This time last year, Camie Hull was performing a song about a certain famous reindeer with the Hi-Lo singers. She was sporting antlers and a giant red nose.
The Lilburn mother and civic servant, affectionately called “Mimi,” was known for her on-stage antics and outgoing personality. Whether strutting around the stage in a red feather boa, singing Patsy Cline tunes, or volunteering her time at local hospitals, Hull was always doing something to inspire others to smile.
“She just had a great sense of humor,” said her daughter Tammy Smith of Greensboro, Ga. She was “a really fun ball of fire.”
On Thursday, the Hi-Los, a senior performing group that travels around the Snellville area, will stage their Christmas program in memory of Hull, a fitting tribute for a spirited lady, friends said.
Camie Hull died Dec. 7 after suffering a brain hemorrhage on Thanksgiving Day. She was 85. A funeral is planned for Friday at 11 a.m. at Cannon United Methodist Church in Snellville, with Tom M. Wages, Snellville, handling the arrangements.
Hull was born in Canada on July 16, 1928, and raised in Michigan and California. She graduated from UCLA with a teaching certificate and later worked as a curriculum consultant and vocational education teacher.
She and her late husband, Arby Hull, were married 58 years before his death in 2003. They raised their family in Texas and California before moving to Georgia to be closer to their adult daughter. Hull spent four years working for her son-in-law at Atlanta Toyota.
From a young age, Hull was involved in performing arts. She sang in church choirs and participated in community theater, once performing alongside the memorable Tommy Tunes in a local production of “South Pacific.”
“She was really down to earth, a very kind, nice person,” Smith said of her mother. “You wouldn’t even know that she would be that outgoing on stage until you saw her.”
Hull won the title of Miss Senior Snellville in 2005 in her late 70s, inspiring a string of other pageant and competition runs. She held three other titles and was first runner-up in the Lilburn Idol competition in 2009.
“I don’t know what possessed her to do it, she just wanted to do it,” Smith said. “She had a whole second life. It was amazing.”
Hull was always on the go. “Her motto was, ‘If you rest, you rust,’” Smith said. Hull volunteered Thursdays at Eastside Heritage Center and on Fridays at Eastside Hospital in Snellville handing out free meal certificates. She was also involved with Relay for Life and never missed a Wednesday night serving dessert at Cannon United Methodist Church’s weekly dinners.
Her son, the Rev. Michael Hull of Augusta, said his mother’s go-getter attitude has always inspired him. “Whatever she did, she did her best and inspired everyone to go above and beyond, to be the best they could be.” He said his mother was especially gifted at creating a warm, nurturing home for their family.
Hull will be remembered for her Christian faith, her love for others, and her love for the color red, friends said. “She was a delight to be around,” said family friend and fellow Hi-Lo member Chuck Wood of Snellville. “Everybody that knew her would say the same thing.”
In addition to her daughter and son, Hull is survived by four grandchildren and two great-grandchildren.
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