage Diane continued her years of work with Girls state as Dean of Counselors and eventually as Director of Girls State.  Shortly after we were married, the Leland Old’s Station shut down one of the units and I was transferred over to the Antelope Valley Station power plant in Beulah.  I stayed at the Antelope Valley Station just long enough to complete their extensive operator training program then I accepted a job working as a Journeyman Systems Operator for Montana Power at Colstrip Montana.  Diane Took a Sabbatical from teaching at TLMHS and earned her masters degree at Eastern Montana College in Billings.  While we were living in Montana, we maintained a residence in Forsyth Montana, Billings Montana, and Turtle Lake.  During stays in Turtle Lake, I worked on converting the pool hall into a triplex apartment building. 

 

My Dad eventually accepted a job at Texas and then at a plant in Utah and eventually in Hugo OK, therefore the relevance to my job situation was, he was no longer working at Coal Creek Station.  Diane and I dreamed and talked of rasing a family in Turtle Lake.   With these facts in mind, I applied for and was offered a job at Coal Creek Station near Underwood.  I started my employment at the Coal Creek Station in Nov of 1988.  It turns out that I was the first experienced operator hired at Coal Creek since the original staffing of the plant.

 

In 1989 Darwin Saari and I formed the “Explore Turtle Lake” project and with the help of many donations and volunteers, we promoted Turtle Lake as an ideal place to hunt, fish and live.  When we started the “Explore Turtle Lake” project there were over forty houses listed as being for sale in Turtle Lake.  The “Explore Turtle Lake” project  published four different booklets promoting the “positive aspects” of Turtle Lake.   Before the fourth publication of the “Explore Turtle Lake” booklet, Turtle Lake was already becoming known for it’s area hunting and fishing, main street was in better shape than the neighboring towns and there was a shortage of available housing in Turtle Lake. 

 

In April of 1989 we moved into our newly purchased and remodeled house at Roosevelt Street in Turtle Lake.  Our first son (Edward Bert “Eddie” Cullum) was born on May 18th 1989.  Our second Son (Donald Anton “Tony” Cullum) was born on April 21st 1990.  As soon as they were old enough to run around the block, Ed and Tony started running with and working out with Diane.  

 

After moving from Turtle Lake, my mother lived for many years in and near Waverly Tenn.  Diane, Ed, Tony and I made annual trips to visit Mom.  We still enjoy the memories of these visits.  Mom died in the fall of 1996, less than a month after our last visit. 

 

My Dad is now  married to Brenda.  Brenda has a son named Jason and a daughter named Keela.  Keela has a boy named Jonathan and a daughter named Baily.  Dad and Brenda come up regularly to visit us and to watch Ed and Tony compete in various sporting events. 

 

Diane’s Dad recently retired after fifty years as a rural mail carrier.  Diane’s Mom and Dad also make frequent trips to visit and watch Ed and Tony compete in sporting events.  

 

Eddie and Tony are currently enrolled in School at TLMHS.  Diane still teaches math at TLMHS and as of 2003 still coaches the girls grade school basketball program, is assistant coach of the boys grade school basketball program, coaches the Girl’s Jr High basketball program,  is the academic Olympic coach for TLMHS and is the director for the American Legion Sponsored Summer recreation Program in Turtle Lake. 

 

Aside from being students at TLMHS, Ed and Tony are heavily involved with sports activities including as of the spring of 2003, consecutive undefeated baseball teams, championship baseball teams, undefeated football teams, undefeated basketball teams, as well as AAU, Hershey’s, Prairie Rose track and field  championships. 

 

My current efforts of continuing to promote Turtle Lake include web page and newspaper ads and web classified ads.  One of these most recent “explore Turtle Lake/Turtle Lake Enterprises” projects was to offer and build web pages for every business in Turtle Lake that wanted a web page.  As a result of the web page effort, most of the businesses do have web pages that can be accesses from http://www.wrtc.com/cullum/ on the web pages that I personally fund,  I advertise my rental properties as being available for sale or rent, including houses, apartments and mobile home lots.  The mobile home lots are in the Sunset Acre’s mobile trailer court that I purchased from Doyle Becker estate.  The three main Turtle Lake web pages get hits from all over the world.  As of May 2003, one of these Turtle Lake web pages has 14,000 hits on the visit counter.  

