Raymond Henry Kulig: Teacher. Coach. Musician. Environmentalist. Born July 2, 1953, in Brantford, Ont.; died Sept. 28, 2024, in Oakville, Ont., after a massive stroke; aged 71.
Ray Kulig.Courtesy of family
In the summer of 1973, when Ray Kulig was 20, he and his good friend Mike rented a car and headed down the highway from Ontario to Prince Edward Island. After camping, they made it back in time to see Carlos Santana and jazz fusion pioneer John McLaughlin and the Mahavishnu Orchestra perform at Toronto’s Maple Leaf Gardens – marking Ray’s coming of age.
Ray attended the University of Toronto and immersed himself in the music and culture of the time. A classically trained pianist who took up the guitar and harmonica, he often played in coffee houses.
During his university years Ray grew his thick, wavy hair long and often hitchhiked the roughly 100 kilometres back home – to the dismay of his parents, Stella and Henry, and the amusement of his younger sisters, Barb and Paula.
After getting his BA in English and attending teachers’ college, Ray put aside some of his hippie tendencies and taught Grade 2 in Mississauga. There he met Beverley Wittmann, who taught the same grade in the next classroom. They fell in love and were married for 45 years, eventually welcoming a daughter, Stasia.
Ray was a doting husband and father who, among countless expressions of affection, made his and Beverley’s lunches before going to school.
When Stasia was young, he set up a schedule of listening to jazz on Saturdays and opera on Sundays. He could also be protective: Hitchhiking, for example, wouldn’t have gone over well.
Early in his career, Ray moved to teach English and mass media courses at Father Michael Goetz Catholic Secondary School. He inspired his students to love literature as much as he did and to think critically about what they read and watched.
In the funeral home’s guest book, former colleagues and students referred to Ray’s intellect, sense of humour, eclectic neckties and his ability to connect with young people. “He protected us when we took risks, inspired us to be better and do the right thing and he was the voice inside our head to always be our true selves,” Mary Caswell wrote.
He coached the football and basketball teams, often winning tournaments and championships. Some of the school athletes went on to play in the CFL and the NBA.
Ray was a devout Catholic who valued family traditions, such as preparing Polish dishes at Easter that were once made by his parents.
He was also an environmentalist, and the couple attended demonstrations and installed a heat pump at their home long before it was trendy.
When he retired, Ray focused on the simple joys of life: working in the garden, staying in touch with old friends and attending CFL games in Toronto and Hamilton. He also accompanied Stasia on the keyboard during her singing gigs in local pubs – a happy reminder of his younger days.
Ray had his own room in the basement that allowed him to spread out so the rest of the house could stay in one piece. Here he’d read, write, and play and compose music amid the piano, keyboards and piles of books, papers and sheet music.
Not one to cave to societal pressure, Ray preferred to read the news in the newspaper delivered to the front door daily, he avoided social media and begrudgingly used an older-model flip phone, but only for emergencies. Ray’s e-mails were like letters – they took time to get to the point and were often filled with bracketed comments about something in the news or an insight he wanted to share. They weren’t always an easy read, but they were the product of an active mind.
After his family, music was Ray’s greatest passion. Every year at Ray and Beverley’s Canada Day barbecue, he played a mixtape he put together for the occasion – an expression of the joy he felt sharing music and being with family.
Paula Kulig is Ray Kulig’s sister.
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