Steve McCullom

Steve McCullom was a unique soul born on August 27, 1953. He attended Woodward High School in Cincinnati, Ohio and graduated in 1971. Upon graduation, he enlisted in the army where he was stationed in California and Texas. He appeared to be a complicated man, but he was simply a no nonsense, no foolishness kind of guy. I guess that is what people loved about him. He always made sure you knew exactly where you stood with him and how he felt about you.

Once he was discharged from the military, Steve attended Central State University, Cincinnati Technical College and Xavier University. While at CTC he obtained a degree in Electronics Engineering Technology. However, he felt a calling to teach and that led him to enroll in Xavier University and complete his Bachelors and Master's degrees in Education.

Steve was employed at Princeton City School District for 31 years. He humbly began his employment as a custodian and worked to put himself through school until he became a teacher. He proudly served as a teacher at Princeton where he inspired a love of math and social studies in his students. He taught at Lincoln Heights Elementary and Princeton Middle School for over 25 years. In his last year at Princeton, he served as the Dean of Students at Woodlawn and Lincoln Heights Elementary Schools. It was evident Steve truly cared about his students and they knew it. Steve was a mentor, surrogate father, a strong disciplinarian, and a strong black male role model overall. He was able to command respect just through his presence. He believed ALL of his students had potential and inspired them to reach their greatness.

While teaching at Princeton, he met the love of his life, Kim (Miller) McCullom who became his loving and devoted wife in 2005. I am sure part of the reason he loved her was because she was a fellow bulldog! They spent every day together and enjoyed watching football, going to the movies for date night, attending various sporting events, had many conversations discussing and sharing viewpoints on a plethora of subjects, going to family events or just simply hanging out. They also enjoyed traveling together. Their summer vacations were one of the highlights of their marriage deciding on where to vacation each year. Although they shared a beautiful life together, they did not share a love for the same football team. She loves the Dallas Cowboys, and he loved the Cincinnati Bengals, this was probably one of the only few things they disagreed on. But above all, they enjoyed many happy years of laughter together. Steve knew that family was important to Kim and because of that, their home became the location for the annual Miller family Christmas gathering. In general, they enjoyed experiencing life together, attending special events for those they loved and were dear to their hearts.

Steve started attending church as a young man with his mother. In his adult life, he joined Mt. Zion Baptist Church. While at Mt. Zion, he became a faithful servant, a student of the Word and later he became a teacher of the Word. He served on the AV Ministry and used his technology skills to make sure Sunday services and mid-week Bible Study for the church was aired during covid. Steve was in the male chorus and loved singing praises to our God!!!

He also facilitated the annual Back to School Fair; he was on the Father/Son banquet committee. He taught the Male Sunday School class on Sunday mornings before church as well as Vacation Bible Study every year. But one of his greatest accomplishments was teaching the Saturday morning Bible Study class. Steve Loved the Lord and enjoyed studying and teaching the Word of God.

As you can see, Steve was truly a Renaissance Man. He loved to debate and was a great conversationalist. He stood for justice, equality and always took the side of what is right. He loved everything about technology. He even had a tech club for the students and taught them how to build their own computers.

Steve was a hard-working man who worked his entire life, until he became ill.  As a matter of fact, he also attended YT University, (YouTube) where he learned to fix whatever he did not know how to fix. It was important to Steve, and he believed a man should take pride in maintaining his own home. Steve took pleasure in working in his yard, because he was very particular about how it looked. One of Steve’s favorite weekend things to do was to grill; on his grill or Pit Barrel smoker! He would always cook enough meat to last at least a week! Steve loved to read books about history as well as the Bible.

He also loved participating in “Black Men Think Tanks.” In his younger days he was an avid football coach. Steve loved mentoring young African American males.  Even after he retired you could find him in either Woodlawn or Lincoln Heights with a young African American male group of students teaching and mentoring them. He stressed to all his students the importance of education and how it was “the great equalizer.” He loved movies, and there probably are not too many that he has not seen.

While Steve lived a full life, one of his greatest and proudest achievements was becoming a father to his son, Stephon and grandfather to his grandchildren. He had a special relationship with grandson Caleb that took place on the basketball court and the kitchen table, where he taught him math, did homework, and worked on special projects. His famous saying to Caleb was “you must learn and become good in math, because numbers rule the world”.

He was preceded in death by his parents, Ardel and Alice Banks; his siblings: Ann Davis, Curtis McCullom, William McCullom, Mary McCullom, Ed McCullom, and his stepson, Lafayette Dante Smith.

He leaves to mourn his legacy: his devoted wife Kim; his son, Stephon; his grandchildren, Sariah Royles, Caleb McCullom, Kaniah Royles, and Stephon Royles-McCullom; his brothers, James (Kathryn), Roosevelt (Janice), and Tyrone; his sisters, Barbara, Patricia (Jim), and Deborah; brothers-in-law, Jeffery (Vanessa), Wayne, Stefan (Geneva), Brent (Kim) and a blessed number of nieces, nephews, brothers and sisters in Christ, and friends.

To say Steve will be truly missed is an understatement!!!

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