Horrie Brown Culpepper Jr.1

Male, #48451, (circa 1930 - 16 Dec 2003)

Parent*Horrie Brown Culpepper Sr.1 (13 Feb 1895 - 10 Jul 1974)
Parent*Lucille Sauls1 (23 Mar 1898 - 6 Sep 1979)
Horrie Brown Culpepper Jr.|b. circa 1930\nd. 16 Dec 2003|p48451.htm|Horrie Brown Culpepper Sr.|b. 13 Feb 1895\nd. 10 Jul 1974|p2959.htm|Lucille Sauls|b. 23 Mar 1898\nd. 6 Sep 1979|p48450.htm|John F. Culpepper|b. 3 Nov 1859\nd. 26 Dec 1939|p2921.htm|Virginia L. Bunt|b. 2 May 1861\nd. 7 Dec 1926|p2922.htm|||||||

Birth*circa 1930 He was born circa 1930 at Florida.1 
 He was the son of Horrie Brown Culpepper Sr. and Lucille Sauls.1 
Death*16 Dec 2003 He died at Tallahassee, Leon Co., Florida, on 16 Dec 2003.2 
Biography* Horrie Culpepper often came to the rescue
     It was pouring rain. The car carrying a woman and her young daughter, had skidded off the road down into a dark culvert filled with rushing water.
     Tallahassee Police Chief Walt McNeil, then a young patrol officer, tried to pull the woman and child out of the car. But armed with only a flashlight, which he lost in the churning water, he was waging an unsuccessful battle.
     Suddenly, a rescuer arrived. He filled the culvert with light and tossed McNeil the cable from a winch attached to his truck. Soon, the woman, her daughter and McNeil were pulled to safety.
     That was the 1980 introduction of McNeil to Horrie Culpepper, Jr. who spent decades as a friend and aide to Tallahassee law enforcement officers and firefighters.
     Culpepper died Tuesday night, three days after suffering a heart attack at a local drugstore. The Tallahassee native was 73.
     "He was always our guardian angel," McNeil said Wednesday. "It's sad for all of Tallahassee. He was one of our unsung heroes."
     A childhood bout with encephalitis, an inflammation of the brain, left culpepper with impaired mental faculties as he grew to adulthood. But it did not dim his desire and ability to help others.
     Culpepper was renowned for his devotion to police officers and firefighters. From the 1950s, he was among the first people to arrive on the scene of a local car crash, fire or weather emergency. Dubbing himself "Rescue l," Culpepper would put out road flares, direct traffic, console victims and bring food to officers. He became a regular visitor to all local law enforcement agencies and fire stations, befriending officers and collecting a closet full of official shirts and hats that he wore constantly.
     Culpepper was also renowned for a deep religious faith and commitment to the Episcopal Church of the Advent, which he joined in the late 1960s.
He was a fixture at local funerals, attending the services for Tallahasseeans of all stripes.
     "Horrie was so full of love and compassion about everything he cared about, from helping at accidents to his Lord, to this chapel," said Church of the Advent administrator Jane Flynn. "Horrie was part of everyone's community."
     The only child of Horrie Sr. and Lucille Culpepper, who operated a successful Tallahassee home construction company, Culpepper gained early notice for his storehouse of rescue equipment. Using money from his parents, who died in the 1970s, Culpepper bought all the latest rescue and emergency equipment--such as the city's first "Jaws of Life" device to pry open crashed cars--and lent it to Tallahassee agencies that could not yet afford it.
     He carried his equipment in a large, bumper-sticker-covered GM Suburban, which he equipped with a police radio, and cruised the city accompanied by this Boston Terrier, Dynamite.
     Though he left actual rescue work and fire fighting to the officers, Culpepper volunteered for whatever the officers would let him do--"He was careful not to get in the way; he just needed to be a part of stuff," said Leon County Sheriffs' Maj. John Schmidt. Culpepper routinely brought refreshments to officers at an accident scene, once showing up with fresh tomatoes when he could not find any coffee and doughnuts.
     "He was a bit of an eccentric, but he was a part of us," said Tallahassee fire Department firefighter Michael Terhune. "He had a heart that was huge. He would give everything he possibly could to help anyone. He was an icon."
     Culpepper's heart included his church. He attended every program by the Advent pre-school children, attended the 8 a.m. service every Sunday in St. Clements Chapel and buried his beloved Dynamite under a tree by the church several years ago.
     Last Easter, he attended sunrise service with April Penton, the former longtime church preschool director.
     "I always thought Horrie was working on a couple different dimensions," Pentonsaid. "At the sunrise service, he looked up and said 'April, do you see those angels?' I'm not so sure Horrie wasn't seeing angels, and the rest of us just weren't there yet."
     There will ba a viewing for Culpepper today from 6 to 8 p.m. at Culley's MeadowWood Chapel (1737 Riggins Road). The funeral will be Friday at 2 p.m. at the Episcopal Church of the Advent (815 Piedmont Drive).2 

Last Edited 29 Dec 2004

Citations

  1. Obituary for Horrie Brown Culpepper, Jr. from The Tallahassee Democrat, Dec. 19, 2003 (submitted by Patsy Poppell).
  2. Tallahassee Democrat, Tallahassee, FL.
    http://www.tallahassee.com/
    Obituary for Horrie Brown Culpepper, Jr., published Dec. 19, 2003 (submitted by Patsy Poppell).