 

 

JOE

 

After high school, my brother Joe, studied power plant technology at BJC then worked at Minkota Power near Center ND for seven years.  After that he joined the Navy and served on the Battleship Wisconsin in the Persian Gulf War.   Joe also worked as a self employed carpenter, worked on oil rigs during the winter in ND and has worked as an apartment maintenance foreman.  Joe has three children, Shani, Patrick and Andrew, all of which live in Texas.   Joe is married to Sandy.  Sandy was living in state of Wisconsin, when as a part of a patriotic support campaign, wrote a letter to  “any sailer” serving on the Battleship Wisconsin during the Persian Gulf war.  Joe answered the letter.  Sandy has two children, David and Stacey.   Joe builds web pages and is the web master for many web pages including the three main Turtle Lake web pages.  Joe and his wife Sandy are studying computer related classes at OU in Norman OK. 

 

 

TIM

 

Shortly after high school, my brother Tim married Kathie Thomas.   Tim and Kathie have three children, Kaycee, Jessie and Dusty.  Tim worked for several years at North American Coal’s Falkirk mine near Underwood ND then moved to south east Texas where he worked for several more years in another North American Coal coal mine.  A few years back, Tim and Kathie moved to Florida where Kathie works for her Dad.   Kathie’s dad is Mike Thomas who is the founder of Thomas Honey Company and owner of the Florida end of the Thomas Honey Company.   Tim worked in a phosphate mine for the first couple of years in Florida, then just recently completed two years of college.  Tim and Kathie are considering purchasing the Florida end of Thomas Honey Co.  Jessie and Dusty have spent several summers living in Turtle Lake, working the Thomas Honey Company bees.   Tim’s daughter Kaycee is Married to Mason Maxwell.   Mason and Kaycee recently purchased a house in Turtle Lake.   Mason and Kaycee have also recently purchased the Turtle Lake portion of  Thomas Honey Company.   As of the spring of 2003, Tim and Kathie have two grandchildren.  Kaycee and Mason have a daughter named Kasidee.  Dusty has a daughter named Tori. 

 

The I wrote the above in the spring of 2003 and it was published in the “1905-Turtle Lake Centenial -2005.”

(I sent a copy of the book to Dad, Tim, and Joe for Christmas in 2005)

 

 

Dad built the steeple of the Ellis Grove Presbyterian church that the memorial service was held.  My boys Eddie and Tony rang the steeple bell to mark the close of the service. We spread Dad’s ashes in the Little Richland Creek within a short walk of the Ellis Grove same church.  It started raining during the June 17th memorial service and then rained for two days straight.  When the rain stopped on Monday June 19th we spread Dad’s ashes at the Little Richland Creek.

 

Listen close and hear the sound of the Little Richland Creek water splashing over and around rocks as the shallow steady stream of clear cold water makes it way toward the Kentucky Lake.   The tall trees that line the Little Richland offer a lot of shade yet allow the mid day sun rays to find its way to the clear running water and rocky shores.  The creek banks that border the creek bed are thick with green native vegetation. The creek has stripped the soil where the water has ran and where the water is running but left some sand and lots of brown, yellow and lighter colored rocks in the creek bed and along the shore.  Green and or brown algae clings to some rocks at the waters edge while other rocks that have dried are still coated with some brown colored algae that give the rocks a slick feel to them when they are wet.  Some of the rocks are smooth from hundreds if not thousands of years of creek wear while others are still sharp enough to poke your feet if were to walk barefoot in the creek.  Some of my earliest memories include the Little Richland Creek and searching for small round flat rocks to skip. Experience has proven that a half dollar sized smooth round rock would be ideal for skipping.  Dad taught us to skip rocks in the Little Richland.  Of course my brothers, my cousins and I had many contests to see who make their rock skip across the water furthest with the most bounces.  I taught my sons Eddie and Tony to skip rocks near our Ellis Grove Blue Hole in the Little Richland.  On Monday June 19th, 2006 we listened to the Little Richland and the birds in nearby trees, when we formed a family circle, holding hands to pray.  We then spread my Dad’s ashes into the creek and a little on the rocky bank.  We watched listened and prayed as the ashes made their way down the creek.  After the last prayer we skipped rocks, sat on the bank, stood visiting, wiping tears, hugging and saying goodbye.  Within an hour of us leaving, some of the ashes likely passed over the blue hole and past the driveway of my first home.  Some time later on, some of the ashes would likely make the way to the Kentucky Lake where we lived for part of one summer.  At Dad’s request, some of Dad’s ashes were also spread on Mom’s grave.  We also spread some of Dad’s ashes at the Parker spring, just down the hill from his rural Waverly home.  We are descendants  of the Parker’s of which the spring is named for.  Uncle Loyd spread some of Dad’s ashes at the Little Richland Creek near PaPaws old place and also at Dad’s headstone of which is next to his Mom and Dad’s graves. 

