New Hugh McCullen Memorial Scholarship Fund Honors Community Commitment

By Steve Hanf

Hugh McCullen graduated in 1974 with the titles of “Mr. Garner Senior High School” and student body president. Four years later, he graduated from Appalachian State University as the Mountaineers’ student body president. And after a lifetime of community service, Hugh would eventually serve as president of the Manteo Rotary Club.

“He was the leader that everyone followed,” said his wife Martha McCullen.

Now, the Hugh McCullen Memorial Scholarship Fund seeks to support the next generation of dynamic leaders in their pursuit of higher education. The new fund through the Outer Banks Community Foundation went live this year and will be awarded for the first time this spring.

To everyone who worked with Hugh or volunteered alongside him at countless events, it would come as no surprise that his family would establish a scholarship in his memory. Hugh and Martha celebrated 41 years of marriage and raised four children together, each of whom would graduate from college.

“He always loved helping people,” Martha said. “When he was a senior at Appalachian State, he had a leadership class with all these students and he always talked about how much he loved that. He just loved helping people grow to their full potential, and that’s why I wanted to have a scholarship to remember him.”

As for the scholarship being an opportunity for Outer Banks’ youth, well – that’s a whole other matter. Hugh spent his entire life in the Triangle, coming home after college to work in his family’s business called “Ted’s TV.” Hugh owned and operated the Garner location while he and Martha settled in Clayton to raise their family.

While lots of Raleigh-area folks shoot down I-40 to Wilmington’s beaches, the McCullens fell in love with the Outer Banks decades ago. Their minister at First Baptist Church of Clayton, Dr. Maurice Grissom, offered up his place in Kitty Hawk for a beach trip … and they were hooked.

“We started going there every summer,” Martha recalled of the home on the beach road near Fonck Street. “But we’d always go down to Manteo at least three or four times every visit, and the whole family just all grew to love Manteo. We liked the small-town life and we decided we wanted to purchase a home there.”

One of their favorite haunts in Manteo was Poor Richard’s Sandwich Shop, Martha said with a laugh, but the family also loved visits to the aquarium, the Elizabeth II at Festival Park, seeing The Lost Colony show, or simply walking around downtown or taking the boat into the sound.

In 2015, they rented out the Tranquil House Inn for their daughter Meredith’s wedding, and that final bit of magic in Manteo put the home search into high gear. They ended up with a place just a stone’s throw from the Inn and Festival Park, but the ever-active Hugh wasn’t actually ready to retire just yet.

Instead, he threw himself into his new community, becoming a fixture with the Manteo Rotary Club after years in the Garner Rotary. As a communications technology expert, he enjoyed getting music going at special Rotary events and especially loved working the annual Inshore Slam fishing tournament. Martha still marvels at how much work Hugh managed for the 2022 Slam when he was quite sick due to his battle with cancer. 

 The annual Rotary Club scholarships also left an impression with Hugh.

“That’s all he talked about, was when they interviewed all the students,” Martha said. “He just loved that all those students received scholarships and talked about how great they were, how each student had done so well – he always bragged about all the scholarships that they gave out with the Rotary Club.”

Despite their involvement with Garner High and the Clayton community, Martha said the need for scholarship dollars felt greater in their new hometown. And while they did ponder adding a specific Rotary Club Scholarship in Hugh’s honor, in the end the family elected to make it available to a wider range of students through the Outer Banks Community Foundation.

The Hugh McCullen Memorial Scholarship will provide renewable scholarships for up to four years to Manteo High School seniors attending a North Carolina college or university. Preference will be given to students who have demonstrated leadership characteristics through community involvement and clubs.

She’s excited to read through the applications and participate in the selection process. Martha knows a thing or two about what to look for in worthy scholarship candidates, after all: She retired after a career as a science teacher at the middle and high school levels.

“I think it’ll be fun,” she said. “I am going to be looking for their community involvement and school involvement, because that’s really what Hugh embodied as a person. He was in the clubs. He was the president. He got things going.”

Martha also appreciated OBCF’s efforts in getting the Hugh McCullen Memorial Scholarship Fund going. 

“They’ve been very supportive – so knowledgeable and helpful,” Martha said. “We had to find the rest of the funds and get it to them because I want the scholarship to go live so he can be remembered in that capacity. It’s been great working with them.”

The Outer Banks Community Foundation manages over 80 scholarships for Dare, Currituck, and Ocracoke students. The deadline for all applications is 11:59 pm on Monday, March 2, 2026.

To learn more about the Community Foundation’s scholarships, visit OBCF.org/scholarships.

About the Outer Banks Community Foundation: The Outer Banks Community Foundation is a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization committed to fostering philanthropy and supporting local causes. Through its charitable funds and grant programs, the Foundation strives to enrich the quality of life for residents of the Outer Banks.