Vietnam Vet and West Virginia Surgeon, John Owen Mullen, Dies At 81

Orthopedic surgeon John Owen Mullen, M.D., who served the community of Huntington, West Virginia, for 32 years following his residency at the Mayo Clinic, passed away peacefully on Friday, August 5, 2022, at Arden Courts in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. He was 81.

Mullen was born on April 17, 1941, in Iowa where he also spent his childhood. He earned his medical degree from the University of Iowa Roy J. and Lucille A. Carver College of Medicine. After medical school, he did an internship with the Navy in Charleston, South Carolina, and following service as a surgeon in Vietnam and spent the rest of his Naval career in Bremerton, Washington.

When his military service was completed, Mullen entered the orthopedic surgery residency at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota, and then began his orthopedic practice at Scott Orthopedics in Huntington, West Virginia, where he stayed for 32 years.

He and his wife Nancy Lee Mullen, who was a registered nurse retired to Duck, North Carolina, were married for over 60 years and raised 4 children together.

While medicine was his first passion, Dr. Mullens also loved the outdoors and photography. He was an expert skier and when he moved to West Virgina he took up whitewater kayaking. He spent a lot of time on water, taking trips down the New River, the Gauley and the Youghiogheny. He also kayaked with friends down the Colorado, the Columbia, the Snake River and took trips to Costa Rica and Ecuador. He hiked and traveled all over the world, including Central America, the Galapagos, Australia, Antarctica, and Europe.

Mullin also had a lifelong love of learning, particularly an interest in history. He loved to learn so much he obtained a master’s degree in Pharmacology while in medical school and another master’s in orthopedic surgery during his residency.

What he was most proud of, those who knew him best wrote in his obituary, was the volunteering he did with a summer camp for children with spina bifida in West Virginia. He wanted them to have the same summer camp experience he did growing going to YMCA camps where they could just be kids.

Mullin is survived by his wife Nancy, and children, Judy Mullen Steinfield of Salem, Massachusetts, Elizabeth America Ann Mullen, Ph.D. of Brest, France, Michael John Mullen, M.D. of Carlisle, Pennsylvania, and Jennifer Mary Cossons of London. He is also survived by 12 grandchildren.

He was preceded in death by his parents, Francis James Mullen, and Virginia Alice Mullen, and his sisters Caroline and Mary.