First, I'd like you to read the following obituary. I'll comment after:
John Patrick Mulhern, Jr. “Sean”
Sean, 66, died on Tuesday April 15, 2008 surrounded by family and friends in the Christiana Hospital.
Our Beloved Husband and Father lost his two-year courageous battle with Leukemia. Sean was the ultimate family man. His family was his first priority at all times. The love, compassion and care he had for his wife and two daughters was boundless. His wife and daughters loved, respected and cared deeply for him. Colleen, Felicia, and Victoria are deeply saddened by his loss. We will never forget all he has done for us and our extended family.
Sean graduated from St. Ann’s Elementary School, Salesianum High School ‘60, and Valley Forge Military Academy ‘62. He was the recipient of the esteemed V.F.M. McCloskey Award. As an adult, still attended military parades and served on many school boards.
He began Brandywine Valley Fire and Safety in the 1960’s, which is still in operation. Sean was a member of the National Guard from 1963 to 1970 rising from Private to Staff Sergeant as a full-time member. During the summer of 1968, he worked in Wilmington during the civil unrest and received the Medal of Service in Aid of Civil Authority.
Sean’s firefighter career began with Wilmington Fire Department in 1971. He rose through the ranks from entry Firefighter all the way to Chief. He never lost any firefighters on the scene, which was his first priority. Chief Mulhern added to the department the following: Annual Fire Muster, restructured the rescue squad and developed a new design which is now Rescue #1, and by writing grants he was allowed to find funding during severe city budget cuts for fire protection inventory including fire equipment to costly fire trucks. The most innovative improvement from a large grant was to establish the first Marine Unit in Wilmington. The grants obtained the first fire boat and later upgraded to a larger boat and outfitted this to be utilized as a firefighting boat for the City Riverfront. This lowered the cost of insurance to incoming business on the Riverfront. Many years later, this contribution helped to assure new investors that their properties’ building fires would be fought from two sides, land and water. This fire boat’s refitting was carried out by many loyal Wilmington Firefighters in their off-duty hours, and they rebuilt the boats at no cost to the City or fire department budget. It was a voluntary effort of many loyal and talented firefighters who all enjoyed offering free services to improve the fire department’s inventory of large firefighting equipment. Chief Mulhern saw computers as the future and computerized the Wilmington Fire Department. He began a program to promote fire prevention and investigations which helped to reduce fires, life, and property losses; and increase prosecution of people who intended to create fires. This education lowered deaths to city residents, fire personnel, and property losses. Chief Mulhern actively fought all losses of fire personnel’s jobs, and he was able to ward off any layoffs of personnel. He was the co-coordinator in the construction of the newly built McLaughlin Public Safety Building. Sean was an honorary member of many volunteer fire organizations. Chief Mulhern and Ronald Ayres had begun the archiving and planning for the Wilmington Fire Museum. They have collected many historical artifacts. The Chief has donated his lifelong extensive collection of Wilmington Fire Memorabilia. The two have spent immeasurable off-duty hours working on the construction and organization of this museum.
Other fire related project memberships, affiliations and associations were Civil Defense Firefighter, Member of the Eastern Division of Fire Chiefs’ Association, New Castle County Fire Chiefs’ Association, Delaware Valley Fire Chiefs, International Association of Arson Investigators, National Fire Protection Association, Honorary Member of the Union Historical Fire Society
After retiring from the Wilmington Fire Department, in 1993 he joined the State of Delaware as Director of the Delaware Emergency Management Agency (DEMA). The DEMA operations were moved to a central location in Smyrna. Mr. Mulhern was involved in the planning of a new state-of-the-art building for DEMA operations. This building has attracted national and international attention as a facility for our times and the future. At DEMA, he developed a partnership between DEMA and DelDOT, which helped Delawareans to streamline communications during emergencies. Mr. Mulhern directed many serious managed responses in devastating weather related conditions, and planned simulated disaster scenarios for personnel in the State to keep communications and rescue operations current. He was in charge of the State’s emergency preparations and operations during 911 and created post planning for terrorism attacks.
In 2001, Mr. Mulhern joined MBNA Bank as a Vice President in Security. He was Vice President responsible for covering national and international MBNA personnel and properties after 911. He was an emergency planner, emergency disaster trainer, and leader of evacuation drills and developed and directed post 911 education policies and programs. His anti-terrorism expertise, emergency management skills, knowledge of hazardous materials and weapons of mass destruction, and exceptional fire background, Sean was prepared for post 911 prevention strategies and planning for MBNA personnel and properties.
Sean’s many interests included Irish History; Firefighting History; Valley Forge Military Academy; Military History; Antiques; Ireland travels; family vacations; and his cigars. He was a technical advisor for educational videos for Fire House Magazine, in a People Magazine article for the Baker Life Chute and contributed to articles in the National and International fire magazines. Sean taught a course at Harvard University on Emergency Management for Terrorism Events.
Mulhern and Tattan family deeply loved and respected our Sean. He is survived by his wife, Colleen Pope Mulhern; children, Felicia M. Pope and Victoria L. Pope; Sean’s sister and brother-in-law, Kathleen and William C. Tattan, Sr. of Worcester, MA; nephews, William C. Tattan, Jr., of Rome Italy; John Tattan and wife Ann Marie, of North Andover, MA; niece, Susan Greene and husband, P.J. Greene, of Hingham, MA; 2 grand nieces; 2 grand nephews; brother-in-law, Richard H. Pope Jr. and his mother-in-law, Gretta Pope, both of Wilmington.
I think we can all agree that Sean has accomplished quite a bit over his lifetime. I never met Sean but I've heard many stories from those in the Delaware emergency management community about him. What really took effect in me though after reading this is how much one person was able to accomplish, and experience in his lifetime. Sean passed young in my opinion, and who knows what else he may have been able to do during his time.
Sean had experience in a variety of fields which made him quite an asset in the emergency management community in Delaware. His experience as a firefighter with Wilmington helped him to understand what first responders go through and need during an incident from small to large. He eventually ended up at MBNA in a position that most of us with job in the State would only dream of. I would only assume that those who hired him there were impressed with his line of experience.
I hope as I continue to progress in this field, I'm able to bring various pieces of my travels into my repertoire. If I'm able to accomplish half of what Sean had, I'll be happy to leave this earth. I'm impressed greatly by it all.
Because of the relation to Sean's firefighting experience, this post is probably a good one to announce that I've applied to join the Lewes Fire Department about a week ago. This doesn't mean that I'll make it, as I still am awaiting my background check and health exam. But if I do, I'm sure I'll be busy with that, DEMA, and my amateur radio stuff all summer.
It was only a matter of time before I joined, and I'm surprised I held out this long. My interest in the fire department started in middle school when a few of my classmates had joined their local departments as junior members. Around the start of my freshman year in high school, Lewes and Rehoboth Beach built a joint station very close to my home in Lewes. Close enough that I'd be able to bike there and beat most of the crew to the engine.
About 1500 feet between my house and the station
I found amateur radio and it became my involvement in the emergency response of Delaware. With all of my time dedicated to it, I had no time to join a fire company. Additionally as I joined DEMA, and started looking into a lifetime in this profession, I moved away from the idea of joining because I was afraid of being another "firefighter turned emergency manager". The FEMA Higher Education Project suggests that the majority of emergency managers across the United States are former firefighters, police officers, or military officials who have retired from their "first jobs" to become emergency managers.
I've always been the type to try and deviate from that path, working to get involved in this profession as a educated specifically in emergency management. I found that I can do both though, and gain experience in the fire and police communities while getting a college education in emergency management and public administration.
I'll keep you posted on my progress. This is only the start.
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