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"Bee King" Brady Mullinax dies at 88

Wednesday, August 19, 2009

(Updated 5:11 pm)

By Bob Burchette
Contributing Writer

Brady Mullinax, 88, the bee king of North Carolina, died today at the VA Medical Center in Salisbury where he had been a patient for several weeks.

Mullinax became a legend in his own time by getting the N.C. General Assembly in 1973 to designate the honey bee as the state's official insect.

A celebration of life will be held at 11 a.m. Saturday at Main Street United Methodist Church with Dr. Jeff Patterson, Rev. Rick Carter and Rev. Dale Hill officiating. A private family inurnment will be held in Mt. Gur Cemetery.

Mullinax, retired superintendent of the Kernersville water plant, had lived here since 1946 and was Kernersville's 2006 "citizen of the year" and grand marshal for the town's Christmas parade.

He once said, "I started "messing with bees when I was about 7 or 8. "I was the only boy in the fifth grade through the 12th grade that they would let out of class to go see if the bees were swarming.. He got his first bee hives at age 9 - homemade ones. His first store-bought hive was a Montgomery Ward model he bought for $3 when he was 16. The hive was delivered on a horse-drawn buggy.

Nearly 20 years later, he would join the N.C. Beekeepers Association. That was after he had served nearly four years with the Navy on 18 islands in the South Pacific during World War II. His military unit was the Seabees, naturally.

While Mullinax "was seeing the world," his mother was caring for his beehives. When the war was over and he took a job as water plant supervisor, Mullinax brought his hives to Kernersville in the back of his 1937 Plymouth. He set them up behind the water treatment plant.

"There were less than 500 people in Kernersville back then," he said. "The town had one stop light, and it didn't work," he said. He also served as a part-time deputy sheriff.

After moving to Kernersville, Mullinax ended up with more than 300 hives and had become the champion for those hard- working little creatures who produced that tasty honey.

School classes flocked there to see the bees and hear Mullinax enthusiastically proclaim the honey bees' value to mankind.

Mullinax could be depended upon to have a beehive and history display at farmers markets and fairs in Greensboro, High Point, King, Hickory, Reidsville and Raleigh.

Mullinax's love for his adopted community didn't stop when he retired in 1983 - 37 years after bringing his bees to town.

Mullinax won many awards, including King Beekeeper in 1981. He was honored March 19, 2006, for 25 years service to Toastmaster, an organization where he was Toastmaster of the Year in 1987. He has been involved in Masonic projects for 60 years.

He and his family also have won many awards, including several at the N.C. State Fair and other events.

He is credited as the driving force behind starting the biggest annual event in Kernersville in 1975 - the Honeybee Festival, which attracts thousands each year.

Mullinix and Buster Linville of Oak Ridge were the driving forces behind the state farmers market being started in Colfax. Mullinax organized the Kernersville Farmers Market many years before the state market and organized Miss Mary's Children's Parade in 1950.

Mullinax was involved with a project to build a permanent honey bee exhibit area at the N.C. Zoo near Asheboro.

He is survived by his wife of almost 62 years, Mary Vance Mullinax of the home; daughters Barbara M. Hodge and Paul Hodge of Ashland, Va., and Laura M. Rathbone and Mike of Kernersville; and son Brady Wilson Mullinax Jr. and Karen of Atlanta.