Christine (Hutchins) Cullum

Christine Cullum, age 96, resident of Asher passed from this life on Friday, February 7, 2025 in Asher, Oklahoma.

She was born July 15, 1928 in Temple, Oklahoma to Henry Frank and Mary Lou (Crow) Hutchins.

She grew up around Temple, Oklahoma, where she graduated in 1946.  After high school she met the love of her life, Ervin Cullum.  They started a family and had two daughters, Carolyn and Cheryl. They raised their family in Russell and Hill City, Kansas before spending many years in Liberal, Kansas. Christine and Ervin then decided to move back to Oklahoma and settle in Holdenville, Oklahoma. After the passing of Ervin and recovering from a broken hip, Christine moved to Asher, Oklahoma to live with her daughter Carolyn and husband Mike on their farm.

Christine has had many jobs throughout the years. Christine’s favorite job was that of a homemaker, which did while she raised her two daughters.  As her children grew up and left home she rejoined the workforce and worked retail and did office work for Sears, Montgomery Ward and Anthony’s in many towns where she lived.  When Christine and her husband moved to Holdenville, Oklahoma, they opened their own branch of a Montgomery Ward Catalog Store. After retirement, Christine continued to work as a part-time office clerk for the Clark-Fuqua Agency in Holdenville.

From a very young age, Christine was always involved in church. Her love for the Lord was evident in all that she had done. Christine was always involved in church and regularly attended until the pandemic and her age made it too difficult for her to go. She has been a member of the First Baptist Church in Saint Louis, Oklahoma, Romulus Baptist Church in Macomb, First Baptist Holdenville, Liberal First Southern Baptist Church, and Temple, Oklahoma.  Christine was a Sunday school teacher, yet if you ever asked her about it, she would say the other people in the room taught her more.  Christine was also active with the Baptist GA’s (Girls Auxiliary) and the Women's Missionary Union in various churches.

Christine spent the majority of her free time, reading her Bible. She loved getting to know more about Jesus. If she wasn’t reading the Word, she was reading devotionals and listening to preachers on the radio or TV. Christine's next love was her family. She would check in with them often by phone but would always enjoy visiting with them in person or playing games like Rummikub, Wah-Hoo, or Skip-bo. She also enjoyed letting her grandsons win in Memory.  Christine was also a very talented cook. She would gather many great recipes from her sisters or church family, but she was best known for her chicken fried steak. In her later years, she traded the kitchen for the porch where she enjoyed watching the birds, squirrels, and butterflies, and admiring the many beautiful flowers around the front yard of the farm from the comfort of her swing. She also had a deep love for music. Christine learned to play the piano, like her father, and she would share her skills by playing piano at the local nursing homes and churches later in life. She loved playing and singing hymns. Many family gatherings ended with her and her daughters singing and playing hymns around the piano. In her later years, Christine also enjoyed completing crosswords, cryptograms, and word finds. She said she did them to keep her mind sharp, and she would complete many puzzle books. As the puzzle books got harder to see, she became a fan of Wheel of Fortune, which she watched every night before she went to bed.

She was preceded in death by her husband, Ervin Cullum; parents, Henry Frank and Mary Lou Hutchins; daughter, Cheryl Hasty, brother Ernest and sisters, Lottie, Maggie Lois, Loree, Billy, Corene, Eula, and twin sister Catherine; and grand daughter-in-law Jennifer.

Survivors include her daughter and son in law, Carolyn and Mike Edie; son in law, Lloyd Hasty; grandsons: Matt Hasty and daughter Ellie: Nich Hasty, wife Opal, and daughter Harley; and Kendal Hasty; many nieces and nephews and their families; long-time friend and hair dresser Lynda DeShields and many other precious friends and extended family.

Visitation will be from 9:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m., Friday, February 14, 2025 with family present from 5:00 p.m. to 6:00 p.m. to greet friends and family.  Services will be 10:00 a.m., Saturday, February 15, 2025 at Cooper Funeral Home in Tecumseh, Oklahoma with burial service at 2:00 p.m., at the Holdenville Cemetery Chapel, in Holdenville, Oklahoma under the direction of Cooper Funeral Home. Please join the celebration of Christine’s life through Cooper Funeral Home’s Facebook page for live streaming of the service.