Gathering of family, friends sends McCullah off with wings

More than 100 teenagers and young adults walked, biked, drove or rode skateboards into Sam Brannan Park in Yuba City Thursday evening to pay tribute — in words and music — to their fellow free spirit, Michael "Mike" McCullah.

McCullah died June 25 while swimming with friends at Lake Francis. He was 24.

"He was a lighthouse for wayward souls," said Jake Stevensen, 29, of Marysville. "Just a joy to be around — a peaceful, loving guy who was not afraid of adventure."

He also had been no stranger to tragedy.

The only son in a family of six children, McCullah had been nearby when paramedics recovered the body of his younger sister, Sara McCullah, 21, in mid-December.

Sara McCullah and her friends, Lacy Louann Sutton, 22, and Olivia Kloncz, 17, perished of carbon monoxide poisoning while sleeping overnight in a parked car outside Squaw Valley Resort.

The three had been scheduled to begin work at the resort, where Mike McCullah and several of his friends also were employed.

Though described as "tough" and "ready with a smile," Mike McCullah took his sister's death harder than he let on, said Bobby "Caustic," 26, a close friend who did not want to divulge his last name.

As Sara's big brother, "he felt a lot of responsibility on his shoulders," Caustic said of his recently deceased friend.

One by one, at the microphone, and in small groups throughout the park, those who had known the high-spirited young man recounted stories about his near-constant travels.

He liked to ride freight trains with his guitar, and to visit new places.

"Every city a train stops in, I can find the legacy of Mike," said Cindy Walczak, Mike McCullah's mother. "He was my rock."

Music and songwriting were his passion, according to friends. He played the bass and guitar, and performed in several rock bands.

The crowd at Sam Brannan was made up largely of self-described "troubled" or formerly troubled youth who refer to themselves as "gutter punks."

Gilbert Castro, 22, said he was the product of a badly broken family when he met McCullah at a Gold Sox game.

At 14 and homeless, he said, "I had nowhere to go."

McCullah took him into his band of peace-loving, vagabond teenagers, he said.

Castro eventually took refuge, as did dozens of other emotionally injured youth, at Walczak's home.

Castro and many others in attendance described the family-like welcome they always found — and still find — at the Walczak/McCullah home.

"Mike's mom takes care of everyone," said Travis "Klink" Klingenfuss, 26. "They knew

me better than my own family ever did."

"Who knows where the hell I'd be if it wasn't for Mike," he said.

"He found dirty gutter kids in town," Caustic said of his friend, "and he taught them how to keep their heads above water."

According to an E-mail from Kristie McCullah, one of the deceased's siblings, Mike McCullah was found by a dive team a day after he had been seen swimming.

"He had been teasing one of the other kids with him," according to the E-mail, "pretending to drown to get him in the water all day ... it's the whole 'cry wolf' story."

At the memorial, a fellow musician sang one of McCullah's compositions, and several other groups performed songs in tribute to their friend.

Walczak recalled some of the hard times her two recently deceased children had seen her through.

"When I went into recovery," she said of a drug addiction that colored much of the family's lives, "he (Mike) believed in me. He and Sara never let me fall.

"I've got some awesome kids," she said.

Ruth Soto, who organizes youth rock concerts in the area, agreed.

"They all have so much personality," she said of the tight-knit band of siblings.

Mike McCullah, she said, "always would come and tell me about his adventures."

"I watched him grow up and settle down a little bit," she said, "but he was always about his music."

Walczak spoke personally to nearly everyone in attendance about her son before she addressed the crowd Thursday in her customary, informal style.

"This is a hard walk," she said. "But know that you're all still welcome at the house ... as long as you clean your feet first."

Contact Appeal-Democrat reporter Nancy Pasternack at 749-4712 or at npasternack@appealdemocrat.com.