John Henry Culley II

Culley, John Henry, passed away on February 26, 2022 at age 100. He was born on January 3, 1922 in Carrizozo, New Mexico to Matthew James Culley and Ida Belle Grumbles. His father served in France with the United States Army during World War I. He was the American scion and longtime patriarch of the Culley family of Coupland Castle, Northumberland, England whose motto “Amicos Semper Amat” he exemplified. His grandfather and namesake, Oxford graduate John Henry Culley, was a cattleman who wrote a book about the Wild West entitled “Cattle, Horses and Men of the Western Range”. His ancestors also include the McKellar family of Scotland, Australia and New Zealand. He was a direct descendant of two Virginians who served with the Continental Army during the American Revolution, Sergeant Thomas Smith and Valley Forge patriot Private Francis Bush. He was also a direct descendant of Texas Ranger Captain John J. Grumbles and Mexican War veteran Roger K. Brooking. John, or “Jack” as he was often known, grew up in Arizona, where his father worked for the Forest Service, and in California, where his grandparents lived. Jack would often venture off into the Santa Rita Mountains as a child with his loyal dog Purp. Early in his life he dealt with the tragic death of his younger sister and only sibling Constance “Connie” Miriam Culley at the age of only 11 years old in 1936. John Henry Culley attended both the University of Arizona and the University of Colorado where he was a star tennis player and briefly attended the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, MIT, during his time in the military. He served as a United States Army Technician 4 during World War II supporting the “Flying Tigers” in Southern China. After the war he received a chemical engineering degree from Colorado University and married Venla Myrtle Goldsmith whose last name was changed to Reynolds when she was 14. He worked for Phillips Petroleum Company and later Shell Oil Company and coached little league baseball in his free time. He would later retire and travel the world with his wife, they would go on 45 cruises all over the world together. Jack also took up flying later in life, and he particularly enjoyed flying sailplanes. He is survived by his children; retired USAF Lieutenant Colonel John Henry Culley III Esq., Applied Math Engineer Matthew James Culley II and his wife Eileen, talented pianist and golfer Marsha Culley Baumann and her husband John, as well as his grandson Matthew John-Lawrence Culley who is married to Jamecel Diane Amora Delos Reyes. Services will be held privately at Fort Logan National Cemetery at a later date.