John Kernan Mullen

Mullen was born on June 11, 1847 During the 1820s and 1830s, John's father Denis and uncle Thomas Mullen, "crafted barrels for the mills" of Ballinasloe, which had three oatmeal mills, two breweries, and a flour mill. The Mullen family left Ireland during the Irish Potato Famine, also called the Great Famine. They were among a wave of 1.2 million refugees who emigrated to the United States during the nine-year period from the year of Mullen's birth until 1856, when the family emigrated to the United States. The Mullens settled at Oriskany Falls, Oneida County, New York, where Denis and Thomas purchased houses adjacent to each other, and close to the town mill. John Mullen dropped out of school and worked at age fourteen at the Oriskany Flour Mill. By the age of twenty he managed the mill. ==Businessman==

Mullen headed west in 1867 looking for positions as a miller. He spent time in Illinois and Atchison, Kansas. He settled in Troy, Kansas, where he was in charge of the Banner Flour Mills, owned by Tracey and Parker Company. In the fall of 1871, Mullen left for Denver, In 1885, Mullen established the Colorado Milling and Elevator Company (CM&E), where he was the general manager. Mullen also served on Council of Defense, a body organized by Colorado governor Julius Caldeen Gunter in 1917 to prepare for recruitment and property defense after the U.S. entry into World War I. ==Personal life and philanthropy==

On October 12, 1874, Mullen married Catherine Smith with whom they had four girls, • St. Mary's Academy of Leavenworth, Kansas • St. Cajetan's Catholic Church, a large Hispanic parish • Immaculate Conception Cathedral Mullen established the John K. and Catherine S. Mullen Benevolent Corporation in 1924. Mullen and Catherine founded a school for orphaned boys that was run and taught by the Christian Brothers of St. John Baptist de La Salle in Santa Fe, New Mexico. The school was not completed by the time of the couple's death. Completed in the 1930s by their daughters, the school is now the J. K. Mullen High School. ==Death==

Mullen died of pneumonia on August 9, 1929, He was the first person to lie in state at Denver's Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception. His wife, who died on March 23, 1925, and daughters were also buried at Mount Olivet Cemetery. ==Honors==

In recognition of Mullen's efforts on behalf of the Catholic Church, the Pope twice knighted him, first as a Knight of the Order of St Gregory and later as a Knight of the Order of Malta. ==References==