Jim McCullum was a loving husband, father, grandfather, pastor, mentor, and friend.
Jim was born in 1935 in Vancouver; when his mother travelled to and from Yukon by steamship to access good medical care for his caesarean birth. He was predeceased by his two older brothers, Stewart (1930) and Hugh (2006).
Because of his father’s work as an Anglican priest, Jim’s childhood was spent in Yukon and northern Ontario. It was at Queen’s University (Kingston) that Jim McCullum met Anne Keenleyside. When friends gathered at his parents’ home before a dance, Jim’s father Creighton took him aside and indicating Anne, whispered “she’s the one for you.” Jim’s death was just three weeks after Anne’s and confirms how right Creighton was. It is a comfort to know that they are together again, free of everything that made their recent years challenging.
Jim and Anne were married in 1960 in Victoria. Their wedding followed a year of daily letters written to each other while Anne lived and travelled in Europe with her family, and Jim completed his studies. Jim received a BA from Queen’s, Licentiate of Theology at Wycliffe College (Toronto), was ordained priest on October 18, 1961 at Grace Church on the Hill (Toronto) and completed his Doctor of Ministry in 1988 at Pacific School of Religion (Berkeley).
In his doctoral thesis, Jim described the first chapter of his ministry in this way: “I was a parish priest for 20 years (Toronto, Dawson City, Whitehorse, Trail, Kelowna, and Vancouver). During that time I worked as a pastor in remote areas, small towns, and a large city. In every place I preached Sunday by Sunday about the love of God, the call to justice, the stories of redemption found in the Bible and daily life, and the power of the spirit who brings us together in mission and enables us to strive for shalom.
I stood by the bedsides of dying people and was honoured by what they taught me about faith, life, and meaning. I taught and was taught by confirmation classes, as young people struggled with their faith and life questions, and what all that had to do with God and Church. I met with artists to talk about the meaning of Advent, or Pentecost, so that they could portray the meaning without words.
I prayed with people who had forgotten how to pray, or what that word even means. I listened to angry people tell stories, about the way they had been hurt by church, by institutions, by themselves. I gathered with people of the community concerned about abused women and children, and we opened a transition house. I studied the Bible with 12 women, every Thursday morning, for 4 years. I planned worship with other people, lay and ordained, and learned about integrating the word, and the sacraments, and our lives. But I wasn’t a theologian.”
The second chapter of Jim’s ministry was at the Vancouver School of Theology (VST) where he served as Assistant Professor of Ministry, Director of Degree Programs, Associate Professor of Field Education, and Registrar. During a life-changing sabbatic leave in 1985, Jim realized that in addition to his roles as educator, pastor, priest, administrator, and sometime prophet, he was also a theologian. His ministry had been a series of stories with deep meaning, and action came from reflection on those stories, a model he then shared with his students.
Jim didn’t stop working when he retired from VST. He continued to use his skills and energy in communities where he could make a difference. This included adult literacy coaching at the Carnegie Centre, reading support with school children, advocacy for homecare workers in Soweto, and chairing the Board of Aunt Leah’s Independent Lifeskills Society.
The onset of Alzheimer’s disease in final year of his life brought many challenges for Jim and his family. It was remarkable to witness the grace with which he accepted his limitations and increasing dependency on others, and the new relationships he made. It is wonderful that so many people were able to visit with Jim around the time of Anne’s memorial service, surrounding him with loving support. He spent his final day in his bed at Little Mountain Place, visited by family and dear friends, and receiving comfort care and support from the staff who had taken such care of him over the past eight months.
At the time of his retirement from VST, Mary and David borrowed from his observations about roles of elders in Aboriginal cultures to describe Jim’s life and work.
A Celebration of Life Funeral Eucharist took place at Christ Church Cathedral, the afternoon of November 13th. A capacity congregation gathered to remember Jim as: storyteller, tradition- bearer, intergenerational bridge, conflict mediator, time-keeper, counsel for the community, memory-keeper, lamenter, and humourist.
Many thanks to Jim’s children Mary and David McCullum for allowing diocesan communications to publish this obituary that they prepared for their father - Editor
PHOTO: Courtesy of the McCullum family.
