Theresa Lynn Bultman

MADISON - Theresa Lynn “Teri” Bultman, age 75, passed away on Monday, July 22, 2024, peacefully at St. Mary’s Hospital in Madison, Wis., with her husband and stepson by her side. Teri was born in Madison, Wis., the only child of Clarence and Clara (Underdahl) Bultman on Sept. 18, 1948.

After attending various grade schools in Madison, she graduated from Monona High School in 1966. Following graduation, she went to work for the Madison Police Department Parking Enforcement Division, where she spent 35 years. She started out as a “Meter Maid” giving all of you non-law-abiding persons parking tickets. That did not make her a bad person.  Her being able to handle all types of arguments and being berated by some, amazed me. She was later involved in the Alternate Side Parking Program where she was a lead worker along with her regular enforcement duties. She retired from the Parking Enforcement Program in 2007. She was also in the U.S. Army Reserves serving with the 633rd Supply Company for several years. As a teenager, she tended bar and pumped gas to semi-trucks at the old Hope Store (Country Corners) on County Road BB (Old Highway 12) that her parents owned and operated at the time. “How many teens got in there before they turned 18?”, we wonder. That secret goes with her.   

Teri and Larry’s journey in life together began with a date on Sept. 18, 1984, to celebrate their common birthday. And as they say…the rest is history. They traveled to all 50 states and went on memorable cruises to Alaska, the Panama Canal and to Australia and New Zealand over the years. They visited with friends and relatives along their various road trips across our great country, taking in the National Parks, various hot spots and some unique places found by taking one of Larry’s “short cuts”. They were married on April 2, 2006, in Las Vegas in a simple ceremony in front of a judge and honeymooned to the nearby Hoover Dam. WOW!   

She was a member of the Madison Vintage Auto Club along with her husband and had served as Club Treasurer for many years. She enjoyed the parades, road trips and monthly lunch or breakfast meetings in their 1960 Pontiac Star Chief. Teri was a true fan of the Green Bay Packers, the Milwaukee Brewers and the UW Wisconsin football teams, often proudly sporting their gear when traveling.

Teri was a strong supporter of Operation Migration, a group that would help raise endangered whooping cranes in both Necedah and Princeton Wildlife Areas and taught them to follow an ultralight plane on a migration pattern to the St. Mark’s Wildlife Refuge south of Tallahassee, Fla. They would return to the Wisconsin areas the next spring on their own, all for the spreading of the winter flocks along the Florida and Texas ocean borders.  She even got her name on the nose cone of a new ultralight plane the group purchased. A surprise for her was when coming back from a trip to the Phoenix, Ariz., area one winter, I planned our return trip through Texas and stopped in Austwell, Texas, where they were having a Whooping Crane Festival. On the advice of some people, we went to an area where we might see some birds, and lo and behold we got to witness seven of these magnificent birds in a field doing their mating rituals. This was one of the short-cuts she did not mind.

Another of her fond projects was Raptor Resource, which had live feed cameras on a Bald Eagle nest near Decorah, Iowa. You could watch the pair rebuilding the nest, laying the eggs, watching the eggs hatching, their feeding and final fledging through all types of weather.

She was a proud member of the VFW Post 7591 Auxiliary on Cottage Grove Road in Madison. She volunteered countless hours as a member of the Madison Dayettes Color Guard until the effects of COPD stopped her from participating. She also volunteered to work fish frys, omelet breakfasts, meat raffles, member funeral lunches and other projects. Her connection to VFW Post # 7591 goes back to her father, Clarence Bultman, being one of the Charter Members of the Post. She also backed Larry in his volunteering for the VFW Post 7591 and American Legion Post 534 in McFarland where he was a member as well as the McFarland Area Ducks Unlimited of which he was the Chairman for many years.

Teri is survived by her husband of 18 years (together for nearly 40), Larry Moe; stepson, Jeremy Johnson of Lodi; sisters-in-law, Bonnie McKenna of Madison and Bettie Coffey of Madison; brother-in-law, Gary Moe of Sun Prairie; cousins, Sharon (Jack) Harrison of Sun Prairie, Ron (Debra) Walsvick of McFarland, Mary (Ray) Ackerman of McFarland, Lee Carpenter of Kemah, Texas, Ken (Janet) Carpenter of Bagley, Wis., Karol (Norbert) Gengler of Lancaster, Wis., Jean (Bill) Brown of Oregon, Wis., Joan (Bob) Lusk of Walhalla, S.C., Mitzi (Chuck) Snyder of Camby, Ind., Dennis (Linda) Buckland of Ind., Karen (John) Preston of Bonita Springs, Fla., Duane Hendrickson of Madison, Delores Bakke of Tacoma, Wash., and Holly (Jim) Lynaugh of Madison; and various other members of the Bultman and Moe families. She also leaves behind very special friends, LaRetta Massey, JoAnn and Marlyn Klongland, Fran Garcia and Wayne Schwartz; as well as many friends and other extended family nieces and nephews. She was preceded in death by her parents; several cousins; and aunts and uncles.  

A celebration of life will be held at VFW POST NO. 7591, 301 Cottage Grove Road, Madison, WI 53718 from 3 p.m. to 6:30 p.m. on Wednesday, Aug. 21, 2024. Music by long-time friend, Frank James will follow.

We want to give special thanks to the doctors and staff at St. Mary’s Hospital ER and ICU units for their excellent care and compassion shown to Teri and to the family during her last time with us. She left us peacefully and without pain to join other friends and family in her afterlife journey. God now has the angel of our lives in his hands. Memorials may be made to the VFW Auxiliary Post #7591. Online condolences may be made at www.gundersonfh.com.

Gunderson East
Funeral & Cremation Care
5203 Monona Drive
(608) 221-5420