By DONALD WITTKOWSKI
Living in California at the time, Maura Fernandez thought that when her phone rang on Aug. 26, 1992, it was her family on the East Coast calling to wish her a happy 35th birthday.
Instead, the call brought the horrifying news that her brother, Ptl. Michael P. Cullinane Sr., a police officer in Sea Isle City, had died in the line of duty – on the same day as her birthday.
“I dropped. I simply collapsed.” Fernandez recalled. “Then I hugged my kids.”
Michael Cullinane, known as “Mickey” to his friends and fellow officers in Sea Isle, died on Aug. 26, 1992, after he was overcome by lethal gases while rescuing a construction worker from a nearly 30-foot-deep pit. The pit was being dug on Landis Avenue at 26th Street as part of a sewage pumping station.
On Monday, Fernandez and other members of Cullinane’s family, gathered at the same spot for a memorial service marking the 27th anniversary of the officer’s death. They were joined by current and retired Sea Isle police officers, city leaders and members of the community.
Although the ceremony revived memories of the tragedy, Fernandez focused on the pleasant things she remembers about her brother, who was only 30 years old when he died.
“He had a bright, big smile that could light up even the dreariest of places. He was kind and giving. He was always there to help someone,” said Fernandez, 62, who now lives in Egg Harbor Township.
To this day, Cullinane remains the only Sea Isle police officer to have died in the line of duty. Sea Isle Police Chief Tom McQuillen said the memorial service, which is held annually, ensures that Cullinane’s heroism “will never be forgotten.”
“I never wanted his sacrifice to be forgotten by anyone,” McQuillen said in an interview after the ceremony. “This is our way to honor the commitment and sacrifice he made.”
During the service, Deacon Joseph Murphy, of St. Joseph Catholic Church in Sea Isle, read from scripture and blessed the crowd with holy water.
Cullinane’s death, Murphy pointed out, underscores the dangers that police officers face every day in the line of duty.
Murphy, a retired Philadelphia police detective, compared Cullinane to a saint who sacrificed his life to save others.
“In this next life, we will see Saint Mickey Cullinane again,” Murphy said while closing his remarks.
Safety officials who investigated the accident that killed Cullinane concluded that hydrogen sulfide and methane gas, produced by decaying vegetation buried under the sand, was released during construction of the sewage pumping project.
In addition to killing Cullinane, the gas injured two other police officers and sent a total of 38 people, including five workers and some Sea Isle residents, to a nearby hospital, according to a story published Aug. 27, 1992, in The New York Times.
Cullinane had saved another worker who had fallen into the same construction pit the day before, then returned on Aug. 26 for another rescue attempt that claimed his life.
For years, the old construction site, tucked in the marshlands along Landis Avenue at 26th Street, remained vacant. But in 2015, Sea Isle Boy Scout Ben Jargowsky, for his Eagle Scout project, transformed the site into a landscaped memorial honoring Cullinane and other fallen police officers across the country.
“For years, it was just a dirt lot here. It didn’t do anything to honor what he did,” Jargowsky said of Cullinane. “There really needed to be a memorial here. I was honored to have been able to do.”
Jargowsky noted that the project was also made possible by community donations for the landscaping as well as the memorial statue that adorns the grounds.
“It was really great to see all of the community support and donations for the memorial,” he said.
Jargowsky was only 17 years old when he undertook the project. Now 22, he is a recent graduate of the University of California at Santa Barbara and is preparing to enter graduate school in the fall. He is the son of Mike Jargowsky, a retired Sea Isle police captain.
The memorial created by Ben Jargowsky is not the only spot in Sea Isle that honors Cullinane. The street sign at the intersection of 26th Street and Landis Avenue bears his name. In addition, the lobby at the Sea Isle police headquarters in City Hall is named in his memory.
