ForeverMissed
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This memorial website was created in the memory of our loved one, Joe Cullinan, 32, born on December 31, 1978 and passed away on May 4, 2011. We will remember him forever.


“Life is a journey, not a destination.”
-- Ralph Waldo Emerson 

 

December 31, 2013
December 31, 2013
There is so much suffering in the world. And yet no matter how bad things get, goodness is never completely snuffed out. Nor will it ever be. The light shines on through Joe's memory forever.
January 19, 2012
January 19, 2012
Joey C, a beautiful person inside and out! So happy to have spent such fun times together...love and miss ya!!

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Recent Tributes
December 31, 2013
December 31, 2013
There is so much suffering in the world. And yet no matter how bad things get, goodness is never completely snuffed out. Nor will it ever be. The light shines on through Joe's memory forever.
January 19, 2012
January 19, 2012
Joey C, a beautiful person inside and out! So happy to have spent such fun times together...love and miss ya!!
Recent stories

The obituary

November 4, 2015

CULLINAN, Joseph L., 32, captain, West Virginia Army National Guard, died Wednesday, May 4, 2011, at UPMC Shadyside, Pittsburgh, of cancer. Formerly of Follansbee, he and his wife, Jess, lived in Morgantown.

            He was born December 31, 1978, in Columbus,Ohio.

            Joe was a 1997 graduate of Brooke High School where he was a four-year varsity letterman in soccer; he was an honorable mention All-Valley selection his senior year despite missing most of the season with a broken collar bone.

            He received a bachelor’s degree in 2003 from West Virginia University. He was a Distinguished Military Graduate of the West Virginia Officer Candidate School and was commissioned in 2003.

            For two academic years, 2008 through 2010, he was an assistant professor of military science at WVU.

            Joe served in Operation Iraqi Freedom in 2006-07, where he was pilot-in-command of a UH 60 Blackhawk helicopter, accumulating 540 hours of combat flight time. He was awarded the Army Commendation Medal for Valor for participating in the rescue of five U.S.soldiers.

            In addition to his wife, Joe is survived by his parents, Terry and Susan Cullinan of Follansbee; sister Angela, her husband Nick Barbara and daughter Evelyn of Greenfield, Mass.; sister Elizabeth and daughter Cassidy of Pittsburgh, and brother Patrick, a WV Natural Resources police officer.

            In lieu of flowers, please make contributions to The Sarcoma Foundation of America.    

            Private services for immediate family only will be held at James Funeral Home, Follansbee. A Celebration of Life is scheduled for May 14 at the WV Army National Guard Armory, Wheeling-Ohio County Airport. Interment will be at Arlington National Cemetery.

High Flight

August 15, 2014

Oh, I have slipped the surly bonds of earth.
And danced the skies on wings,
Sunward I've climbed and joined the tumbling mirth
Of sun-split clouds - and done a hundred things
You have not dreamed of - wheeled and soared and swung
High in the sunlit silence.

 

“High Flight” by John Gillespie Magee Jr., an American aviator who died as a result of a mid-air collision over Lincolnshire during World War II. He was 19.

From Jess, January 2013

August 12, 2014

I wanted to share a Facebook message I got from Ben Parrish, a member of Joe’s unit:

Hey, I wanted to tell both you and JP, but I’ll just tell you first.

Monday night marked my long-time friend’s 21st birthday, so I took her to Mutts. While there, I was instantly picked out for my short haircut
by a guy who just got back fromAfghanistan and went to school here. He asked what I did, so I told him and began to brag about aviation. He then mentioned that he would like to maybe go to flight school. I told him about the state’s shortage of warrant officers and encouraged him to drop a warrant packet.

He then told me the first time he heard about aviation was from this really loud 1st LT at an ROTC recruiting deal. He said he almost joined aviation just because of how cool this guy was, and he said “this guy just seemed to glow when he talked about it; it was totally obvious he loved it.”

 I then brought out my phone and showed him the picture from Joe’s memorial and asked, “Was it this guy?”

The guy sits back in his chair and sighs, “Yeah, that’s the guy. He was one of the neatest people I’ve ever met.”

We bought a round of Jameson and toasted in Joe’s honor. Just wanted to tell you that I am still running into people who speak nothing but
high praises of him. He touched so many peoples’ lives.

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