Blandon Gene Bulger, 85, died at home Saturday, August 18, 2018 after a battle with cancer. Gene was born in Fairhope, PA to the late Blandon and Gertrude Bulger, the youngest of three children. In high school, Gene was captain of his baseball and football teams, beginning a lifelong legacy of involvement with sports. He married his high school sweetheart, Cookie, at 18 just after finishing Navy boot camp. After a four-year stint, Gene worked for Pittsburg Steel, ultimately achieving the position as a ladle crane operator. With the decline and impending collapse of the steel industry in the 60’s, Gene was accepted into an education program that trained him to work on computers. He eventually moved his family to the Norfolk area to work for Univac as a field engineer repairing the large mainframe computers run by the Navy and Coast Guard.
Gene and Cookie raised seven children. Out of necessity, he became quite the self-taught handy-man. He single-handedly dug out the slag from under his PA home and created a snug workshop/utility area as well as a basement bedroom for his three eldest daughters. He built cabinets for the shop and began to build furniture for his home. Learning to repair his own cars, he became the go-to for car advise for all of his children.
Gene continued his passion with team sports and coached both of his sons’ football and baseball teams. He later coached girls’ softball, the Sundevils, and successfully brought them to a national championship tournament. Eventually, he decided to play ball again and joined a local softball team. With a small group of like-minded friends, he formed the 50’s and older softball league in the Tidewater area, where he continued to play softball until he was 83. In 2007, he was inducted as a Legend by the Tidewater Virginia Amateur Softball Association.
Gene was also passionate about perennial gardening. He spent time every day, nurturing and deadheading his flower borders. His back yard in Chesapeake is a testament to his love of color and variety, winning him Garden of the Year for his Hunningdon Woods neighborhood.
The family Gene has left behind include his sister, Shirley Rudik: daughters Bonnie Haggerty (John), Debbie Hunt (Ray), Jill Wedge, and Kellie Swasey (Rob); sons Kurt Bulger (Sally) and Ron Bulger (Leslie); 18 grandchildren, 10 great-grandchildren and 1 great-great grandchild. He was preceded in death by his daughter Kimberly Simerley and his loving wife of 65 years, Cookie.
A celebration of his life will be held Saturday, August 25, 2018 at 1 pm at Graham Funeral Home, 1112 Kempsville Rd. Chesapeake, Virginia 23320. Please visit his Book of Memories at www.grahamfuneralhome.com to offer a note of condolence to the family.