Benjamin Franklin McCullough

On November 26th 2012, Austin Texas lost part of its soul with the passing of Benjamin Franklin McCullough, Jr. age 78. Frank was born and raised by "goodly parents" in Austin Texas on Willow Street in the old 10th ward in East Austin. As a young boy the neighborhood was his playground as he swam and played with his neighborhood buddies, the Horseflies, in the Colorado River, organized football games in the old livestock holding pens near Pleasant Valley and 1st street and slept under the stars in the summer at Metz Park.

Frank liked to hang around his great aunt and uncle's home near Memorial Stadium, where the players would walk through their driveway on their way to the practice field. He got to meet players such as Bobby Layne and Rooster Andrews, attend practices and even work out with the practice dummies a few times. It was here that he developed a great love for the University and was a true orangeblood to the end.

His father owned a machine shop (which provided chores for young Frank to perform) and sufficient property for the construction of a small store. After stocking the store with supplies, his father made him (at age 14) the proprietor of the store and told him to "see where you can take it." The experiences he gained were great and provided valuable life lessons, with the most important being that you obtain from life what you put into it.

He attended Austin High School and graduated in 1952. He lived his life following the Austin High creed of "Loyal Forever" living a life defined by loyalty to his family and friends. In fact, many of the friends with whom he graduated high school were his companions in senior golf matches!

Frank built upon the foundation of family values and hard work to earn B.S. and M.S. degrees in civil engineering from the University of Texas at Austin and his desire to become a transportation researcher and professor led him to complete his Ph.D. studies in engineering at the University of California at Berkeley in 1969 at which time he joined the faculty at the University of Texas where he was a Professor Emeritus of Civil Engineering.

Frank was a modest man and not one to speak of his accomplishments but he was known nationally and internationally as the "Father of Continuous Reinforced Portland Cement Concrete Pavement" for his pioneering and continuing development work in Continuous Reinforced, Post Tensioned, and Precast Concrete pavements. His research and design in the area of pavement has led to numerous specifications, design methods, and construction procedures for concrete pavement used by the Texas Department of Transportation and countless transportation agencies around the United States and the world.

In 1957, he was employed at the Texas Highway Department as a Design-Research Engineer. Along the way, he gained some of his first pavement engineering experience at the Texas Highway Department, where he pioneered the use of pavement grooving techniques (for improving pavement skid characteristics) and use of "turned down guard rail" for safety, just a few among many ideas he developed. He was an early pioneer in the development of project- and network-level pavement management systems for the Texas Highway Department, the U.S. Forest Service, and NCHRP, as well as in the development of mechanistic overlay design concepts. He has also been involved with the development and characterization of the properties of various construction materials, which have led to the conduct of projects for developing performance-based specifications. He was instrumental in the development of a guide for the Design of Pavement Structures, which has been used as a primary tool for pavement design around the world for more than 20 years.

He worked in airport runway, taxiway, and apron pavement design studies at Chicago O'Hare, Washington Dulles, Dallas-Fort Worth, Palmdale Air Force Base, Randolph Air Force Base, Tulsa, Salt Lake, Indianapolis, and St. Louis. Additionally, he also worked on the Hefddah, Riyadh, and Dhahran Airports in Saudi Arabia.

He was a beloved teacher and advisor, having taught thousands of students over a period of nearly 50 years, having guided more than 100 students to M.S. or Ph.D. degrees in Civil Engineering and conducting over 100 research projects concerning a broad range of topics related to Portland cement concrete pavements, asphalt concrete pavements, gravel and low-volume roads, highways, airports, high-speed guideways, and commercial building slabs. He also taught special short and continuing education courses for The University of Texas, the University of Minnesota, the Australian Road Research Board, the South African Road Research Board, the Asociacion Mexicana de Caminos, the Federal Highway Administration, the National Highway Institute, the U.S. Forest Service, and AASHTO.

