Gene Grace Hull

She was born May 6, 1926, in the farm home of her parents, Grace (Hall) and Alfred Brown, in Hand County, South Dakota. She and her older sister and two brothers walked to their one-room school house where their early training laid a solid foundation for the years to come. She greatly appreciated the Scriptural teachings in the Sunbeam Sunday School they attended and the strong example set by her parents.

When the Great Depression of the 1930’s made farming impossible for the Brown family they moved to Junction City, OR where her father was promised a job. Gene finished grade school and three years of high school and a lifelong friendship was formed with Arlene Schrenk.

When presented with a better job opportunity in Yakima, WA, the decision was made to move again in the fall of 1943, during the heat of WW II.

Gene was a senior at Yakima High School where she met Dave Hull with whom she fell in love and later married. After graduation, Dave joined the US Navy and Gene attended Multnomah School of the Bible for a year, then worked as a weld chipper in the shipyards on Swan Island in the Columbia River near Portland, OR.

In 1946 Dave was discharged from the Navy and returned to his family’s ranch west of Yakima and he and Gene were married July 14. That fall they moved to Spokane where they attended Whitworth College and one year later their first daughter, Verna, was born.

After Dave’s graduation they returned to the Hull Ranch in Yakima. A loving home was established and in the following 15 years seven more children were born: Dan, Chris, Laurel, Sam, Aaron, Alice and John.

A loving mother, Gene encouraged her children in school, sports, 4-H, and music and rarely missed a game, show or recital. Her home and dinner table were always open to her children’s friends and no one who stayed for a meal left hungry or un-loved.

Gene and Dave were charter members of Westminster Presbyterian Church where she gave many years in service as Sunday School helper and teacher, and coordinator of a Bible Memory Verse Program for children.

She was also active in Ahtanum Valley Grade School and West Valley High School PTAs and was honored by both schools with the Golden Acorn award.

Her love of children continued after hers had grown and left home. She became a para-pro with daughter, Chris at Ridgeview Grade School. She also served as an after-school volunteer at the Union Gospel Mission’s Madison House, a safe place for children to go after school for activities and help with schoolwork. There was room in her heart for every little one who needed a hug, some help or a friend.

One of her greatest pleasures was playing women’s slow-pitch softball, especially when her team members were her four daughters and a daughter-in-law. Dave and son, Dan, were team coaches and grandson, Matt, a batboy. Very competitive, she pitched on several teams into her 60’s.

She was a loyal Seattle Mariners fan and kept her radio tuned to the station that broadcast their games, which she rarely missed. She loved her Lord Jesus, and raised her children to follow in His footsteps; took them to Sunday School, church and youth groups, and prayed for them by name every day. Her prayers were lengthened with the addition of each grandchild, but she never rushed through them.

Family who welcomed her into Heaven include her husband, Dave, her parents, brothers Larry and Bob and sister, Evelyn and great grandson Hunter. Waiting to meet her for the first time were grandson, Drew and granddaughter, Sarah.

She will be the first to welcome her surviving daughters Verna (Dennis) Wisner, Chris (Skip) Steinmetz, Laurel (Don) Brunssen, Alice (Steve) Campbell, and sons Dan (Candace), Sam (Sandi), Aaron (Nancy) and John (Jennifer).

Surviving grandchildren are Matt (Heather) Messer, Deanna (Todd) Crick, Fritz Widaman, Bryan Hull, Dan (Erinne) Steinmetz, Cathy Steinmetz and Dominic Knapp, Rafael Steinmetz, Katie (Justin) Wolff, Tami (Cory) Groves, Emily (John) Schultz, Melisa Jones, Stephanie Campbell, Joseph (Alison) Campbell, Thomas Hull and Jessica Hull.

Great-grandchildren are Chance and Colton Messer, Kaytlin and Wyatt Hull, Nick and Lauren Widaman, Haley and Turner Braxton, Derek Wolff, Brady Groves, Carter and Ella Schultz, Sean and Celeste Whisenhunt, and Leah, Logan, Emy, Katie and Hannah Jones.

Also surviving are her sister-in-law, Betty Brown, brother-in-law, Hugh Hull and many nieces and nephews whom she treated as her own children.

“Gene’s family would like to say a special thank you to the staff at Apple Creek for their kind and loving care of her for the past five years.”

A memorial service will be held at Wiley Union Church, 2711 S. Wiley Rd., Yakima on Saturday, February 18, 2017 at 10:30 a.m.

To celebrate the life of Gene and share a memory visit www.keithandkeith.com.

At her request, memorials in her name can be made to the Yakima Child Evangelism Fellowship, the Union Gospel Mission Children’s ministry and Yakima Young Life.