By Karen Andrew
The Cincinnati Enquirer

Gulick

FALMOUTH, Ky. - Richard Gulick, a top athlete at the University of Cincinnati, was drafted by the Detroit Lions right after college in 1936. But he instead opted to stay at home and dedicate his life to his community, as well as to education.

"He took his community seriously," said a grandson, Steven Wood of Falmouth. "And his family came first. He was our leader, our mentor."

Mr. Gulick, retired superintendent of the Pendleton County School District, died Thursday at St. Elizabeth Medical Center South in Edgewood. The longtime Falmouth resident was 88.

Mr. Wood said his grandfather was a hands-on type of person when it came to working.

"While he was serving as superintendent, if someone, such as a bus driver, became sick, it was nothing for him to get in the bus and drive the route himself," Mr. Wood said. "He stayed very close with his teachers and staff, and knew where the teachers went, about their children and grandchildren."

Born in Pendleton County, Mr. Gulick graduated from Falmouth High School in 1932. After earning a bachelor's degree at UC, he finished a master's degree at University of Kentucky.

In 1936, he married Ava Lou Mains of Falmouth. That same year, he began his career as a teacher at the McKenneysburg School in Pendleton County. He was named principal of Goforth School in Pendleton in 1937, then in 1940 became an assistant principal, coach and teacher at Morgan HighSchool, also in Pendleton.

Mr. Gulick worked as an engineer in a defense factory from 1942-43.

He returned to Morgan High as principal from 1943 to 1959, coaching basketball and baseball at the school for almost two decades. Mr. Gulick was a teacher and basketball/baseball coach at Pendleton Memorial High in the 1959-60 school year.

But from 1960 to 1978, he served two terms as an assistant superintendent and two terms as the top superintendent of Pendleton schools. Under his leadership, the district consolidated five independent elementary schools into the current Northern and Southern Elementary Schools, two additions were built to the Pendleton County High School and a central office building was constructed.

He retired in 1978.

Mr. Gulick was a past president of the Northern Kentucky School Superintendents organization. In 1998 he was honored as Citizen of the Year by the Pendleton County Chamber of Commerce, of which he was a member for 60 years. He was an elder of Morgan Christian Church in Pendleton County.

Mr. Gulick was preceded in death by his wife in 1999 and a grandson in 2002.

Survivors include a daughter, Nancy Harville of Falmouth; two grandchildren, five great-grandchildren and two great-great-grandchildren.

Funeral service will be at 2 p.m. today at Woodhead Funeral Home in Falmouth. Burial will be in Riverside Cemetery, Falmouth.

Memorials: Richard Gulick-Bobby Wood Memorial Scholarship Fund, c/o Pendleton County High School, 2359 Highway 27 N., Falmouth, Ky. 41040.

E-mail kandrew@enquirer.com