He served as Director for the Center for Transportation Research at The University of Texas from 1980 to 1999. Frank followed his predecessor's lead in facilitating the involvement of all Civil, Architectural and Environmental programs in TxDOT research, thereby benefiting the entire department. By the time he retired from the position, the Center was engaging in more than 70 research projects each year and was employing more than 300 full and part-time workers.

Frank was a co-founder of the consulting firm Austin Research Engineers, which specialized in Highway and Airport Engineering. This company eventually expanded to three sites in the U.S. and satellite offices in Brazil and Nigeria. He had been serving as a consultant to the firm Transtec since 1993.

His professional awards were numerous but among the awards he was most honored with was the UT College of Engineering's Joe J King teaching award in 1983.

But so much more than his worldly accomplishments, his family meant everything to him. He reveled in the joy of his children and grandchildren and loved attending their sporting events, concerts and other numerous activities. Whatever the activity, if his children and grandchildren were present, that was enough to make it the best event ever! He was a father and grandfather who led by both word and deed. He taught us valuable life lessons through his actions, oftentimes regaling us with his many adventures of growing up in Austin, with a subtle life lesson always included.

He was extremely proud of his Texas heritage dating back to before the days of the Texas Republic and had a special place in his heart for the Texas Hill Country with it's beautiful rivers and spring flowers. His great appreciation and reverence for its rugged beauty spoke of his reverence for God's creations. He was a simple man who loved nothing more than being with his family in a Hill Country setting eating BBQ.

Frank married Norma Jean Walsh, his childhood sweetheart, the girl down the street and the apple of his eye on September 1st, 1956, at the little LDS chapel on Red River. They shared 56 years of marriage together and 61 years as sweethearts. He set an incredible example for his children and especially his sons as Norma was always his first priority and treated her as gold. He knew from the time they were young children growing up four houses apart that she was the only girl for him. Teasing was one of his big hallmarks and if you didn't receive a little teasing or good natured ribbing, then you might not feel loved! There was always a twinkle in his eye for some good-natured mischief, such as putting a smoke bomb in your car engine to make it seem like it was going to explode or taking his sons on the infamous "snipe" hunt (who were fooled for 2 hours while they hunted for the always elusive snipe!)

He loved the Lord with all of his heart and his life was an example of dedicated and loving service to Him. He served almost continuously in leadership positions of Bishoprics, Bishop, Stake Presidency and High Councilor in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints for over 45 years and always served willingly and faithfully wherever he was called throughout his whole life. His love for those with whom he served was boundless and he always had a special affinity for the youth and children; praying, caring for and watching over them as if they were his own.

Frank is survived by his loving spouse Norma Jean, son Mike McCullough and wife Cara, son Scott McCullough, son Todd McCullough and wife Bridget, son Scooter McCullough and wife Lindsay and daughter Melanie Allison and husband Brent. Also surviving him are his adored 12 grandchildren, Ben, Kip, Bethany, Justin, Chelsea, Jordan, Tyler, Cory, Chloe, Bo, Sophie and Chase. He is also survived by his mother-in-law Laverne Walsh, brother Robert and wife Cherrye and sister Francis, all of Austin as well as numerous nieces and nephews.

Loyalty, honor, commitment, kindness, courage and optimism defined his life and he was truly a man of integrity. We will miss you Dad and Pop-paw but will be grateful for the eternities for the legacy that you have left us!

A visitation will be held Friday evening, November 30th from 6:00 to 9:00 pm at the Lake Travis Events Center/Weed-Corley Fish. An additional viewing will be held on Saturday, December 1, 2012 at The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, 5201Convict Hill Rd. Austin, Texas 78749 from 10:00 to 10:30 am with the funeral service following at 11:00 am. Interment will be held immediately following the service at Austin Memorial Park Cemetery at 2800 Hancock Drive, Austin, TX. 78731. All are welcome to attend the graveside service.

Those wishing to make a financial donation in lieu of flowers may do so to the Perpetual Education Fund of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints.

Obituary and guestbook available online at www.wcfish.com