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Gary Hartl, 68

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Gary Hartl, of Antigo, died Tuesday, March 5, 2019, at Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota. He was 68 years old. He was born on August 16, 1950, in Antigo, a son of the late James and Catherine (Stieber) Hartl. He married Eileen Bradley on May 5, 1984, at St. John the Evangelist Catholic Church in Antigo.

He was a graduate of Antigo High School with the class of 1968 and went on to attend Brown Institute School of Broadcasting in Minneapolis.

He was a lifelong member of St. John the Evangelist Parish and served as a lector.

Gary started in radio broadcasting at WRLO/WATK as a DJ and then became a news director and later moved into radio sales. Most recently Gary was the morning radio host of the Parsons of Antigo WATK Breakfast Club. For the past 30 years, Gary was a car salesman for Parsons of Antigo.

Gary had many hobbies and interest including the game of chess with his son Bret, woodcarving, biking, cross country skiing, and tennis. He loved the game of football taking a special interest with his favorite team, the Indianapolis Colts. Many summer evenings and afternoons were spent on the deck listening to Brewer Baseball with family and his best friend Steve Veselak. He and his daughter Erin found great fun in checking out the local American Legion senior games at Kretz Memorial Park. For years, summer's highest priority was spent on weekend retreats with Eileen at Holy Name Retreat House on Chamber's Island up in Door County.

His biggest passion, however was music. He played percussion for several bands including Slidin' On Ice and the MLC Blues Band, St. John's Joyful Noise Life Teen Band and the Northernaires. Every night he would listen to his favorite artists including Bob Dylan, Marty Stuart and the Superlatives, and The Blasters.

Always one to advocate for the community, he lent his heart and voice to countless events including Relay for Life, the Splash-N-Dash Michelle Koss Memorial Race, St. John International Food and Fall Festival, and Antigo's annual Christmas parade.

Professional, passionate, connector of people that he was, he aimed high in everything he did and for seventeen consecutive years, he won the GM Mark of Excellence Award and was a multiple time winner of Langlade County's Top Radio Personality. In 2017, he received a "Friend's of the School District" award.

Survivors include his wife, Eileen, a son, Bret Hartl and a daughter, Erin Hartl all of Antigo; a brother, Daniel (Christine Blazynski) Hartl of Belmont, Mass; and a sister-in-law, Rosemary Hartl of Racine. Sister-in-law, Mary Bradley (Mark Welden) of Albuquerque, NM; Joan Hickey of Green Bay, WI; brother-in-law Jim (Darlene) Bradley of Callahan, FL; Dan (Brenda) Bradley of Green Bay; Mike Bradley of Green Bay; Kevin (Kris) Bradley of Antigo. Several nieces and nephews and grand nieces and nephews.

In addition to his parents, he was preceded in death by two brothers, James and Ronald. Father and Mother-in-law, Jerry and Joan Bradley; Brother-in-law's, Terry, Tom & Pat Bradley.

A funeral Mass will be celebrated on Wednesday, March 13, 2019, at 11 a.m. at St. John Catholic Church with Rev. Charles Hoffmann officiating.

Visitation will be 4 to 8 p.m. on Tuesday and 9:30 to 10:30 a.m. on Wednesday all at Bradley Funeral Home. A parish wake service will be held on Tuesday at 4:30 p.m. at the funeral home.

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