Edgar H. McCulloch

Edgar H. McCulloch, Jr of Ashford, CT, passed away on April 14, 2018 from complications of Parkinson’s Disease. He was born on February 4, 1930 in St. Louis to Edgar and Georgia McCulloch.  He was educated at John Burroughs School, Cornell University and Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, finishing with a Masters in Mechanical Engineering, and served in the U.S. Army as a Second Lieutenant. He met Janet Hofmann, the love of his life, at Cornell, marrying her and together raising four children, Leslie, Ned, Catherine and Elizabeth.  Family dinner hour was inviolable and all remained at the round dinner table until dessert was complete.  The evening routine was completed by books, Bible, classical music, and a good pipe or cigar in his living room chair.  As a young child, Ed was born into the infancy of air travel.  He is thought to have flown with Amelia Earhart and went on to become a jet engine engineer with Pratt & Whitney.  The engine that made his career – the JT8D - dominated the airline industry and was the most popular commercial jet engine in the world.  Pratt & Whitney’s slogan, Dependable Engines, could also be seen as Ed’s own motto: Be dependable and truthful as husband, father, and friend.  A long-time civic volunteer he served as Chief Justice of the Burroughs School’s court, was active in Chi Phi at Cornell, served on the Ashford Town Board of Finance for three terms and was an elder at the Presbyterian Church of Coventry.  A gifted athlete in his youth, he ran track and played football, soccer, baseball and tennis, setting many school, league and state records.  As an adult, he ran nearly every day of his life.  He was an able outdoorsman, spending many hours logging firewood, hiking, sailing, skating, swimming, and canoe trekking as a youth and later with his son on the Allagash Wilderness Waterway.  He grew and gave away Christmas trees, heated his house with his own wood, and bought a bulldozer so he could create acres of yard, a pond, and garden fondly remembered by local rabbits.  A man of strong personal principles and deep faith, he was respectful of and valued difference of opinion and diversity of life experience.   He rarely gave advice except in matters of adhering to the truth and respecting others.  He was predeceased by his parents, his sister Jane Mailey, his son-in-law Jesse Faulkner and his granddaughter Taylor Faulkner, and is survived by his wife, his children and his grandchildren, Ben and Sasha Kossak, Nick and Emily McCulloch and David and Jane Pierce, and sons-in-law and daughter-in-law. A funeral service for Edgar McCulloch will be held at the Presbyterian Church of Coventry at 55 Trowbridge Road, Coventry, CT 06238 on April 28th at 10 AM followed by internment at the Westford Hill Cemetery at 1796 Westford Hill Rd, Ashford, CT 06278.  Memorial gifts may be made to the Presbyterian Church of Coventry or to the Ashford Volunteer Fire Department P.O. Box 1, Ashford, CT 06278.  

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