Jim was born in 1935 in Vancouver; when his mother travelled to and from Yukon by steamship to access good medical care for his caesarean birth. He was predeceased by his two older brothers, Stewart (1930) and Hugh (2006).
Because of his father’s work as an Anglican priest, Jim’s childhood was spent in Yukon and northern Ontario. It was at Queen’s University (Kingston) that Jim McCullum met Anne Keenleyside. When friends gathered at his parents’ home before a dance, Jim’s father Creighton took him aside and indicating Anne, whispered “she’s the one for you.” Jim’s death was just three weeks after Anne’s and confirms how right Creighton was. It is a comfort to know that they are together again, free of everything that made their recent years challenging.
Jim and Anne were married in 1960 in Victoria. Their wedding followed a year of daily letters written to each other while Anne lived and travelled in Europe with her family, and Jim completed his studies. Jim received a BA from Queen’s, Licentiate of Theology at Wycliffe College (Toronto), was ordained priest on October 18, 1961 at Grace Church on the Hill (Toronto) and completed his Doctor of Ministry in 1988 at Pacific School of Religion (Berkeley).
In his doctoral thesis, Jim described the first chapter of his ministry in this way: “I was a parish priest for 20 years (Toronto, Dawson City, Whitehorse, Trail, Kelowna, and Vancouver). During that time I worked as a pastor in remote areas, small towns, and a large city. In every place I preached Sunday by Sunday about the love of God, the call to justice, the stories of redemption found in the Bible and daily life, and the power of the spirit who brings us together in mission and enables us to strive for shalom.
I stood by the bedsides of dying people and was honoured by what they taught me about faith, life, and meaning. I taught and was taught by confirmation classes, as young people struggled with their faith and life questions, and what all that had to do with God and Church. I met with artists to talk about the meaning of Advent, or Pentecost, so that they could portray the meaning without words.
I prayed with people who had forgotten how to pray, or what that word even means. I listened to angry people tell stories, about the way they had been hurt by church, by institutions, by themselves. I gathered with people of the community concerned about abused women and children, and we opened a transition house. I studied the Bible with 12 women, every Thursday morning, for 4 years. I planned worship with other people, lay and ordained, and learned about integrating the word, and the sacraments, and our lives. But I wasn’t a theologian.”
The second chapter of Jim’s ministry was at the Vancouver School of Theology (VST) where he served as Assistant Professor of Ministry, Director of Degree Programs, Associate Professor of Field Education, and Registrar. During a life-changing sabbatic leave in 1985, Jim realized that in addition to his roles as educator, pastor, priest, administrator, and sometime prophet, he was also a theologian. His ministry had been a series of stories with deep meaning, and action came from reflection on those stories, a model he then shared with his students.
Jim didn’t stop working when he retired from VST. He continued to use his skills and energy in communities where he could make a difference. This included adult literacy coaching at the Carnegie Centre, reading support with school children, advocacy for homecare workers in Soweto, and chairing the Board of Aunt Leah’s Independent Lifeskills Society.
The onset of Alzheimer’s disease in final year of his life brought many challenges for Jim and his family. It was remarkable to witness the grace with which he accepted his limitations and increasing dependency on others, and the new relationships he made. It is wonderful that so many people were able to visit with Jim around the time of Anne’s memorial service, surrounding him with loving support. He spent his final day in his bed at Little Mountain Place, visited by family and dear friends, and receiving comfort care and support from the staff who had taken such care of him over the past eight months.
At the time of his retirement from VST, Mary and David borrowed from his observations about roles of elders in Aboriginal cultures to describe Jim’s life and work.
A Celebration of Life Funeral Eucharist took place at Christ Church Cathedral, the afternoon of November 13th. A capacity congregation gathered to remember Jim as: storyteller, tradition- bearer, intergenerational bridge, conflict mediator, time-keeper, counsel for the community, memory-keeper, lamenter, and humourist.
Many thanks to Jim’s children Mary and David McCullum for allowing diocesan communications to publish this obituary that they prepared for their father - Editor
PHOTO: Courtesy of the McCullum family.