'It's A Nightmare:' Wife Grieves Husband, Father of 4 Killed In Crash

HOMEWOOD, IL — A Homewood family is reeling this week after a beloved husband and adored father of four was killed Friday night in a crash in Markham. Zack Kulak, 33, was one of two killed when the other driver crossed traffic and hit Kulak's car broadside. The other driver also died.

Kulak was on his way to work as an engineer at the Daley Center; his wife Katelyn, their children and their friends were awaiting his later arrival for a weekend getaway to Michigan, a trip to celebrate her 34th birthday the day prior. They waited, the children dressed in matching apple-themed outfits, dresses and bows, ready to go apple picking — and he would have loved that day together, his wife said.

When he didn't arrive as planned, his absence triggered a flurry of panic.

"This isn’t Zack," Katelyn said they were all thinking aloud. "Zack isn’t late places."

A call to his work revealed he had never made it there, and the panic worsened.

"My friends and I were on a wild goose hunt to try to figure out where my husband was," she said.

It wasn't until hours later, as she stared at a picture of their totaled car, that she was faced with what happened. Zack had died in an accident at 8:30 p.m.

"I don’t think I’ve ever had a nightmare that has been this horrific," Katelyn said.

The couple has four children, ages 1, 4, 6 and 7. She's grappling with how to explain to them their family's new reality that seems so very unreal.

"Having to explain to your four kids that their dad’s not coming back," Katelyn said, "that’s not supposed to happen."

The Cheerleader and the Mascot

Zack and Katelyn grew up not far from each other, Katelyn on the border of Oak Forest and Tinley Park, Zack in Tinley Park. Katelyn went to Arbor Park Middle School, Zack to Central Middle School. Their paths crossed at Tinley Park High School when they were 15 years old, with Katelyn grabbing pom poms and Zack reaching for a football. She was straight-laced and studious, a straight A student. Zack was more of a "people person," which quickly led to him taking the field in a different kind of "uniform."

"He played football for a year, and then decided to be the mascot," Katelyn said, laughing. "He would dress up as Timmy the Titan."

He was so excited to be able to meet and interact with people as Timmy, she said — it appealed to him so much more than being on the team.

"He was the nicest guy," Katelyn said. "One of those super, happy-go-lucky, super-giving guys. I’m sure a lot of people say that, but it really was true. To know Zack was to love Zack.

"He was one of the happiest people I’ve ever met."

They dated throughout high school, before going separate ways for a time. They would reunite after college in 2011, and marry in 2016. But Zack could have told you that would happen.

"He used to tell people all the time, 'I met the woman I’m going to marry in high school,'" she said. "He’s the love of my life. He was such a good husband."

Once married, they quickly grew their family by unconventional means, Katelyn said, and Zack wasn't fazed — in fact, he was thrilled.

"Whereas most guys would want to take things slow, we essentially had three kids in a year," Katelyn said, choosing also to respect her family's privacy. "We went from zero to three kids in a year, and he loved it. He was the ultimate dad. Taking them to the zoo, to our lake house. He was the dad, where I’d almost get jealous because when he’d go pick them up, everyone there would be chatting away with him. He could just strike up a conversation with anyone."

Zack was "so smart, and knows so many things, just about everything," Katelyn said. They had just reached a point where they could enjoy the fruits of their hard work and the family they had built, Katelyn said. Zack recently had completed his apprenticeship as an engineer, which had involved hours and pay that had been less than ideal. Meanwhile, Katelyn flourished in her job as a reading interventionist.

"We had told ourselves, 'When we get done with this, we can take the kids to Disney. We can go to Mexico and renew our vows,'" Katelyn said.

"We just got there, we had two months of it. We had our big family, we had each other. We were just happy. We were so happy. And then he got taken, literally two months after ...

"Everything just fell into line. We worked, and we worked, and we worked, and then we were going to sit back and enjoy it, and then this happened. It honestly just still feels like a nightmare."

Katelyn has been touched by the comments and memories so many have shared about her late husband, though she's not at all surprised by the depth of the impact he had on others.

"Zack was an amazing person, all-around," she said. "Everything he did, he did with a big heart. He was so loved. Even looking online, reading some of the messages, how many people his life impacted. Of course, he impacted me and the kids, because he was the center of our world, but to see how many other people he impacted, has meant so much to me."

Though her grief is fresh and news articles spread word of the crash, sharing positive pieces of him and their life has been significant to her.

"I’m glad his story’s getting told," she said. "I want people to know what a great person he was. Zack mattered, he’s not just a name, he’s a person, and he mattered."

A GoFundMe has been started on the family's behalf, with hopes of supporting the couple's children and their futures, and maintaining stability in their lives. Zack's mother had died in May, and they were still grieving her passing, Katelyn told Patch.

"Now it’s their dad, my husband," Katelyn said, "and that’s a void that will never be filled. It doesn’t matter how many years pass — there’s never going to be another Zack. There just won’t."