Raymond McCulley

Raymond McCulley BURLINGTON--Raymond McCulley, age 89, of Wapello, died Saturday evening, January 5, 2013, at the Great River Medical Center in West Burlington. Funeral Service will be 10:30 a.m. on Wednesday, January 9, 2013, at the Dudgeon-McCulley Funeral Home in Wapello. Pastor Dan Doolin will be officiating. Burial will take place in Wapello Cemetery. A fellowship luncheon will follow at the Solid Rock Baptist Church. Visitation will be from 3 to 8 p.m. on Tuesday, January 8, 2013, at the funeral home where the family will meet friends from 6 until 8 p.m. A Memorial Fund has been established for the Wapello Rescue Unit Raymond was born on August 7, 1923, in Grandview, the son of Harley and Bertha Torode McCulley. Raymond attended Grandview school and graduated from Wapello High School in 1941. Raymond served his country during World War II where he took flight training to fly in the B-29 as the navigator. He attended Iowa State University for part of a year when his father died and he returned home to farm with his mother on the Colonel Howard farm in the Harrison community, rural Wapello. He married Phyllis Dudgeon on December 27, 1949, in Wapello, ...[more]

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after three years of farming they joined her parents, Ross and Pauline Dudgeon in the funeral and furniture businesses in Wapello. They continued the Dudgeon-McCulley Funeral Home and McCulley Furniture for many years. He also became a certified EMT and provided the ambulance service for the community. He was a 50 year member of the Wapello Lodge #5 A.F. & A. M, a member of the Louisa Lodge I.O.O.F., the Southeast Iowa Antique Car Club, the Experimental Aircraft Association, Wapello Kiwanis Club, the Iowa Funeral Directors Association, and National Funeral Directors Association. He served on the board of Directors for the State Bank of Wapello for many years. Raymond enjoyed making furniture, especially grandfather clocks, restoring antique cars, and building and flying an experimental aircraft. He enjoyed visiting with people. They enjoyed traveling and wintering in various southern locations for several years. His greatest enjoyment was to be with his family for whom he was always their rock. His family includes his wife, Phyllis McCulley of Wapello; two daughters, Kathleen Hagele and husband, Cordell, and Karen Grimm and husband, Curt, both of Wapello; four grandsons, Mike Hagele, Matt Hagele, Brad Grimm, and Brenton Grimm; and nine great grandchildren. He was preceded in death by his parents; a brother, Richard; and a child sister, Joanna.