George Hartman Iii

George Anthony Hartman III, 65, of Monticello, WI, formerly of Waynesville, OH, died at home on Monday, September 12, 2022, from End Stage Renal Disease.

How do you sum up a life in a few paragraphs? It’s an impossible task, but we would love to give you a few of the highlights.

George was born in Beaver Dam, WI, on January 23, 1957, to Florence (Jacobs) and George Hartman Jr. He was the fourth of six children with three older sisters he loved to pester and two younger brothers he loved to get into trouble with. He grew up in Juneau, WI, and graduated from Dodgeland High School in 1975. He went on to earn his Bachelor’s and Master’s of Science degrees in Engineering Mechanics from UW-Madison in 1981.

During his time at UW, some of his favorite memories were created, including marrying his high school sweetheart, Barbara (Dahl), on December 30, 1977. As a graduate student, George was selected to work on the High Speed Photometer (HSP), one of the original instruments aboard the Hubble Space Telescope, which was one of his proudest achievements. Upon graduation, George accepted a job as a research engineer at the University of Dayton Research Institute in Dayton, OH, where he worked for 23 years until his retirement due to disability in 2004. Through his work at UDRI, he was a civilian contractor for the U.S. Air Force at Wright Patterson Air Force Base in Dayton. George also lent his talents to the field of medical instrument research and design and played an integral role in the development of a continuous gas flow trocar assembly to improve the safety of laparoscopic surgery. With several patents to his name, he truly had an engineer’s mind and always needed to know how something worked and how to make it better.

While he loved being an engineer and spent much of his energy on his career, George also had engineer-adjacent interests. With a garage full of many woodworking and shop tools, George built numerous family heirlooms. He enjoyed spending several years rebuilding a 1956 Ford F-250 pickup truck lovingly named Earl, and was active on the Ford Truck Enthusiasts (FTE) forums and message boards for many years in the early 2000s. He meticulously documented the deconstruction and reconstruction of Earl on a website called Earl’s World and enjoyed mentoring younger or newer mechanics and forming online friendships with others who shared his interest in classic cars and trucks, how machines worked, and how to rebuild them to their former glory. He enjoyed involving his family in projects he was working on, taking time to explain how and why things worked the way they did (often in much more detail than anyone asked for or needed). At the time of his death, he had a folder on his computer filled with ideas and projects and was working on several projects with his son, Evan, and brother, Pete.

Outside of engineering and working with his hands, George loved football. He was particularly fond of college football, with the Badgers topping his watchlist, but he was also an owner of the Green Bay Packers and followed each season closely. Upon his admission to hospice care he stated that his goal was to make it to football season, and he achieved that goal. However, it was probably the way the Packers played on September 11 that did him in. He was interested in family genealogy and spent many years collecting, scanning, and documenting photos and records, as well as taking road trips with his trusty audio recorder to visit aunts and cousins. He was a great conversationalist, with those close to him regularly joking that he spoke in paragraphs instead of sentences and he could easily carry on a conversation with a brick wall. He was always able to find some common interest with anyone he met. He had a sharp wit and the driest sense of humor up until the very end.

George is survived by his wife, Barb; children Nicholas Hartman Ponce (Cynthia Ponce Hartman), Evan (Julie) Hartman, and Hilary Hartman (David Lippman); grandchildren Rowan, Oskar, Freyja, Saskia, and Guillermo; siblings Beth Amato, Paula Hartman (Larry Harkey), Greg Hartman, and Pete (Sheri) Hartman; and numerous cousins, nieces, nephews, aunts, and friends. He was preceded in death by his parents, Florence (Jacobs) and George Hartman Jr.; sister Jessica Kessler; and brother-in-law Joseph Amato.

George’s Party will be held on Monday, October 3, 2022, 11 am to 2 pm at Cress Funeral Services - Middleton, 6021 University Avenue. George was not a formal person and did not wish to have a formal funeral or memorial, so prepare to embrace the celebratory nature George asked for in his final party with food and music. Please dress casually if you wish as George expressed that he would want you to be comfortable (bonus points for coming in George’s signature “uniform” of a Duluth Trading Company Longtail T-shirt with breast pocket in your favorite color). If you feel so inclined, the family requests you come prepared with your favorite story or memory about George to share. Interment at Forest Hill Cemetery in Madison will be private.

While the greatest gift George could ask for is that you check your car’s tire pressure or the batteries in your smoke detectors, those interested in donating in his name are asked to give to UW-Madison Materials & Engineering Fund https://secure.supportuw.org/give/?unit=msein recognition of their fostering the joy and satisfaction he felt when encouraged to explore how and why things worked the way they did. A donation to Sector67 https://www.paypal.com/fundraiser/charity/62991 , a Hackerspace/Makerspace in Madison, WI, where George spent many hours working on projects and making friends, would also be a fitting memorial for George.

Finally, the family extends their most sincere thanks to the hospice team at Agrace, especially George’s primary care team of RN Lindsey, Social Worker Megan, and CNA Amy. In gratitude for the incredible care and friendship they provided George in his final months of life, please consider donating to Agrace HospiceCare, https://www.agrace.org/donate/ in his memory.

Please share your memories at www.cressfuneralservice.com

Cress Center

6021 University Ave. Madison

(608) 238-8406