 

Dad spent a great deal of time helping others and also spent a great deal of his time building and remodeling projects of his own.  Most of Dad’s remodeling and building projects were in preparation for visits from friends and relatives.  Dad and Brenda were at a point with Dad’s remodeling and building where they could see the light at the end of the tunnel but still had several unfinished projects at his new home in rural Waverly.  We were all gathered there in Dad’s honor and could see the awesome beauty of his projects, those finished and those yet to be finished.  Then one by one everybody who stopped by at Dad and Brenda’s house had a role in helping to work on Dad’s projects (including significant and big projects).  Most of the projects are now done, while others will be finished soon, all by those who love Dad and Brenda. 

 

Diane and I used memorial  money given to us in Dad’s memory to purchase a memorial bench and brass identification plates for the bench.   On July 1st 2006th I put together the memorial bench.  I was going to put the bench on main street in Turtle Lake along with the other memorial benches but I think I will keep it at home in Turtle lake.  Eddie (Edward Bert Cullum) and I carried the bench to under a porch type overhang that is on the north East side of my house.   The benches face it out toward the ball field in my yard (where dad played catch with Eddie and Tony).  Looking beyond the ball field I can see the lakes Holmes in the distance.   I sat on the bench for a while after it was finished.  It was real peaceful.

 

On July 12th 2006 I built a sign post and added signs that named towns and the distances to those towns.  Dad visited all of the places that I made signs for and Dad in fact lived in most of those places.  Those sign post and signs can be seen in the distance while sitting on Dad’s memorial bench.  Diane, Tony (Doanld Anton Cullum) and I (Donald Bert Cullum ) took turns sitting on Dad’s (Donald Edward Cullum) memorial bench, under the overhang on the North East side of my house during the July 12th 2006 rain storm.  While Dad was alive I called him regularly to tell how Tony and Eddie were doing in their various sports.  During the weeks after Dad died, Tony hit a home run in Legion baseball and won a defensive end competition at the NDSU football camp, meanwhile Eddie is getting a lot of attention from area college coaches during football camps.  I wanted so bad to call and tell Dad of Eddie and Tony’s latest sports news, but I figure he already knows and shares in the celebration of God’s gifts to us all.  Rain had not been forecasted but it did rain bringing some relief to the summer of 2006 drought. 

 

 

 (The below is written of the perspective of Dad’s years working in power plants)

The Big Kahuna

 

My Dad (Donald Edward Cullum) was born in a rural house in Waverly TN June 26th 1934.    

 

After playing on an undefeated Waverly high school football team, he left high school early to join his brother Loyd in the Navy during the Korean War.  While on the ship he and his shipmates participated in the Korean War effort.   

 

After his four years in the Navy Dad got a job working for Tennessee Valley Authority in New Johnsonville Tennessee.   At New Johnsonville Dad worked with the likes of fellows with the names Eddie Doug Smith and Rowdy Red.  Shortly after attaining the TVA job at New Johnsonville Dad met and married Mary Melissa Frazee of Waverly TN.  Mom and Dad had three children Tim, Don (Bub) and Joe.    We lived in a wooded area (Ellis Grove) several miles from the city limits of Waverly TN and were members of the Ellis Grove Presbyterian Church until 1963 when they followed a TVA career move to Kingston TN where he studied Nuclear and advanced power plant technology at Oak Ridge.  While in Kingston Dad made new friends including Ken Story.  The job at Oakridge was an experimental nuclear reactor that would have used hydrogen gas as the medium to turn the turbine had the project not been aborted.  All of those who were trained to be operators for this particular job went on to become consultants and or plant managers in the power industry. 

 

After Oakridge, Dad made several power plant career moves.  We moved as a family to all of these new and exciting places.  These moves included working as an operator at TVA coal fired power plant near Paducah Ky where he met and worked with Ralph Sullivan. 

