Wyandot County farmer was active in civic and GOP affairs

6/3/2005

UPPER SANDUSKY, Ohio - Richard Carter Hull, 90, the fourth generation to run a Wyandot County farming enterprise and a leader in civic and Republican Party activities for several decades, died Tuesday in Fairhaven Retirement and Healthcare Community here.

He had been in declining health, his son John Hull said.

Mr. Hull was a general partner of Carter-Hull Ltd., which he ran until this year, his son said. The firm raises livestock and grain on its parcels in Wyandot County's Pitt, Salem, and Mifflin townships.

He liked to grow things, and he enjoyed the independence farming gave him, his son said. "He took personal satisfaction in the physical labor," his son said.

With deep roots in the county, he believed it was his duty to get involved. "He was always the guy in the background," his son said. "He always let somebody else take the credit, but he was always the guy getting things started."

Mayor Kenneth Richardson said: "He did a lot of good for our community and was well respected and well thought of. Dick loved Upper Sandusky and Wyandot County."

Mr. Hull helped lead efforts to restore the county museum and was a founder of the Wyandot County Community Improvement Corp. and the Upper United Development Corp. He helped win state funding to build a county airport and, for 32 years, verified commercial weights and measures for the county auditor's office.

He was a treasurer of the county Republican Party and used to visit Columbus regularly on state party business. "He kept all that very private," his son said. "We did not know he was so involved until much later."

Mr. Hull was a former director of the Harpster Bank.

He was a graduate of Upper Sandusky High School and attended Ohio State University.

He was in the Army Air Corps during World War II and was a member of the 100th Bomb Group of the 349th Bomb Squadron. He was a top turret gunner on a B-17 and received two Presidential Citations, six Bronze Stars, and the Air Medal.

He read good literature, traveled the world, had met famous people, "and could move in any circle you could think of comfortably," his son said.

"When you'd first meet him, you'd think he was a very common person, and he would not do anything to dispel that," his son said. "But he was a very special guy, and if you knew him well, you'd appreciate that."

Surviving are his wife of 64 years, Minette; daughters, Jane Spitler and Katherine Hull; sons, James and John Hull; sister, Katherine Buczek; five grandchildren, and two great-grandchildren.

There will be no visitation. Graveside services will be at 2 p.m. tomorrow at Oak Hill Cemetery, Upper Sandusky. Arrangements are by the Lucas Funeral Home, Upper Sandusky.

The family suggests tributes to the Wyandot County Historical Society.