Nicholas Kulik Sr.

Nicholas Kulik, Sr. November 23, 1920-February 24, 2013 The life of a decorated army veteran came to an abrupt conclusion on Sunday, February 24, 2013. Up until the end, our father resisted the bright lights that were calling out to him, but God had other plans in mind. He was 92 years young, savvy and trusting in mankind. You might think that he lived a good life; he did and didn’t. Just before the conclusion of World War II, he was shot crawling over the bridge of Ramagan. The bullet entered his stomach and lodged itself in his spinal column. Lesser men would have accepted paralysis and a life confined to a bed with no hope of ever walking. Not our dad. If it couldn’t be done, he found a way to do it. After three surgeries and trip to England and Iceland, thinking that the bullet had been removed from his spinal column, he found out that was not the case. An American neurosurgeon, who enlisted to help the U.S. Armed Forces, performed the surgery and dislodged the bullet from his spinal column. 250 stitches and may surgeries later, our dad was stabilized with no hope of ever leaving his bed. He was never a can’t do person, but a can do person. The nerves were severed on the right side of his body. He had a dropped foot, but he will those nerves to take on a wheelchair, a walker, braces attached to his wrists and a cane. He never hid behind his disability. He never asked for anything. He lived his life with the attitude that tomorrow would be a better day. He was a track star at Binghamton Central High School. He was a diminutive 5’3 ¾: on a good day. He ran a record 100 yard dash the likes of men a foot taller could not compete with. He was a humble individual with modest upbringings. His parents came from Austria-Hungary. They spoke no English. Once they arrived in Binghamton, the asked, “Which way to E.J.?” He had to learn English to attend school and Slovak to speak to them. He came back from World War II and attended Syracuse University where he graduated in 1949. He wanted to be a lawyer. I wish he had. I have spent much of my life taking on the attributes of “Sherlock Holmes” which my answering machine will attest to. Instead he married an English Lass and produced my brother and I. He always had a smile on his face and never out rightly had a bad day. He retired as an auditor from the NYS Department of Taxation and Finance in 1983. He spent the rest of his life enjoying the freedom that retirement brings with our mom. When she became ill, he took care of her for years at home. Growing up during the depression, he wanted to make sure that mom was provided for and would never have to do without so he saved every penny and set it aside so that she would be able to stay in her home after his death; but she died first in 2009. He was eight years older and never dreamed that was a possibility. Our lives have been enriches by dad’s presence on earth. We enjoyed watching on TV, together, the Yankees, New York Giants, and New York Knicks games along with Turner Classic Movies. They just don’t make movies like that anymore. It is with a very heavy heart that the writer of this memoriam puts ink to paper. Dad was a selfless individual who asked for nothing for himself, but only wanted the best for his family. He was a true Patriot, a true American, who enlisted in WWII without being asked, because it was the right thing to do. He was a disabled American Veteran who never hid behind his disability. I think that God needed a jolly “St. Nick” with thick white hair to enter heaven’s gates. Others who have passed unto eternal rest before him are his father, George Kulik, his mother, Julia Kulik, his brother, Michael Kulik, his sister, Helen Manning, his wife, Ellen Ellis Kulik, and his granddog, Samantha (Sammie) Lacey. He is survived by his inconsolable daughter, Lorraine Julianne Lacey, her husband, W. Scott Lacey, dad’s granddog, a basset hound Aberdeen Lacey, all of Binghamton, NY, his son, Nicholas Kulik Jr., his wife, Helen Kulik, his special granddaughter, Nicole Lynn Kulik, J.D., all of Windsor, NY. His sisters, June Kulik and Marion Kulik, of Binghamton, NY. He is also survived by his niece and her husband, Barbara Jane Bruno, Michigan and two very caring compassionate neighbors, Leon and Patricia Cook. We would also like to thank the dedicated, caring, compassionate staff of Elizabeth Church Manor, especially the occupational and physical therapy team of Debbie Fava, Holly Skuban, and Stephanie Dye, who performed nothing short of a miracle last July when they got dad to walk again after being ravaged by the damage that congestive heart failure can do. We would also like to thank Lourdes at Home, especially Elisa Clah, who was like a second daughter to dad and especially headed the call so often in our hour of need. We would also like to thank of 3 Ross at Lourdes, all the nurses, aides, respiratory therapists, and hospitalist, Dr. Carlos Martinez, who did everything he could to save dad’s life. You treated him like he was your own father. He loved all of you. I would also like to thank Mary Alice Westerlund, Chaplain at Lourdes Hospital, who answered the page to her home on Saturday night, and came into see dad and I in our hour of need. She did not look at this as a burden, or as an interruption in a Saturday evening, but as a call to someone who so desperately needed her help, which we did. She listened to many life stories, chapter and verse and did not cut short any renditions to escape back to the warmth of her home. She loved her job, she showed love, respect, compassion, and concern for dad and I for whom I will be eternally grateful. Funeral services will be performed under the very capable and compassionate hands of Alice Ann Powers, Supervisor of the Tuttle-Yeisley Funeral Home, Inc., Hallstead, PA, at the convenience of the family. Full military honors will be performed at the burial in the spring. In closing, I would like to say, “To the world dad, you might be one person, but to one person, you were the world.”

Tributes

Nicholas Kulik Sr.

November 23, 1920 - February 24, 2013