ALTAMONT — As a child, Todd Pulliam went to the one-room Bozenkill school, and at the end of his life he returned to build a home on family land on Bozenkill Road. In between, he joined the Air Force; taught in many schools as far afield as China; directed and volunteered in museums; and fought to save the Bozenkill from a major highway.

He died on Thursday, Aug. 17, 2017, at The Grand nursing home in Guilderland Center after a short illness. He was 84.

Born in Schenectady in November 1932, he was the third of seven children. With his siblings, he attended the one-room schoolhouse, Bozenkill School. He later attended Altamont High School and then graduated from Nott Terrace High School in Schenectady. During high school, he worked for The Altamont Enterprise newspaper as a cub reporter and as a “man of all work.”

He joined the Air Force during the Korean conflict and served in Germany.

After he graduated from Albany State Teachers’ College, he taught high school in Richmondville, New York; in Duanesburg, New York; and in Belmont, Massachusetts. Throughout his life, he maintained contact with some of his students.

Mr. Pulliam served as director of the Rensselaer County Junior Museum for 17 years. During that time, in 1975, the New York State Council on the Arts honored the museum with a prestigious award for a “highly imaginative approach to children’s programming, and for the preservation of a landmark firehouse as its headquarters.” He also worked at the Watervliet Arsenal Museum for two years.

In 1971, Mr. Pulliam was actively involved in the movement to “Save the Bozenkill” from becoming a corridor for Route I-88. Within one month of a public hearing about this plan, Governor Nelson Rockefeller’s office announced that it found an alternate route for the highway.

In the early 1980s, Mr. Pulliam volunteered for The Northeastern Association of the Blind at Albany, teaching small engine repair to partially-blind clients. Also, as a volunteer, he taught English to numerous students from mainland China studying at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in Troy.

From 1987 to 1989, together with his wife, Linda, he taught English at the University of Metallurgy and Construction Engineering in Xian, China.

Upon his return from China, he lived in Boston for 23 years. While there, he was a property manager on Beacon Hill, retiring in 2003. After retirement, Mr. Pulliam volunteered as a “greeter” at the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston.

In 2013, he returned to the family land on Bozenkill Road, near Altamont, where he and his wife, his companion of nearly 50 years, had recently built a home.

“He will be remembered by his children, and many nieces and nephews, as their favorite storyteller who frightened them with stories of mad men, mayhem, and murders that took place on the land and at the house in which he was telling the stories,” his family wrote in a tribute.

Mr. Pulliam enjoyed writing stories, and reading on a wide range of subjects. He also loved opera and classical music, and was particularly fond of the light operas of Gilbert and Sullivan.

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Todd Pulliam is survived by his wife, Linda (née Rivette) Pulliam; by his son, Christopher Pulliam of San Francisco; and by his stepson, Scott Renzi of Colonie.

He is also survived by his six siblings, S. Brown Pulliam of Bedford, Massachusetts; Joyce Wallace of Mission, Texas; Vall (Zeb) Pulliam of Altamont; Verity Parris of Oak Bluffs, Massachusetts; Faith Fogarty of Seattle, Washington; and Darcy Pulliam of Altamont.

He is survived, too, by his five grandchildren; by many nieces and nephews; by his in-laws; by other relatives; and by his former wife, Margaret (née Coogan) Bondorew.

His parents, Henry Abbett Pulliam and Charlotte (née Lawrence) Pulliam Wilcoxen, both originally of Kentucky, died before him, as did his son Joseph (Jody) Todd Pulliam.

A celebration of his life is planned for a later date.

Memorial donations may be made to the Altamont Free Library, 179 Main St., Altamont NY 12009.