Russell Norman Hulet

Russell Norman Hulet was born in Cosmopolis, Washington on July 13, 1931, son of Lou and Clarence (Skip) Hulet. He was their third child and only son. Russ passed peacefully in his daughter Oliva’s home, on May 8, 2023, just shy of his 92nd birthday.

Russ’s sister, Sybil, says that her brother always had his nose in a book. His father and uncles were loggers, huntsmen and fishermen, but Russ had a more sensitive and creative nature and from an early age, he enjoyed reading, writing and music. His mother also loved music and poetry and supported Russ’s love of the arts.

Russ attended Aberdeen High School, where he was a top student, Yell King, and won an “Outstanding Journalism Student” award. He went on to study at the University of Washington, earning a B.A. in English. He also received a B.A. in Education from Western Washington University and a M.A. in English from Seattle University.

He served as a quartermaster in the U.S. Army in Korea, immediately following the armistice in 1953. He taught a young Korean boy how to speak English and this boy later came to the U.S. for an education and felt he only did so because Russ had taught him the English language.

Russ had a lifelong career as a teacher, a profession he was passionate about and for which he was well loved. He touched the lives of thousands of people as a teacher. He began as an English teacher at Lake Washington High School. He was also the tennis coach and led his teams to win a state championship, and second and third places at state. Russ took a teaching sabbatical in Kobe, Japan, where he lived with his family when his first two children were young and taught English to high school students. He later taught English at Juanita High School and began their first student newspaper. Russ left high school teaching in 1974 and began teaching at the college level at Fort Steilacoom Community College, now Pierce College, as a professor of English, Journalism and Humanities. He helped start the college's first student newspaper, “The Pioneer”.

Writing was another passion for Russ. He wrote a feature sports column called “Scoreboard” for the East Side Journal in Kirkland, Wa. He also wrote a column for the Lakewood Suburban Times and a biographical feature column for the Tacoma News Tribune. Russ received eleven awards for his writing, including three 1st places for “Excellence in Journalism”. He received a “First Place in Sports Writing” from Suburban Newspapers of America. He served as president of the Pacific Northwest Association of Journalism Educators and as faculty president of Pierce College. Russ wrote and published two books. “Born Under A Stump” is a biography about the life and legend of his uncle, “Big Bill” Hulet. His second book is “Out of the Blue, 100 Adventures in Aviation”, a collection of articles he wrote about pilots for General Aviation News.

Volunteering was very important to Russ. He had a life-long commitment to help the less fortunate and regularly volunteered at religious and secular organizations providing services to the poor. He was a longtime supporter of St. Jude’s Children’s Hospital. A donation can be made in his name at: www.stjude.org. He volunteered as a docent at Mount St. Helens after retiring from teaching. Russ continued to teach poetry and Shakespeare classes to his fellow residents when he lived in Independent and Assisted Living, where he was nicknamed “The Professor” and was often asked for answers to his neighbors' many questions.

He had many passions in his private life, among them literature, poetry and Shakespeare, geography, sports (especially college football and track & field), movies, music, cribbage, chess, word puzzles, whistling American Songbook tunes, and traveling, both in and outside of the United States to all continents except for Antarctica. All this resulted in many entertaining stories about his exploits, stories he loved to tell again and again.

Russ was a friendly and congenial person, had a great sense of humor and was so easy to get along with. He was also outspoken at times about things he believed in, such as in support of freedom of speech and information, liberal politics and existential ideas about the nature of the world and humanity. He loved being a patron of the arts, and regularly attended theater events, such as the Oregon Shakespeare Festival in Ashland, Oregon, as well as local community theater.

While Russ loved his career, what was most important to him in his life was his family. His family was the light of his life. He was a devoted father of four and grandfather of eight. He reveled in their achievements and loved boasting and telling stories about them to everyone he met. He loved telling compelling stories and singing silly songs to his kids and grandkids and shared his passion for poetry with them, reciting just the right poem or line from Shakespeare, either for fun or to soothe an aching heart. He was also a loving son and brother.

Russ was a loyal friend and took time to spend time with friends, old and new, valuing the importance of knowing a person over time. He had an uncanny gift for running into someone he knew, no matter where he was in the world, and had amazing small world stories to tell. Though Russ was a humble and unassuming person, he had an effect on others, leaving an impression of having known someone special. His family and friends will always have a special place in their hearts for this gentle man with a poet’s heart.

Russ is survived by his four children, Olivia Salamon, Skip Hulet, Andre Hulet, and Chantal Hulet; his eight grandchildren: Caden, Owen, Amadou, Sophie, Quinn, Serena, Gretchen, Celia; and his sister, Sybil Petrie.

Fond memories and expressions of sympathy may be shared at www.neptunesociety.com/location/tacoma-cremation for the Hulet family.