IN MEMORIAM Alan "Mac" McCullough, Jr. 1/5/42-5/11/03 by R. Strother Scott
Mac McCullough of White Stone, Virginia, died on May 11, 2003. Mac was a member of Fishing Bay Yacht Club his entire life until he resigned in 2000 after being diagnosed with prostate cancer. Mac was born in Norfolk, Virginia, on January 5, 1942. He was the son of Alan and Mary Winston McCullough. His father was Commodore of FBYC in 1951 and was an architect who designed many of the homes on Stove Point, including the McCullough cottage, now owned by Mac's sister Jane Wells (a FBYC member), and the original 1949 FBYC Clubhouse.
Mac grew up in Richmond. He attended Lawrenceville School as a boarder for a year, but he graduated from St. Christopher's School and later from Hamilton College in New York. Mac was a real estate broker in and around Richmond for many years. He resided at 2425 Grove Avenue and later at 808 Park Avenue in the middle of VCU. In recent years, Mac lived on Mosquito Point near White Stone, Virginia, overlooking the Rappahannock River in a house that his father built but on grounds that he continually improved by planting daffodils and crepe myrtles.
Mac's hospitality and gregarious nature were well known. Both the 2425 Grove and 808 Park Avenue properties were veritable rooming houses for many people, including Cam Hoggan, Hobbs Goodwin, Rives Potts, Drew Sinnickson, Alfred & Strother Scott and in more recent years Benjamin Ackerly, Jr. At one time, Mac and Bev Crump shared a river house at the head of Jackson Creek in Deltaville known as McCrumpton Heights where they and their friends kept fleets of various boats at docks where Mac maintained the pilings with his jet pump.
Mac also was an avid sailor. In the early 1970's , Mac's father partnered with Bev Crump to campaign Rappahannock, a Carter 37, which they and Mac took on the Bermuda Race, to the One Ton Worlds, and to the SORC. In the 1980's, Mac owned and raced Running Dog, a J-24, with Jim Covington at numerous FBYC events, including finished first in the J-24 races memorialized in the oil painting "Spinnaker Reach". Running Dog was so far in front of the fleet that it was not possible for John Barber to include them in the painting.
Mac's keen intellectual curiosity and extensive reading combined with his conversational skills made for fascinating discussions. His former roommates and fellow sailors will recall with a chuckle countless late-night conversations with Mac on military history, the Cold War, and a mind-boggling array of other topics. Ken Ringle captured Mac very well in his eulogy posted on www.fbyc.net on May 20. Life was always fun with Mac.
He is survived by his brother, Frank McCullough II; two sisters, Jane McCullough Wells and Lucy McCullough Schneider; three nieces, Mary Winston Nicklin, Emmy Nicklin and Julia Schneider; and one nephew, Sam Pretlow Schneider. Memorial donations may be made to St. Christopher's School at 801 Henri Road, Richmond, Virginia 23226 or The Chesapeake Academy, 107 Steamboat Road, Irvington, Va. 22480.
REQUIESCAT IN PACE