Terry Juliar worked behind the scenes at the Wilmette Park District’s Ice Show for 36 years.
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At this year’s final performance, staff members persuaded him to do something he had never done before — step onto the ice, underneath the spotlight, to accept an ovation.
He waved to the crowd, and co-workers recall an extra spring in his step afterward.
Later that night, Sunday, May 13, Mr. Juliar, 64, died in his sleep at his home in Gurnee, said his wife, Carla. An exact cause of death was not known.
Both Mr. Juliar and his wife worked for the Wilmette Park District. She is in the accounting department, and he was the general manager for the Centennial Ice Rinks and the Family Aquatic Center. Mr. Juliar was the only person to ever run the local ice rink — he was hired in 1974, the year before it opened.
Born in Evanston and raised in Glenview before entering the Marines, Mr. Juliar was a keen ice skater, and he worked as a referee for the World Hockey Association, where he traveled around the Midwest and Canada to call games in the early 1970s, his wife said.
He once broke up a fight involving hockey legend Gordie Howe, she said.
Mr. Juliar met his wife while he was working with a children’s summer camp at a Glenview ice rink and she was visiting from Iowa for the summer.
“I was working for a family, and he was out there on the ice with the kids,” she recalled. “Our eyes met, and we went from there.”
The couple dated for less than a year before marrying the same year that Mr. Juliar began working in Wilmette.
Tom Grisamore, former executive director of the Wilmette Park District, said Mr. Juliar was a hard worker who kept the ice rink in top condition. Hockey players and figure skaters alike praised his attention to detail.
“He was basically a genius at ice compressors and maintaining ice so that everyone who used it was happy with what they got,” Grisamore said. “He was about the best there was at that.”
Mr. Juliar was instrumental in building programs for Wilmette ice skaters and swimmers during his tenure, Grisamore added.
Mr. Juliar had started to think about retirement but planned to work through one more ice show, his wife said. Every year, the names of those who helped organize the three-day event are read over the public address system, but Mr. Juliar had always insisted that others soak up the spotlight, said Steve Wilson, the park district director.
On Sunday, his staff insisted that Mr. Juliar take a bow at the conclusion of the show, Wilson said.
The 38-year Park District veteran was moved by the gesture, he said. After the show, Mr. Juliar stayed behind in his office to spend time with his colleagues and employees.
“Normally that isn’t Terry’s style, to sit around and joke with the staff,” Wilson said. “It really left a pleasant memory for those who worked with him on a day-to-day basis.”
Mr. Juliar is also survived by a 25-year-old daughter, Jackie.
Visitation is scheduled from 5 to 8 p.m. Thursday at Marsh Funeral Home, 305 N. Cemetery Road, Gurnee. A visitation is scheduled for 10 a.m. Friday prior to funeral services at 11 a.m.
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