Bradley J. Hulick, 64, departed this life much too soon Saturday (Dec. 22, 2018) at Arbor Rose, Tolono.
Brad was born Nov. 22, 1954, in Shelbyville, to Charles “Doc” and Elizabeth “Lib” (Davis) Hulick. He was a graduate of Shelbyville High School and Eastern Illinois University. He was a band director first at Melvin-Sibley schools and then taught band and music at various grade levels for almost 30 years at Unit Seven Schools in Tolono before retiring in 2010. Music and teaching were his passions and his talents. On June 13,1992, he married Jeannette Marie Ingram of Sidney, and in 2002, their beloved daughter, Elizabeth Suzanne, completed their family, along with assorted cats and other pets.
Brad had a love/hate relationship with golfing, played basketball, enjoyed walking and riding his bike around Tolono and was a skillful tennis player who competed in and organized many tennis tournaments in his younger years. Brad appreciated movies from many different genres (everything from subtitled foreign films to Airplane! to Die Hard) and relished watching sports (he was a longtime fan of the Illini, Da Bears, the Bulls, the Pirates and the Cardinals) and traveling. He enjoyed gadgets of every kind, especially if they involved electronics or exercise and were “as seen on TV.“ At one point he owned both an Ab Rocker and a Soloflex machine. He loved animals, especially cats, and babies, and they loved him right back. Brad never met a dessert that he didn’t like. He had impeccable and wide-ranging musical taste, and his greatest joy, besides his family, was introducing others to the music he loved. He had perfect pitch and could play a euphonium (look it up) like nobody’s business.
Brad was strong, gentle, kind, generous, honest, faithful and humble in all that he did. He was a loving and attentive husband, a deeply devoted dad and a caring and loyal son, brother, uncle and friend. The world was a better place with him in it, and he will be deeply missed and forever remembered by his family and friends.
Brad was preceded in death by his parents.
He is survived by his wife and daughter; brother, Chuck (Paula) Hulick of Murray, Ky.; sisters, Suzie (Gary) Robison, Carole (Stu) Hott and Nancy (Bud) Wilhelm, all of Shelbyville; many nieces and nephews, Brian Hulick (Christine Hanks) of Denver, Brock (Allison) Hammat of Brentwood, Tenn., Jennifer Hammat (CJ Delgado) of Fairfax, Va., Aaron Robison (Emily English) and Lisa (Ben) Snoke of Shelbyville, Blake Wilhelm and Christine (Tony) Clark of Villa Grove, Brett (Sue) Wilhem of St. Louis and Lily, Ivy and Violet Cozzolino-Ingram of Urbana; and several great-nieces and great-nephews.
Special thanks and eternal gratitude to his caregivers, especially Clory Figueroa (who is now an adopted Hulick) and the nursing staff at Arbor Rose in Tolono.
Brad’s untimely death was the devastating result of early onset Alzheimer’s. In lieu of other expressions of sympathy, memorials may be made to the Cure Alzheimer’s Fund, the Alzheimer’s Association, the Unity Music Boosters (Unit Seven Schools), First Presbyterian Church of Tolono or Eastern Illinois Foodbank. Brad’s visitation is Friday, Dec. 28, from 4 o 7 p.m. at Freese Funeral Home, Tolono, and his funeral is Saturday, Dec. 29, at 10 a.m. at First Presbyterian Church, Tolo