 

About that time (the mid 1960’s) the rural electrification effort was getting underway and the first large power plants were being built in ND.  Dad was hired to work at United Power Association near Stanton where he was eventually promoted to shift supervisor, then operations supervisor then to plant manager.  When Dad was the plant manager he hired Ralph Sullivan to be the Operations Superintendent.  (Others that Dad worked with at UPA included Jim Aanderud, Leon Simpfenderfer, Dennis Grimm, Daune Payton, our neighbor Martin Staigle, Jim Brooks, Don Koch of ICI and many others) While working at UPA our homes included Riverdale ND, Hazen ND, Stanton ND, rural Stanton ND.  Dad taught us to fish in the nearby Missouri river, took us on an overnight horse back trail ride along the banks of the Missouri and knife river.  Dad taught us shoot shotguns, hunt pheasants and hunt grouse while we lived near Stanton. 

 

We left Stanton in the middle of the winter in 1969 and moved to tropical Guam, of which is in the Marianna Islands in the Pacific Ocean, where Dad was the plant construction coordinator and manager for Guam Power Authority.   This GPA plant was Guam’s first large power plant.  Our homes on Guam included a motel on the beach and then Dededo of which is four miles from the ocean.   We enjoyed fishing, deep sea fishing in the deepest water in the world (Mariana’s Trench) and swimming and snorkeling a lot during those two years on Guam.  While on Guam, Dad worked with new friends including Charlie Green.  On the way back from Guam we stopped for a two week vacation on Waikiki and then a week in San Francisco.  Dad made sure we experienced riding the Cable cars and Taxi’s up and down the steep hills of San Francisco. 

 

From there we moved to various places where Dad worked as a power plant start up engineer including Thatcher AZ when Dad worked a start up in Morenci AZ.  The south Arizona winter seemed cold after two winters on Guam but if was fun just the same.  We lived in an apartment complex were pecans fell from trees and covered the ground.  We hiked up to a reservoir on nearby Mount Gram, traveled to and toured the rim of the Grand Canyon, saw a mile wide meteor crater, a petrified forest, camped in the desert, found scorpions under rocks and

 

In 1972 we spent part of the summer at Kentucky Lake near Waverly TN where Dad taught my brothers and I to run a catfish trot line.  After a few weeks at the Kentucky Lake Dad accepted a plant start up job with Bechtel and we moved to a lake shore home in Main to finish the summer then moved to New Market NH before the start the school year.  I do believe that Jim Brooks (old friend from UPA Stanton) was the contact that resulted in the Bechtel start up jobs.  In New Market we had ancient rock fences bordering the yard of our rented A frame house where the nearby river rose and fell with the Atlantic Ocean tide.  We experienced the colorful changing of leaves during that New England fall.  Dad worked with good friend Ken Story again while in New Hampshire.  Winter came and so did the wet and deep snow. We frequented Boston where people drank frappes (milk shakes) and “pawked their caws”.

 

Towards the end of the long New Hampshire winter we packed up and drove across country to Centralia Washington where Dad worked a nearby Bechtel power plant startup.  We moved just outside the city limits of Chehalis where we learned to live with the daily rain.  It was raining when we arrived and continued to rain until summer, then the rain quit.  Once thee rain stopped we and the clouds cleared up we could see Mount Rainier, Mount Saint Helen and Mount Hood.  In 1973 we camped out at Spirit Lake in the volcanic crater on top of Mt Saint Helen..  

 

We moved to Rock Springs where Dad worked another Bechtel startup, this time at the nearby Jim Bridger Power Plant.  During the winter we took a short drive and saw the largest hear of antelope in the world. 

 

After finishing the school year in the spring of 1975 we again packed up and this time moved to Turtle Lake North Dakota.  Dad had accepted a startup coordinator/ plant superintendent Job of which had been offered by good friend Ralph Sullivan who had already accepted a job as the plant manager for the not yet built Cooperative Power’s Coal Creek Station that was to be constructed between Underwood and Washburn ND.  At Coal Creek Dad and Ralph worked with many old friends from UPA Stanton Station (Jim A, Leon S, Dennis G, Daune P, Don K of ICI and many others) and other places including Charlie Green from Guam and Eddie Doug Smith from TVA.   During about that time frame of Dad working at Coal Creek, the Mount St Helen volcano erupted and ash drifted as far as North Dakota and covered our vehicles with a fine layer of volcanic ash. 

