Joseph "Joe" Earl Culpepper, Sr.

Joseph “Joe” Earl Culpepper Sr., 81, of Mill Creek, North Carolina, passed away on Saturday, January 28, 2023, at Carteret Health Care.

His funeral service will be held at 2:00 p.m., Thursday, February 2, 2023, at Reece’s Chapel, officiated by Rev. James “Winkie” Chadwick. Interment will follow at the Chadwick Family Cemetery. The family will receive friends from 6:00 p.m. until 8:00 p.m., Wednesday, February 1, 2023, at the church. The service can be viewed through his obituary page on Munden Funeral Home’s website for those unable to attend. The service will remain on the Funeral Home website for 90 days.   (See the link below for the Service Bulletin.)

Joseph, known to all as Joe or Granddad, was born on November 23, 1941, in Mill Creek, North Carolina, to the late Otis B. and Nannie Culpepper, He was 1 of 12 children.  Joe attended Reece’s Chapel where he loved the church family there.  The community of Mill Creek was his extended family where he was always ready to lend a helping hand. He retired from the International Longshoremen’s Association at the Morehead City Port where he worked for over 40 years. He was also a lifelong commercial fisherman. Through both professions, he was a mentor to many. Joe was a member of the Carteret Lodge Hunting Club and had a passion for guiding young hunters toward their first successful hunt. He was a loving husband of 60 years, a loving father, grandfather, and great-grandfather.

His tough-as-nails, greater-than-life personality was topped only by his deep love and compassion for others.

He is survived by his loving wife, Carolyn Avery Culpepper; daughter, Lisa Culpepper and husband Donnie Lewis of Mill Creek; sister, Sadie Cribb of Newport; brother, Charles “Piggy” Culpepper of Newport; daughter-in-law, Sharon Culpepper; grandsons, Joseph Austin Knowles, Joshua Aaron Knowles, Joseph Culpepper III, and Casey James Culpepper, all of Mill Creek; granddaughters, Elizabeth Culpepper Laster and husband Adam of Clover, SC and Amy Fultz and husband Nathaniel of Mill Creek; great-grandchildren, Jak, Everleigh, June, Ryker, Selina, Heidi, Nathaniel, Chase, Jordan, Adriana, Nathaniel Jr., Noah, Christian, Hannah, Lindsay; and numerous nieces and nephews. There were many others who were blessed to have known him and had special names of endearment, including “Granddad” and “Uncle Joe”.

In addition to his parents, he was preceded in death by his son, Joseph “Joey” Earl Culpepper Jr. in 2015; sisters, Mary Chadwick, Lena May Locklear; and brothers, Baby Henry, Otis Culpepper Jr., Nick Culpepper, Billy Culpepper, Ben Culpepper, R.L. Culpepper, and Jessie Monroe Culpepper.

Flowers are welcome or memorials may be made to Reece’s Chapel, 171 Old Winberry Rd, Newport, NC 28570.

Family and friends are welcome to submit online condolences at www.mundenfuneralhome.net

Arrangements by Munden Funeral Home & Crematory in Morehead City, NC.