Necrology

Paul Alan Hulleberg '79

Jul. 30, 1956-Feb. 21, 2022

Paul Alan Hulleberg ’79 died on Feb. 21, 2022, at the University of Maryland Medical Center. Born on July 30, 1956, on Yokosuka Naval Base in Japan during his father’s military service, he moved with his family to Cherry Hill, N.J., near the town of Haddonfield where his father had grown up, and then to New Canaan, Conn. In 1966, his father, having finished his time in the Navy, began work for IBM. 

Paul came to Hamilton from New Canaan High School. On the Hill, he majored in English and music and also completed all of the courses required for certification as a public school teacher. A member of Sigma Phi fraternity, he was also in the College Choir and the Oratorio Society. 

Experiencing academic difficulties during his time on the Hill, Paul withdrew from the College for a fall semester and winter term. He returned the following spring, enrolling in courses in music theory that would prove essential to his subsequent career as a music teacher.

While at Hamilton, Paul developed a close friendship with Professor of Speech Robert Carson (known to many as “Mumbles”), whose two children both taught at the Dwight-Englewood School, an independent college preparatory school in Englewood, N.J. In 1980, Paul accepted a position there teaching English and music and also coaching the hockey and tennis teams. For additional professional development, during the 1982-83 academic year Paul took courses at Columbia Teachers College in the teaching of writing as well as child development and testing.

On June 22, 1985, Paul married Dawna Marie Cobb in the Hamilton Chapel. They had first met in New York City where she was a practicing attorney. They would have two sons. 

Paul commuted by bicycle over the George Washington Bridge to work in the city. At one point while riding home, he literally dodged a bullet fired by one of two men who were involved in an argument. This may have planted the seed for Dawna and him to relocate. They chose Baltimore, where Dawna’s best friend from high school lived. They resided in the Charles Village neighborhood, and Paul took a teaching position at the Gilman School, a private preparatory school, beginning in 1986. His students were fifth graders to whom he taught mathematics, reading, writing, social studies, and physical education.

In 1989, he accepted a combined position as both a teacher in the humanities and middle school assistant principal at the Park School, another preparatory school in Baltimore. In 1991, his teaching responsibilities shifted to math and writing instruction. Beginning in 1994, he became the middle and upper school’s general and vocal music teacher. For 18 years, he coached both the varsity and junior varsity cross country teams. 

During the first five years of his time at Park , he took graduate courses in music education at Towson University to enhance his teaching skills in this subject. Paul also wrote several musical compositions for his middle school choir; the group was awarded a first-place prize for its performance of his setting of Robert Frost’s “Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening” at a competition held at Hersheypark in Pennsylvania. He also founded an upper school male a cappella group known as the Vocal Chords. 

His approach to his choral work was professional. In the words of a Vocal Chords alumnus: “I always felt like he treated me with the respect of a musical peer, rather than as a student.” Paul, something of a guitarist who was originally inspired to play the instrument after seeing the Beatles on The Ed Sullivan Show, also played in the pit orchestra for upper school musical productions and with student bands at school concerts. 

He would remain at Park for 23 years. Afterward, he accepted what proved to be his final teaching position, at the Root and Branches Charter Elementary School in West Baltimore, where he began teaching both music and reading in 2012. He was drawn to this position because the school included many students who did not come from privileged backgrounds, in contrast to those at Gilman and Park. He retired from teaching in 2016.

After his first marriage ended, Paul met Laura Bristow in 2015. After a period of time, they started dating and married in July 2021.

Paul led a very active life outside the classroom. An avid runner, he joined several running groups in greater Baltimore, participated in many marathons, and, as part of a chapter of Back on My Feet, coached homeless men and women in distance running. A cyclist who at one time owned seven or eight bicycles, he also coached a Little League baseball team. From 2002 to 2010, he was in the Baltimore Choral Arts Society, took up the ukulele, and created a circle of performers at the condominium in New Baltimore where he and Laura lived. 

Paul served Hamilton as a class committee and reunion gift committee volunteer. He was an alumni recruiter, supported the performing arts, and contributed to the Hamilton Fund.

Paul A. Hulleberg is survived by his second wife, two sons, including Lucas Cobb Hulleberg ’14, daughter-in-law Bianca Buonaguruo ’14, and two grandchildren.

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