 

Eventually Ralph accepted a job at Cooperative Power’s Head quarters near Minneapolis and Dad was promoted to Plant Managers position at Cooperative Power’s Coal Creek station during which time he lived Turtle Lake and Washburn ND.  The CCS CPA employees named a park near the highway 83 entrance for Coal Creek Station as DC Park.  Dad dedicated the park to the employees of CCS.  My brothers and I were grown and on our own working in power plant related jobs when adventure called out to Dad again.  I was working as an operator at Basin Electric Leland Olds, Joe was an operator at Minkota Power’s Milton R young Station and Tim was a heavy equipment operator at North American Coal’s Falkirk Coal Mine. This time Dad moved to accept a new power plant manager challenge at TMPA where he lived in College Station TX, rural College Station TX.  I visited Dad at College Station where we went to the Texas A&M bonfire the night before the Aggie’s were to play the Longhorns.  

 

Dad then accepted a job as manager at another Deseret Generation and Transmission’s Bonanza Power Plant near Vernal Utah.  I had left Leland Old’s had worked at Basin Electric’s Antelope Valley Station as an operator and then accepted a job with  Montana Power’s Colstrip units 3 and 4 startup as a Journeyman Systems Operator when my wife and I made trip to Dad’s place along the river near Vernal.  We went white water rafting with Dad and checked out the nearby fossil digs.  A few months Diane and I traveled to meet Dad in Jackson Hole Wyoming for thanksgiving.  We did the tourist things including seeing hundreds of Elk, some moose and enjoying the grand view of the Tetons and the mountain reflection in the nearby lake. 

 

Dad took his last power plant job as a Plant Manager at Western Farmer’s power Plant near Fort Towsend OK.  My wife and my two boys made the trip many times to visit Dad Dad and his new wife Brenda in Hugo and shared vacation adventures including route 66 and MLB games in Pheonix, the grand canyon.  Somewhere during his lifetime of working in power plants, Dad became known as and sometimes referred to as the “Big Kahuna” by his power plant friends and acquaintances that would meet at various Power Plant Conferences around the country.  Dad lived at Hugo Lake and then eventually at Hugo’s Tangle wood lane near a golf course where he lived until he retired at the age of 66.    Once retired, Dad then built a swimming pool and guest house for friends and family to enjoy when they visited him and Brenda in Hugo OK  Dad and his wife Brenda continued to live there until at Dad was 71.

 

In the fall of 2005 Don sold his Hugo home then he and Brenda bought a home in rural Waverly TN where he spent many, many hours preparing his new home for visits from friends and family.  While in Waverly, Don and Brenda found themselves surrounded by many good friends and relatives.  Don spent countless hours helping others including helping build a fellowship hall and remodeling of their church in Hugo OK and also building a steeple for the Ellis Grove Presbyterian church in rural Waverly TN.  Don and Brenda were always there for those in need including coming to ND to help when Diane was sick with cancer and to help Jason and Bridgette move to Turtle Lake.  Don spent a great deal of time traveling to visit his brothers, sisters, his boys and their families and spent equally as much time planning and preparing for the traveling and visits that others would make to his home. 

 

During the last two weeks of his life he visited of his brothers and sisters, all three of his boys and most of the rest of his family including those in Turtle Lake North Dakota, Florida and Waverly.  The evening that he died he relived many of his most recent fun memories with his family and friends during a phone call with me.  His phone conversation included laughter and excited stories that gave clue that he was as happy and content as he had ever been during the last few weeks of his life including during the evening hours just prior to his death. 

 

Donald Edward Cullum 71, died of a heart attack at his home in rural Waverly Tennessee on 6-13-06. 

 

I currently live in Turtle Lake North Dakota and work as a control room operator at Great River Energy's Coal Creek Station near Underwood North Dakota. 

 

Thanks for reading about my Dad's adventure in powerplants.  Sincerely Donald Bert Cullum

 

(The above is written of the perspective of Dad’s (The Big Kahuna’s) years working in power plants)

 

 

If you want to include a memory or thought in memory of Donald Edward Cullum please e-mail me at doncullum@yahoo.com but please let me know if you want it published here, otherwise I will not know to do so.