Havre de Grace City Council President Frederick Cullum celebrated the end of a 33-year career as a federal firefighter at a retirement party held in his honor at Aberdeen Proving Ground.
About 100 friends, colleagues and family members attended the event Thursday night. Cullum?s fellow firefighters took the opportunity to roast him while wishing him well.
“I am saddened by one thing,” said APG Fire Chief Ed Budnick. “Fred is the last of a dying breed who is leaving whose hair is whiter than mine.”
Cullum began his career as a firefighter at the now-defunct Bainbridge Naval Training Center in Cecil County in August 1973, after he decided to give up a gas station he owned in Havre de Grace during the gas shortages of the early 1970s.
“In 1973, we couldn?t get gas … and sometimes I was lucky if I made $85 in a week, working more than 100 hours a week,” Cullum said.
Cullum also worked as a firefighter at the U.S. Naval Academy in early 1976, before being transferred to APG later the same year.
He retires at the age of 57 as a battalion chief. Cullum?s wife, Kathy, joked that she was going to miss her “alone time.”
“The thing is, 33 and a half years ago he made a conscious decision to be gone 24 hours a day at a time … so there was no ?Wait till your father gets home,? ” she said.
“He was around for only half the time, but I knew it was for the greater good,” said Cullum?s son, Michael.
Cullum said he would continue to serve as a volunteer with the Susquehanna Hose Company and plans on advancing his political career in Havre de Grace.
“I will be running for mayor in May,” he said.
Havre de Grace Mayor John Correri said he was aware Cullum was going to run, but said he has not yet decided whether to seek re-election.
