David Spear McCullough

David was the only son of six children for Thomas and Grace (Spear) McCullough of Calais Maine. David was predeceased by sisters Judy McLeod of Smithfield and Susan Bull of Freeport.

He is Survived by his wife Jenifer McCullough of Gorham, his sons Sean and Andrew McCullough of Gorham, his grandson Nolan McCullough of Gorham, and his sisters Betsy Walton of Bath, Roberta Irish of Windham and Lyn Mann Roberts of Bradenton Florida.

David graduated from Calais High School in 1957, then attended Gorham State Teachers College in Gorham Maine graduating in 1961. After his graduation he married Jenifer Phinney and enjoyed 61 years of married life. David continued his education and received his MS from State University of New York College at Oswego in 1965.

As a young man in Calais, David had a paper route with over 100 customers. He would faithfully deliver all the papers from his bicycle before going to school each day. This activity was a foundational pillar in developing his strong work ethic and commitment to honoring his obligations. Prior to graduating high school, David achieved his Eagle Scout, which was also later achieved by his two sons, Sean and Andrew and later his only grandson Nolan. The commitment to Boy Scouts and the outdoors became a lifelong passion as he supported the troops in Winthrop and Gorham.

David started his professional career as an Industrial Arts teacher at Sanford High School and then moved to Portland High School where he led the vocational program supporting students to develop in the trades and coordinate internships with local businesses. During this time David also started to develop his love for small business. David and Jenifer purchased Heritage Metalcraft in Westbrook and relocated to Windham across from the current town offices. The business made casting of various decorative items such as brass eagles which can still be found on the face of many barns and houses across Maine. After a few years, David’s career moved to Augusta when he became the State Director of Adult and Community Education. This required David and his family to relocate to Winthrop Maine. In his new role, David worked with school districts across Maine to develop post High School educational programs, GED coordination and non-traditional K-12 activities. With this extensive travelling, David discovered that getting his private pilot’s license was an easier way travel the state and be able to visit multiple towns in the same day or evening. David was known to attend an afternoon graduation ceremony in Machias and then an evening ceremony in Presque Isle before landing under the lights at the Augusta airport.

After David’s retirement from the state in 1988, he focused on his love for being an entrepreneur. David and Jenifer had been running an agricultural grain mill and horse-riding stable at their home in Winthrop while David was finishing his career with the state. His retirement allowed him the time to expand Maranacook Company into a country store, grain mill, equipment rental and agricultural fencing company. The love of horses also included parades & a celebratory wagon train from Winthrop to the Norlands living history Farm in Livermore Falls. This business employed the whole family and many local individuals to care for the horses, run the grain mill, maintain the equipment and install fencing across central Maine.

With David and Jenifer’s parents getting older, they decided to relocate back to Gorham to assist with parental care and be closer to family. Before long, David started V & M Rental in Gorham with business partner Mark Verrill also of Gorham. This business connected David with many local construction companies and kept him active in the local communities.

In 1999, David and Jenifer purchased their second home on Big Lake and then Grand Lake Stream in Washington County. This was the start of a connection to the Grand Lake Stream area which would continue for the rest of David’s life. After a few years of sharing Gorham and GLS, David and Jenifer relocated to GLS for the summer months and spent winters back in Gorham. These summer months soon became blessed with their only grandson, Nolan, travelling and staying with them in GLS. The next 18 summers worked to create an iron clad bond between Nolan and his grandparents as they became fixtures around the Washington County area. Often David and Nolan were seen using one of David’s tractors to smooth a dirt road or repairing a broken lawn mower for a local resident. Each morning David, Jenifer and Nolan would have breakfast at the Pine Tree Store in GLS and learn all the town activities and a few secret fishing spots from the resident guides. David soon started coordinating the events for the GLS July 4th activities. These activities started with a morning service of faith, a community parade growing to more than 35 floats and a rousing frog race and horseshoe competition in the afternoon. The support and participation by the local community was a testament to the cohesion of a small town. This event ended up being a passion for David which he was able to maintain involvement past his 85th birthday several months ago.

Throughout David’s life he had a strong connection to faith and was committed to supporting local churches and faith organizations. David was strongly connected to the West Gorham Union Church and Grand Lake Stream Congregational Churches serving in several roles but none as important as delivering a weekly children’s story. This activity consisted of a red satchel which hid an item to become the focal point of the daily lesson. One of the wide-eyed children would reach into the bag to pull out a surprise which would be related to a life skill to be discussed. David’s love for storytelling, connecting to people and teaching was never more apparent.

A Celebration of life service for David McCullough will be held Saturday December 7th at the First Russian Baptist Church, 211 Mosher Rd, in Gorham, at 11:00 AM with a reception following. For individuals not able to attend the service, please join everyone during the visiting hours from 1 PM to 3 PM to talk and enjoy some of the refreshments which David faithfully enjoyed.