Robert Edward Hull (Bob)
Robert Edward Hull (Bob)
Robert Edward Hull (Bob), who was raised in Moses Lake and lived in Seattle, died on April 7, 2014, in Port Elizabeth, South Africa, after complications from a stroke at the age of 68.
Bob was born on September 21, 1945, to Gladys and Edward Hull and was the third of four children. He was the first baby born in the Ephrata Hospital. As a boy he was active in 4-H, showing livestock, was a competitive water skier and played piano and trumpet. Academics were important to the Hull family (as his mother was a teacher and father was a principal) and Bob was a good student graduating from Moses Lake High School in 1963. After high school Bob attended Washington State University and graduated at the top of class in architecture in 1967.
Following college, Bob served three years in the Peace Corps in Afghanistan where he designed more than 100 sustainable schools and the National Tourism Agency in Herat, Afghanistan. When on annual leave from Peace Corps, Bob travelled to Greece where he met a woman from South Africa backpacking through Europe. They travelled a bit together and exchanged addresses before parting - he back to Afghanistan and she to continue her travels through Europe. Unfortunately, Bob lost her contact information in his travels. Years later when working in New York he met a South African man at a party. He relayed his story of meeting a South African woman years before. The man said he had a cousin who travelled to Greece at about the same time. Serendipitously, it was the same woman - Beanne Wilson. Bob immediately reconnected and reunited with her and they were married on Christmas Eve of 1977 in Cape Town, South Africa.
After Peace Corps, Bob was hired in the New York office of Marcel Breuer, who was a well-known and influential architect in the U.S. One of his projects included designing the Visitor Center at Grand Coulee Dam. He then worked for Rhone Iredale in Vancouver, B.C. In 1977, Bob partnered with his college friend and colleague David Miller to open their own design firm called The Miller Hull Partnership in Seattle.
Bob was an accomplished architect who was well-known nationally and internationally for his award-winning and sustainable designs and was well-respected in the field during his 46 year career. Under Bob and David's leadership and vision, Miller Hull has designed buildings across America, in the Pacific Northwest, across the Columbia Basin and in Moses Lake, including the Moses Lake Civic Center and Hearthstone Retirement Home. In 2003, Miller Hull received what is considered the "Oscars" of the architecture world - the American Institutes of Architects National Firm Award. Bob and David received the Washington State University Alumni Achievement Award in 2006 and the American Institutes of Architecture Seattle Medal of Honor in 2010.
While Bob's resume was long and his talents many, his professional accomplishments are slices of a greater man. He was a loving husband to his wife Beanne for 36 years, an active father to two sons, a care-taking brother to two sisters, a fun-loving uncle and a dear and close friend to many. He had a quick wit and great sense of humor, an academic and practical intelligence, was generous and caring, genuine and authentic. He was a humble man and thankful for the many blessings in his life.
On weekends, Bob worked to refurbish their rustic cabin in the North Cascades and extended his friendship and expertise to others in that community. He was an avid reader, enjoyed listening to National Public Radio and watching documentaries. He was a phenomenal sketcher, by hand, on an ipad, and used many a napkin as scratch paper. He enjoyed picnics in the park with neighbors and friends, playing board games - especially word games where he was unbeatable - and talking politics, where he was also unbeatable.
Bob is survived by his wife Beanne Hull (Seattle), two sons - David Hull (Chicago) and Daniel Hull (Seattle), two sisters - Linda Hatch and Nancy Nishida (both of Moses Lake), four nephews and nieces - Eric Hull (Seattle), Lisa Hatch (Royal City), Nasue Nishida (Olympia) and Kai Nishida (Moses Lake).
He is preceded in death by his parents Edward and Gladys Hull, brother Richard Hull and niece Blythe Hull.
A memorial service is being planned in Seattle, but not yet finalized.
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