Barbara McCullen

Barbara Ann McCullen, 79, passed away on June 5, 2026.

Barbara was born January 31, 1947, in Vernon, Texas to JoAnn Gentry Sandlin and Herman Dunn Sandlin. She graduated from A.C. Jones High School and proceeded to attend A&I University-Kingsville. She later pursued classes towards a master’s degree at Texas A&M University- Corpus Christi.

Barbara met and married Mac McCullen in 1971, while he was a flight instructor stationed at the Naval Air Station in Beeville, Texas. They were blessed with two wonderful boys, Michael and Jeffery.

Barbara was a member of First Baptist Church of Beeville and in recent years had been attending Grace Fellowship. She was also a member of various clubs in Beeville.

She taught school in Houston ISD, Pasadena ISD, and Beeville ISD. She always said her years of teaching in Houston were enough of an experience to last a lifetime. She also taught continuing education art courses at Bee County College for three years, St. Phillips after school art, and preschool at First Methodist Church, before beginning her career at Beeville ISD.

Barbara had a generous heart and a genuine love for helping others. She was known for picking up complete strangers who were walking in the summer heat to drive them home. On one memorable occasion, after picking up an older lady with bags of groceries, she discovered the lady didn’t speak English. It was quite a journey, but with the little Spanish Barbara knew, they eventually arrived at the older lady's home. When Barbara was warned that picking up strangers was dangerous, she simply laughed and said, “she only picks up old ladies”. Barbara also enjoyed surprising military personnel and lawmen she saw eating in the same restaurant as her by paying their bill.

In her spare time, Barbara loved to paint, read, do needlework, yardwork, play with animals, and spend time with her friends, especially the Wacky Widows and the Yayas. Painting was her favorite hobby. At a very early age, her parents knew she would eventually end up in some type of art field when she decorated the back seats of a brand-new car. She would often spend hours sitting and painting. Several pieces of Barbara’s art are on display in hotels throughout Houston and one piece is hanging in a dental office in England.

In more recent years, a lot was put on the back burner to give Barbara more time to spend with her four grandchildren, Cooper, Gentry, Mikey, and Isla, who all simply knew her as Yaya. She once said, “I don’t remember our sons having this much energy, but my age might have something to do with it.”

Barbara was preceded in death by her husband of 37 years, Mac McCullen; and her parents, Herman and JoAnn Sandlin.

She is survived by her two sons, Michael and wife Sarah of Salt Lake City, Utah, and Jeffery and wife Kelan of Tomball, Texas; her grandchildren, Cooper and Gentry of Tomball, Texas, and Mikey and Isla of Salt Lake City, Utah; two sisters, Jeatonne Cates and husband Gary of Denver, Colorado along with their daughters and grandchildren, and Cathy Sandlin of Corpus Christi, Texas along with her sons and grandchild.

Visitation will be held from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m., Wednesday, June 10, at Galloway and Sons Funeral Home in Beeville.

A Celebration of Life will be held at 10 a.m. Thursday, June 11, at the First Baptist Church of Beeville. Burial will follow at Glenwood Cemetery. Attendees are encouraged to wear vibrant colors to celebrate Barbara’s life.

In lieu of flowers, the family asks that donations be made to one of Barbara’s favorite causes - Shriners Children's Hospital, Animal Humane Society, or MD Anderson Cancer Center.