FARMINGTON – A man who made people in Franklin County and beyond laugh for years, was remembered Monday as a wonderful guy with a great sense of humor and willingness to help others.

Steve Bull, 54, of Temple died unexpectedly Saturday at Maine Medical Center in Portland, his wife, Leslie Bull said Monday. Doctors were unable to stop bleeding around the base of his brain, she said.

Family members said their good-byes, loving and rubbing him, while the songs of his favorite band, the Beatles, played in the room, she said.

Steve Bull wrote a humorous, award-winning column “Shooting the Bull” for the Franklin Journal in Farmington, which also appeared in a sister paper, Livermore Falls Advertiser, for more than a decade. His column was syndicated for a while in 13 different New England papers, Leslie Bull said. He had taken a break from writing his column and was planning to start up again, she said.

“Shooting the Bull was a regular and popular column,” Franklin Journal Editor Greg Davis said Monday. “He was always in demand as a Maine humorist.”

Bull would dole out his advice, research and opinions, many times sharing his life’s experience in a comical way. One of his funnier columns was about his car burning up on the way home on Temple Road.

Bull was also a tuba player in the Old Crow Band and was an acclaimed author with one of his books “Dances with Black Flies” a number one seller at L.L. Bean for some time, Leslie Bull said. It was a collection of his columns.

Bull was office manager at WKTJ in Farmington where he did some of nearly everything. That included afternoon announcements, selling ads and writing commercials, station owner, Rick Davis, unrelated to Greg Davis, said Monday.

“He was a disc jockey. He was live on the air. He was doing that for about 30 years,” Davis, who bought the station in 2005, said.

“He was just the greatest guy,” Davis said. “I’m sure he doesn’t have an enemy in this world. He just took the time to make people happy.”

As an owner of a business, that is a great person to have out front, Davis said.

“He was a great personal friend. I love the guy. He never complained. He just did his job. You don’t begin to replace somebody like that.”

The radio station played some of Bull’s favorite songs Monday on the air.

“He loved Temple. He loved his family and he really loved being behind the microphone,” Rick Davis said.

“He’s the best person I’ve ever known,” Leslie Bull said, Bull’s wife of nearly 10 years. “He really cared about the people in this world. I believe this community has lost just such an amazing human being. He just gave in so many ways.”

If the couple was watching a sad moving and she felt herself tear up, she would look over at her husband and he’d already be crying.

“He was always so much fun and at home he could be funny and real. He was always so real,” she said.

When she walked into their home for the first time after his death, she said, “his absence was so loud.”

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