Barry McNulty died of COVID-19 after leading Hamilton County

Before the first case of COVID-19 reached the United States, Barry McNulty  kept a close watch on the virus’ development in China in January, 2020.

McNulty, administrator of the Hamilton County Health Department, told his son Zach he had little doubt it would soon be a local problem.

“From the beginning he knew it would come to the U.S.,” Zach McNulty said.

Twelve months later, the disease came for McNulty. He died Dec. 17 at Riverview Health in Noblesville after nearly a month in the hospital battling coronavirus. The death shocked friends and families who knew McNulty, 59, as a healthy and robust outdoorsman as well as a fastidious health professional who guided the county through the height of the deadly pandemic.

“He was constantly helping us understand how serious this thing was so we could know what protocols to put in place,” said Hamilton County Commissioner Mark Heribrandt. “He was stressing handwashing, mask wearing, all off it. We went mobile, had virtual meetings very quickly because of him.”

The first coronavirus death in Hamilton County was on March 30, 2020, and the county had recorded 407 deaths as of Thursday.

Zach McNulty said the “irony” of his father’s death was also instructive: it highlighted the perniciousness of the deadly disease and the value of cherishing the day and loved ones.

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“This virus has changed all of our lives, but in many it has brought focus back onto what is most important and essential to us,”  McNulty, 32, said at A Night of Reflection, Hamilton’s County’s tribute to coronavirus victims March 13, his first public comments on the cause of his father’s death.

McNulty said Wednesday the event, which was attended by county health workers, politicians, and police and firefighters, was “a way to tell them to carry on his mission.”

The Night of Reflection was also a chance for Zach to eulogize his father for those who knew the popular McNulty but couldn’t attend the limited attendance memorial in January.

A love of the outdoors, a dedicated public servant

Barry McNulty was an adventure traveler, hunter, fisherman, boater, beekeeper and rock climber. He coached youth baseball and was a longtime member of the Noblesville First United Methodist Church and the Alpha Tau Omega fraternity.

He was a husband, father of two sons and brother to three siblings. He never stopped dreaming of his next adventure.

In his day job, McNulty seamlessly switched from turkey vest to lab coat as an employee of the health department for 33 years, 24 of them spent as director. He served as a Noblesville city councilman for eight years and on the Noblesville  Board of Zoning Appeals for more than 30 years.

McNulty took annual hunting and fishing trips, such as fly fishing in Wyoming or hunting in the Dakotas, and often brought along Zach, who is now a naturalist for the Hamilton County parks.

“My love of the outdoors started with my parents,” McNulty told IndyStar.

Barry McNulty also had an endless list of things he wanted to do — some which he got to and some he didn’t — such as attending the Rose Bowl to see his alma mater Purdue play, or dove hunting in Argentina.

He hunted for pheasant, turkey and deer in southern Indiana, where he had a property, and raised bees and had served as vice president of the Beekeepers of Indiana.

McNulty had been considering retirement before he got sick and bought the boat of his dreams, a 43-foot North Pacific yacht. He and his wife of 35 years, Ann, planned on trying to complete the Great North Loop, a 6,000-mile course extending from the eastern seaboard up through the Great Lakes, down the Mississippi River and around the Gulf Coast.

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The retirement plans got more serious the longer McNulty spent in the hospital when it became apparent he’d have a long recovery, his son said.

“They might have been thinking about being snowbirds in Florida,” he said.

In the days before his death, things were looking up and it appeared he may be released, said Heirbrandt, who kept in touch with McNulty throughout the hospitalization.

“He was telling me ‘I’m going to go home for Christmas’,” Heirbrandt said.

A treasured final memory

Zach said he couldn’t see his father when he was hospitalized because he had contracted COVID-19, too. His mother was able to see her husband during his last four day, but McNulty was short of breath and it was hard to speak. Instead, they communicated with notes, which she has saved.

Zach last spoke to his father through a Facetime call the day before he died.

Jason LeMaster, who worked with McNulty for 24 years and has succeeded him as health administrator, said McNulty kept in touch through texts the entire time, usually with words of encouragement rather than instruction.

If anyone in the department got a text they would share it with everyone else.

“He mentored me and he put people in place who he was sure knew what to do,” said LeMaster, who was good friends with the director, learned to hunt with him and last year began to raise bees.

He said December was a busy time — coronavirus caseloads were spiking and the department was planning how to distribute the first shipments of the Moderna vaccine.

But McNulty had built the department to meet just such challenges, he said.

McNulty sent his last text to LeMaster a week before he died. LeMaster made a 10×12 inch print of the words set against a backdrop of a mountain range — which he framed — to remind him of his friend and to remind him to stay dedicated to public health.

“So proud of all of you, I have always said we have the best PH team in the state,” it read.

Call IndyStar reporter John Tuohy at 317-444-6418. Email at john.tuohy@indystar.com and follow on Twitter and Facebook.

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