James R. Bullington

Jim left this world to be with His Lord and to join his loving wife Nancy of 60 years on March 10, 2019.  He was a loving and faithful husband and wonderful father.  He was always kind, compassionate, generous, gentile and faithful to his Lord, his family and friends.

First of all, thank you for joining in the celebration of Jim and your kindness and love shown to him and Nancy and the family over the many years.  He would be truly amazed to see you all here.  Please know that he counted you all as special and knowing you certainly made his life richer, especially in these lonely later years.  He was the kindest man and his passing is devastating all that knew him.  As, Jim and Nancy were so intertwined for over 60 years, it’s hard just to talk about Jim without mentioning Nancy, but let me share just a bit more about him.  Please know that he had a very long and happy life.

Jim grew up in French Lick Indiana and enjoyed small town life.  Growing up in the Depression, he learned early in life the value of hard work and he always kept busy as he carried newspapers, did door to door magazine sales, mowed lawns and worked part time at his father’s flour mill and in his saw mill. Hard work was a way of life for him.  He knew everyone, stayed in touch with classmates and went back to high school reunions yearly.  His parents, Emmett and Lilith along with his brother, George and sister, Annette all share fond memories of growing up in a small town which always included much laughter with the stories.

After high school, he attended Purdue University Technical Institute and then joined Baker Forms as a draftsman in Indianapolis.  During this time, he was an integral part of the team as they built four dams, over 100 bridges, 30 plus multi story buildings, several college structures from stadiums to dormitories and other projects ranging from hospitals, schools, factories and sewers.  His career at Baker Forms transitioned after 39 years into a new opportunity with Baker Concrete which was the largest concrete construction company in the United States for many years during that timeframe.  He worked an additional 11 years until his retirement.  At Baker Concrete, he designed many hundred structures, as well as traveling for the job throughout the Midwest to choose, design and supervise the form work for the many projects.  His stories around construction “jobs” and the personalities involved to complete the projects were always the highlight of dinner conversations.  He always explained in detail how things were created, knew everything about any detail and how things should or could be constructed to last well into the future.

Jim joined the National Guard in 1950, as a draftsman in the G2 section of the Division Headquarters and then became an enlisted officer in 1952, serving until 1959.  Military training was a very valuable part of his life. It taught him a tremendous respect for our serving forces and about its important role in our nation and national defense.

Jim met Nancy in 1954 and he knew that she was the one.  They met at Roberts Park Church in a singles group, married there and had a very long and happy marriage.  Their home was always warm and welcoming, full of love and usually included one pet in the mix.  The Lord was at the center of their life and marriage and no matter what happened; both lived and practiced their faith in every day.   They had a wonderfully blessed life and, it is very clear that the Lord was with them every step of the way.

When Jane entered the family, the family was complete.  Jim always took care of his “girls”.  He supported Nancy with her child ministry program and gave Jane the best childhood she could ever ask for.  He made sure that she learned the value of working and encouraged her to try new opportunities while thinking outside the box.  He was pleased when she married and happy knowing that Mike also loved his daughter as much as he did, that he would take on the task of making her happy and be well cared for.  Mike shared Jim’s love of building and design so they always had much to talk about when together.

When Andrew and Alex joined the family, he was very proud.  His dream for them was to be successful and learn the value of hard work as he had learned.  He started them off early on with jobs around his house and when older, had them taking care of the lawn and other chores.  He made projects with them in his shop, taught them to love tools, their uses and shared his values and philosophy with them in his kind and quiet manner whenever the opportunity arose.

Jim designed and helped to build their home on Oakland Avenue in 1954.  He incorporated many innovative ideas into his house along with lots of concrete, of course.  As he was very practical and precise, the house is as rock solid as any of the commercial concrete project he designed during his career.  As many of you know, he took pride in his house, his garden, the raspberry patch and his yard.  He always wanted to live independently and never leave his house.  As many neighbors have commented, it wasn’t unusual to see him outside, mowing his yard, painting, gardening, weeding, raking leaves, up on the roof cleaning gutters or whatever was needed for the house.  He liked to keep busy and putter about, loved genealogy and created an extensive book of the Bullington history, as well as tracing down many other family trees that are threaded into the family line.  He enjoyed reading, read the Bible completely twice and he knew anything about everything as he was always curious and studying how things worked. He could fix almost anything and on the rare occasion that it wasn’t possible, often he helped the repairman with information on how to fix the problem, explaining how item was made originally and why it had broken down in the first place.  He was ready to discuss any subject if you asked, but only if you wished to discuss.  He had an exceptional memory and could recall every detail.  He was a gentleman and a very gentle man.  Routine was a good virtue and, of course, snow, rain or shine, the daily dog walk was predictable.

Jim and Nancy were very happily married even to the end.  Nancy had her devastating stroke eight years ago.  He cared lovingly for her for four years through out all the hospital visits, nursing home stays and related complications from the horribly devastating stroke and never complained about any of it.  He was happy just to have any part of Nancy as opposed to no part of her.  After her passing, he did significantly grieve and missed her greatly, but he continued stoically on for four more years.

During his career, he wrote one book on concrete design “Forming for 2000+” and then donated the rights back to his company, Baker Concrete.  Finally, he always said that his most important part of his career and measure of success was that his designs didn’t use shortcuts and safety protocols were implemented in every project.  Concrete construction can be dangerous, but no man was ever hurt or had died from his designs or in building the project itself.

He was pleased two see both grandsons marry within the last two years and happily welcomed their two lovely wives into his family, Lauren for Alex and Danting for Andrew.

Two weeks ago, while in the hospital for a tune up, he told Jane that he would be soon telling Mother “Hi” for her and all about her when he met back up with her in heaven.  Furthermore, he was really looking forward to getting back together with her again as it had been a long time by himself and he was tired and lonely.  He talked about family memories, his love for Mike and Jane,  that he loved his grandsons dearly and expressed how truly proud he was of Andrew and Alex and their life choices to live with good virtues, Christian values, having a strong work ethics and his happiness about their choices of Christian wives.  Finally, he said that was happy to have lived a life with no regrets and was ready to go anytime.  He was very blessed and had a healthy mind and body until the very end.

A few of his words of wisdom were:

1. Less is More
2. Live every day to the fullest
3. Make wise choices
4. Be conservative in thought and action and don’t waste money
5. Listen well and think before speaking

There is so much that could be said, but you are here because you knew and loved him.   He was truly a wonderful and courageous man, loving father and inspiration to godly living.    Thank you for being a part of Jim and Nancy’s lives and always keep the closest memories of him and them in your heart.