In his online obituary, there are more than three dozen comments from heartbroken fans and friends of Joseph Bullick, describing the longtime champion for the North Hills as everything from “a ray of sunshine,” to “a man of great love, kindness and generosity,” and a “gift from God.”
“He was Mr. Wexford -- always ready with history and a smile,” said Brian MacMahon, a friend from Wexford, Ireland, who met Mr. Bullick as part of a cultural effort linking the sister areas.
Beloved as a coach, author, history buff and longtime employee of the North Allegheny School District, Mr. Bullick, 87, of Pine, died May 25 of ongoing heart problems.
Mr. Bullick’s childhood was anything but idyllic, he wrote in his 2012 book “Put a Tent Over the Circus,” detailing life in and out of foster homes and being raised by his single mother during the Depression.
Despite rough beginnings, Mr. Bullick had fond memories of his childhood, much of it spent at the McCandless farm of Harry and Katherine Fitzpatrick, where he operated the bellows at his foster father’s blacksmith shop.
He later reconstructed the shop, where old ironworking techniques were demonstrated, as part of his decades-long effort to preserve the history of the North Hills.
“He was a storyteller,” said Mr. Bullick’s son, Stephen Bullick, of Plum. “He understood that there’s a need to know about the history of your location. He was preserving the history of the North Hills so it didn’t disappear.”
Mr. Bullick graduated from West View High School, where he met Emma Hall. The two married in October 1952.
A gifted athlete who played baseball throughout his life, Mr. Bullick was offered a contract to join the minor leagues as part of the Washington Senators farm system.
“He declined and came home because the chances at that time of breaking through into the major leagues would have been really low,” his son said.
Instead, his father went to work as a construction laborer in the suburban housing boom after World War II. He continued to play baseball for the Butler Eagle County Baseball League, where he also managed a team.
By 1956, Mr. Bullick landed a job as a custodian at the Ingomar Elementary School, where he attended school as a child.
During a building tour several years later, a newly appointed North Allegheny School District superintendent noticed his father’s attention to detail, his son said.
“My dad always worked hard and took pride in his building,” Stephen Bullick said. “He always brought his work ethic to any job and it was obvious that my dad’s building was the best maintained.”
As a result, Mr. Bullick was offered a job supervising all custodial staff in the district, where he worked until his retirement in 1996.
He coached the district’s varsity girls golf team for 12 years, the 9th grade softball team for 17 years and even helped coach the high school bowling team, his son remembered.
His online obituary was littered with comments from former students who shared fond memories.
“He had great patience and his humanity came through” as a coach, Stephen Bullick said. “He was like a father figure to them.”
Mr. Bullick also served as history curator for the district, and in 1982, created an archive at the Bradford Woods Elementary School. He visited auctions and antique shops, collecting artifacts and memorabilia from a bygone era, such as a Victrola, a 100-year-old sewing machine, photos, maps and old newspapers.
He continued collecting items over the years and when he retired he had amassed so much that he founded the North Allegheny Museum at McKnight Elementary School.
The collection was moved in 2017 to the new McCandless/Northern Allegheny Heritage Center in McCandless.
When he retired, Mr. Bullick also received a payment for unused sick days to create a scholarship fund through the Pittsburgh Foundation for graduating North Allegheny seniors.
District Superintendent Robert Scherrer said Mr. Bullick would be remembered for his generosity of spirit and dedication to the community.
“Joe had a tremendous impact on the North Allegheny School District and the surrounding communities,” he said. “He passionately preserved the past by documenting the history of the region and was an engaging storyteller. He is a true local legend who will be sorely missed.”
One of his father’s favorite places to visit was Ireland, Stephen Bullick said, and the father and son bicycled 900 miles through the Emerald Isle in 1978.
Mr. MacMahon met Mr. Bullick during a trip to Wexford, Pa., in 2000 and the two became fast friends.
Later that year, Mr. MacMahon invited Mr. Bullick to tag along on a trip to the Vatican, where Mr. MacMahon’s New Ross and District Pipe Band was invited to play in front of Pope John Paul II.
Mr. Bullick was active in the Catholic Church, as a lifelong member and Eucharistic minister of St. Alphonsus Church in Pine.
“One member of our band was chosen to actually meet the pope at an audience. I immediately thought of Joe,” Mr. MacMahon recalled.
Mr. Bullick was thrilled to meet the pontiff and in the years since, exchanged several visits with Mr. MacMahon and his band, which played and marched several times in the Pittsburgh St. Patrick’s Day Parade.
During one particularly moving visit several years ago, the band marched up Mr. Bullick’s road and onto his front lawn, Mr. MacMahon said.
“Joe — for once — was speechless,” he said.
Along with his son and his wife, Mr. Bullick is survived by his daughter Elizabeth Bender, of Marshall, four grandchildren and three step-grandchildren.
His funeral was May 31.
In lieu of flowers, the family requests contributions to Mr. Bullick’s scholarship fund at the Pittsburgh Foundation: https://pittsburghfoundation.org/bullick.
Janice Crompton: jcrompton@post-gazette.com.
First Published: June 7, 2019, 4:02 a.m.