Betsy Tillman Kulick

Betsy Tillman Kulick, 71 years old, of Oakton, Virginia passed away on Thursday, September 7 after an almost three-decade battle with breast cancer.

Betsy was born on February 8, 1952, to Robert A. and Nancy R. Tillman, in Colorado. She then grew up in Wisconsin living first in Milwaukee for a short time, then in Bayside, just outside Milwaukee, graduating from Nicolet High School. While in high school, she spent a year in Brazil as an exchange student. She then attended Pomona College, in California, for her undergraduate work, which included attending the experiment Dag Hammarsjold College, in Columbia, Maryland. She earned a master’s degree in international affairs from Columbia University. When working she earned several certificates.

Her 46-year professional career began at the Chicago Council on Foreign Affairs. She moved to Washington, DC, to take a position at ComSat, which began a new career phase that included several freelance positions as a writer and analyst. Her interests in cybersecurity began in that related satellite work and working as a contractor for the Department of Homeland Security. She eventually joined the Department as a federal employee, where she made significant contributions to the development of the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA). She retired about two weeks before her passing from these professional positions.

While working in at the Chicago Council, she met Jeffrey Kulick. They were married in 1978, and she passed away two days short of their 45th wedding anniversary. They had two children, Andrew (Drew) in December 1981, and Scott in June 1984. Drew has a son, Tyler Cromartie, born in 2004.

She is survived by her sons and grandson, sister Barbara Tillman and brother Keith Tillman. There are nieces and nephews, and some of those have children, from both her and her husband’s families. She enjoyed “the cousins” as they called themselves.

Betsy developed long-lasting friendships in many circles. She continued to be friends with some her elementary school friends. She also had enduring friendships with the mothers of her children’s elementary school PTA and with parents of the children’s marching band friends. She had many friends among coworkers and colleagues, with some friendships going back more than 40 years.

Betsy had special connections with three places. While growing up, she and her family spent vacations and holidays at a cabin in Three Lakes, Wisconsin. As an adult, she often visited Chincoteague, Virginia, where she enjoyed birding. She also enjoyed the Outer Banks of North Carolina, frequently visiting OBX during the last few years of her life.

Her life will be celebrated in a memorial service on Friday afternoon, September 15, at 2:30, and Money & King Funeral Home in Vienna, Virginia. The celebration will be streamed via her page at the Money & King website: https://www.moneyandking.com/obits/betsy-tillman-kulick/.