CULLMAN, Ala. – For Gene Sullins, public service was never an abstract line on a résumé. It was a child waiting for a safer school bus, a teacher who needed encouragement, a ball field coming back to life after more than a decade and two communities trusting him to carry their concerns into a boardroom.
Henry Eugene “Gene” Sullins died Monday, Oct. 26, at 84. For 12 years and three elected terms, he represented District 1 on the Cullman County Board of Education, serving the West Point and Harmony communities. Along the way, he served in leadership roles including Board president and vice president.
“Gene loved Cullman County Schools, and he cared deeply about our students and staff,” Superintendent Dr. Shane Barnette said. “He understood that serving on the School Board meant serving people.”
Barnette said Sullins gave his time and energy to helping the schools succeed, advocated for students, supported employees and represented his communities with commitment.
Sullins chose not to seek reelection in 2024 and completed his service at the end of his third term.
Voters first elected Sullins to the Board in 2012. He won reelection in 2016 and defeated a challenger in 2020 to secure a third term.
The role placed him at the table for decisions touching every part of the county school system, from personnel and special education services to transportation, facilities and long-range finances.
One of the most consequential decisions came in 2016. With Sullins serving as Board president, the Board unanimously selected Barnette as superintendent.
At the time, Sullins pointed to Barnette’s experience as an educator and administrator and, most of all, his concern for children.
Eight years later, at Sullins’ final Board meeting in December 2024, Barnette described the progress made during that period.
The system had moved from one day beyond the state-required reserve balance to around 140 days in reserve, completed about $70 million in projects and modernized or repaired facilities across the county.
Its graduation rate had risen from about 80% to about 97%, while the share of graduates considered ready for college or a career had climbed from about 72% to 99%.
Barnette credited Sullins, fellow departing Board Member Heath Allbright and the entire Board. Those gains belonged to a team, but Sullins served through every year of that eight-year span, helping shape the budgets, policies and priorities behind them.
The smaller moments said just as much about the kind of Board member he tried to be.
When Harmony School returned to its ball field in April 2021 after more than 10 years without a home game, Sullins spoke during the opening ceremony.
In a later Board of Education Recognition Month message, Harmony thanked him for the time he spent “encouraging and lifting up our students and faculty.”
In 2023, Sullins was among the Board members present as Cullman County Schools began rolling out a new bus fleet.
The buses brought air conditioning, exterior safety cameras, collision-avoidance systems and real-time communication intended to help drivers protect children waiting at stops.
He also supported an unsuccessful 2020 proposal for a one-cent education sales tax. The plan was intended to replace aging buildings, strengthen campus security and build a new career-technical facility. The referendum failed, but Sullins’ position reflected the needs he believed the school system had to confront.
In a 2016 campaign message, Sullins wrote that he carefully and prayerfully weighed Board decisions because they affected his family as well as other families throughout the system.
“Together we can continue to strive and achieve great things for our kids and school system as a whole,” he wrote.
To his family, those public duties were only one part of the man they knew.
Marcia Yearwood, who identified herself as Sullins’ sister-in-law, shared a remembrance on Cullman County Schools’ public tribute.
“He loved Harmony school with all his heart. He always wanted the best for that school,” Yearwood wrote.
She remembered Sullins as a man who never met a stranger, enjoyed a good conversation and loved her family deeply.
Public business listings and Sullins’ own social media profile also show a working life rooted in Cullman County. He described himself as the longtime owner of a Cullman-area siding and sunroom business, dating his ownership to 1975.
In a public response to the Cullman County Commission’s remembrance, Jeffrey Sullins recalled another chapter of Gene Sullins’ public service, saying he had once served as an assistant probate judge under former Cullman County Probate Judge Tom Burleson.
The Commission remembered Sullins for his service to the West Point community and said his commitment to Cullman County students and families would be remembered.
When Sullins left the School Board in 2024, he did not use the moment to recite a list of personal accomplishments. He praised the people beside him. He thanked Board Member Kenny Brockman for years of help and friendship and expressed confidence in incoming Board Member Larry Duke.
“You guys will have a good Board member taking my place,” Sullins said of Duke.
It was a fitting last word from the Board table. Even at the close of his own service, Sullins directed attention toward the people who had helped him, the person who would follow him and the schools and teachers the work was meant to serve.
Cullman Funeral Home and Crematory said visitation will begin at 5:30 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 29, at Temple Baptist Church.
The funeral will be held at 11 a.m. Friday, Oct. 30. The funeral home said a full obituary would follow.
Sullins’ legacy cannot be contained in one vote, one building or one set of numbers.
It lives in safer rides to school, improved classrooms, students encouraged and neighbors heard. It is the accumulated result of showing up, term after term, and treating a seat in public office as a responsibility to people.
