Rue Nelle McCullah is grateful.

She’s grateful she’s been able to help a variety of communities through the Federal Way Chamber and with Allied Residential and the Multi-Service Center, for her many years and as a military wife, and for the time she gets to spend with her family after she retires from her position as community manager of Mitchell Place Apartments.

Upon retiring, McCullah said she’s looking forward to spending many hours on the baseball diamond watching her son, well-known coach Larry Marshall, teach the younger generation the things they need to know in academy baseball.

“I’ve been blessed to have lived such a wonderful life,” McCullah said. “I look forward to volunteering and spending more time with my family. Taking a bigger part in the sports activities they are involved in.”

McCullah spent years traveling with her husband, who served in the military as an aviation engineer.

One day, the couple found out they were being uprooted and re-assigned to West Germany. While her husband went immediately, McCullah stayed behind to prepare a young Larry Marshall for the move.

Because of the size and magnitude of the move, Marshall’s parents informed him Santa Claus would not be coming on Christmas Eve, but after speaking to Santa, he would come visit Marshall on Dec. 31.

The family had quite the day on Jan. 1.

Larry received his visit from Santa, as promised, and later that day, McCullah was tasked with dropping her husband off at his assigned flight line.

Little did she know she wouldn’t see or hear from her husband for the next 45 days.

“I was very worried, but back then there wasn’t much we could do to find him,” McCullah said. “My dad and family were urging me to come home, and I was young enough that I could have. But instead I decided to stay and make a difference.”

What McCullah found out from her husband, years later, was that he ended up in Turkey during those 45 days. She also found out he sat at the same poker table as famous Central Intelligence Agency pilot Francis “Gary” Powers on the evening of May 31, 1960, the night before Powers’ U-2 spy plane was shot down from Soviet airspace.

“So that’s why I never knew where he was,” McCullah said. “And what he was doing. It was all very secretive. We never went to the base commander — it was always straight to the top. We always had a bag packed for if we ever had to go home.”

McCullah stayed in Germany though.

She had an opportunity to spend time in the Meryfeld Refugee Camp in east Berlin. She was touched by what she witnessed when viewing the camp. McCullah suggested the idea of turning the death camps into museums. She never got to see the type and subject the museums materialized to, but said she was proud to be a part of it nonetheless.

She also won awards, including being named a delegate of American Women’s Activities in Europe, which was organized by military wives in an attempt to show a good faith effort in serving impoverished German citizens providing clothing, organizing holiday events and other community projects. McCullah was also awarded Military Wife of the Year, which honors military spouses from all branches of service and all ranks for a variety of accomplishments ranging from serving as single parents and heads of households when spouses are deployed to advocating for their communities, volunteering their time and talents to charitable causes and leading change.

Allied Residential Vice President Colleen Carr and Multi-Service Center Executive Director Robin Corak said in joint statement that McCullah’s presence will be sorely missed.

“She will be missed personally and in the working environment,” the pair read. “Rue Nelle McCullah is a force of nature and has dedicated her life to the service of others.”