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Letter to the editor

Face of Clearwater's history

By Nova Beall, Times Staff Writer
Published February 23, 2008

CLEARWATER

Daniel Guy McMullen and southern hospitality are synonymous. McMullen, who turned 100 this month, making him the oldest living member of Pinellas County's pioneering McMullen clan, welcomes visitors to his comfortable, shady house with a big smile and hearty handshake.

Over a Coca-Cola at the kitchen table, McMullen's son Paul warns a first-time visitor that if she stays more than five minutes, she's family.

One of seven children, McMullen, known as Guy, was born Feb. 13, 1908, to Ward and Jessie McMullen. They lived in a two-story house that once stood 200 yards from his current home. The property, which overlooks McMullen Booth Road, has been in the family since the mid 1800s.

Guy McMullen's father, Ward, was one of 11 children born to James P. McMullen, known as "Captain Jim," an original homesteader of this area. Six brothers would later follow, including Daniel, Guy McMullen's namesake.

The McMullens raised cattle, grew sugar cane, and were involved in the citrus industry. Guy's son Paul relates that in the early days, citrus was shipped in barrels, and it was "Captain Jim" McMullen who developed the double-sided shipping crates that became industry standard.

He also established the first school on the peninsula, built stores, wharves, a church and a hotel. His log home, built in 1852, served as the area's first hospital, where James' wife Elizabeth midwifed the births of about 56 children. In addition to raising their 11 children, the couple fostered nearly 25 orphans. That log home has since been moved to Heritage Village in Largo.

Around the kitchen table, Paul McMullen, 69, talked about his father's early years.

Guy McMullen graduated from Clearwater High School in 1928, then attended the University of Florida for a year where he was a walk-on football player the Gators have not forgotten. For his 100th birthday, McMullen received a congratulatory note from Coach Urban Meyer along with a book on the team and an autographed photo of Heisman Trophy winner Tim Tebow.

At the onset of the Great Depression, McMullen left college and returned home to assist his family. He found work in a grocery store, one of only two employees hired out of 160 applicants. Six days of work paid $12.

"My father's life was pretty much controlled by the Depression," Paul said. "After leaving college, he did several different things, even boxed. In those years there were more professional boxers than there'd ever been in the history of the sport. Even today. Because everybody could make five or six dollars in the ring."

In 1928, he met Laura Morris, a pretty girl from Marietta, Ga., who had come to the area to visit a friend. They fell in love and were married in 1930 by a justice of the peace.

Together, they started a family and built a home, adding to it as finances permitted. In addition to son Paul, Guy McMullen's other children include Daniel Guy McMullen Jr., who died of cancer in 2006 at age 72, and daughters Linda Davidson and Laura Weikel, both Seminole residents, who were the first twins born at Morton Plant Hospital. At 2 pounds, 2 ounces and 2 pounds, 10 ounces, they were kept warm in a makeshift incubator fashioned out of a silk-lined orange crate and warmed by 15-watt light bulbs.

When the Depression ended, Standard Oil Company of Kentucky offered Guy McMullen the opportunity to become the operator of a service station.

"He knew everybody in Clearwater," Paul said.

McMullen's hard work was rewarded with a distributorship he and his wife operated. Along the way McMullen made good investments in real estate and sold the land profitably.

"My dad's just a hardworking, plain fellow," Paul said. "He nor my mom, either one, were extravagant on anything."

Although many McMullens served in the military, Guy was the wrong age for both world wars. He would tease, "I got called in World War II, but when the Germans heard I was coming, they quit."

After 64 years of marriage, Guy's wife Laura died in 1994.

For the past 19 years, he's been cared for by his nurse, Edi Darr, who is as friendly as she is capable. It's almost as if she can anticipate McMullen's requests before he makes them. McMullen has had several strokes and his hearing and eyesight aren't what they used to be.

With a big smile, she joined McMullen, resplendent in his red cowboy hat and trademark Cuesta Ray cigar in hand, in the living room for a photo in front of a 7-foot birthday card adorned with greetings from the children of McMullen-Booth Elementary School.

A family reunion is held every summer, an expansive event where McMullen's three grandchildren and five great-grandchildren can catch up with their many relatives, including 11th and 12th cousins.

And Guy McMullen, who's worked hard, provided for family and given back to the community for 100 years, will no doubt don his red hat, take up his favorite cigar, and look toward the future with pride.

[Last modified February 22, 2008, 22:10:32]