The M^CCollum Web Log

Carolyn Newhouse reports:  I am sorry I have to inform you all of some sad news. My dad (Nolen Fulton) died November 19Th. He had fallen out of his computer chair and fractured his pelvis about 2 months previously. He was actually recovering from that injury, but while in the rehab hospital it was discovered that his gall bladder was infected and he needed to have it removed. So he had the surgery and never recovered. It seems his body was just too weak from his diabetes.  Follows is his obituary.

Nolen Wayne Fulton, Jr.

Born May 3, 1924 in Louisville, Mississippi, died November 19, 2006 at Anderson Hospital in Meridian, Mississippi.

Preceded in death by his parents: Nolan Wayne Fulton, Sr. and Callie Meek Garrigues Fulton; Brothers:  William Abner Fulton and Paul Meek Fulton; Wife: Betty M^CCollum Fulton

Nolen is survived by wife, De De, M^CGee Fulton, his brother Samuel Eugene Fulton and his children: Carolyn Fulton (Jim) Newhouse of Dayton, Ohio and Nolan Wayne Fulton III of Pagosa Springs, Colorado and his stepchildren Jo (Ricky) Jackson, Stephanie (Billy) M^CVay, Linda M^CGee, and Michael (Terry) M^CGee all of Memphis, TN.

His Grandchildren are James Nolan Newhouse of Dayton, Ohio, Suzanne Elizabeth Newhouse of Washington D.C. and John Michael M^CGee of Memphis, TN and many other caring family members.

Dr. Fulton graduated from Louisville High School in 1941. He attended Mississippi State University, The University of Mississippi and received his Medical degree from the University of Alabama.  He is a WWII veteran serving in the US Navy aboard the USS Haskell as a Pharmacist Mate. He also served in the US Army as a Surgeon. During his Army career Dr. Fulton served in Viet Nam during 1967-68 and was awarded the Bronze Star and Legion of Merit. Dr. Fulton was inducted as a Fellow in the American College of Surgeons in 1976. He retired from the Army in 1983 as a Colonel. After retiring from the Army he practiced medicine in Louisville and later served as the Clinical Director at the Choctaw Health Center in Philadelphia, MS from 1987-1993.

He enjoyed working on his computer, traveling, hunting, fishing, sailing, and he loved his dogs dearly.

Services were held at Rocky Hill United Methodist Church in Louisville, MS on November 22, 2006.

In lieu of flowers, memorials can be made to the American Diabetes Association.

I’m not sure, but I’ve often suspected that new additions to the M^CCollum family were welcomed into the clan for their possible source of new M^CCollum stories. Not as a brunt of a joke, but rather as a supplement to the growing list of interactional M^CCollum lore.

One such incident comes to mind as related to me by my father, the late John P. M^CCollum. Betty and her husband Nolen were visiting the homestead when I. N. M^CCollum was still alive but elderly. He summoned Nolen over to the side for some Scottish discount medical advice. I.N. was apparently having a little trouble with a knee. He asked Nolen if he would look at the knee. Nolen did so, and commented, “ Do you suppose that it’s just finally worn out?”

Grand daddy replied pointing to the other knee, “ this one’s is fine and it’s gone just as far.”

I never knew, or if I did, have forgotten if there was a response from Nolen. But my father never forgot the interaction and told the story to his dying day.

                                         Errol McCollum

       Well, many of us felt that August's family reunion was easily one of the greatest ever!   There were many, many highlights and there's no way to cover them all....

        Despite great distances, large numbers in the Ben M^CCollum family and the Purtle family attended.  These folks outdid us all.  For many us it was the first time to meet all of Uncle Ben's super family - what a super sucessfull and good looking crew (guess we'll have to tip our hat to Aunt Ruth for the looks)  Uncle Ben, to our knowledge, is the only individual to have recieved the Purple Heart from a grateful family and nation.

        Now we have in the Purtle family a graduate of the Military Academy at West Point and to my knowledge the only graduate from any of the military academies, although our President, Mr. Chisholm, did indeed graduate from Texas A&M (Army), which is more than renowned for its Army Officers.  Certainly, our hopes and prayers go with all who have and continue to serve.

        I could not believe what super job Charles and Jane did with the activities and especially the dinner on the lake - outstanding and everbody's heart had to warmed by the full return of Uncle Jack Wilson to all of the activities.

        Captain Wayne continued to Jet Boat the head dinger's crew and others all over the lake.

        Many of us need to thank Aunt Jennies family for those wonderful videos ...seeing yourself 67 years ago was a little bit of a shock. By the way, doesn’t Aunt Jennie look great?!

        Katie Samuelson returned and put up with all of us again!. And guess what, no one threw any rotten fruit at board.  Maybe that had something to do with the checks they send out beforehand.

        Congratulations to Nancy's husband Dennis, now a branch bank president..

       Thanks to Dr. James T. for keeping the M^CCollum home fires burning and Mr. Chisholm for getting the new building electrified correctly..

       Well, I could go on forever and I've left out many good parts. If you didn't go, make it point to come soon........Head Dinger

(Don’t forget Luke Lozier, James Terry’s son-in-law, who graduated from West Point in 1989 near the top of his class and served in the First Gulf War; and, we might add, is no fan of the present one! -- Web Master)

The Passing of an Era

 Vashti Ruth Cromwell M^CCollum, the gutsy and courageous relator (plaintiff) in the landmark US Supreme Court case, Peo. Of the State of Illinois, ex rel M^CCollum -vs- Board of Education, 333 US 203 (1948), past into history shortly after 7:00 pm on Sunday, 20 August.  With her, during her final days, were her three sons, James, Dannel and Errol, her two daughters-in-law, three grandchildren and a great grandchild, together with several close friends.  She was seven weeks shy of her 94^th birthday.

 If all that can be said of her was the important contribution she made to US constitutional law, she would still be a shining light in the 20^th century; for the decision she won before the high court (8 to 1) set the precedent that applied the strictures of the prohibition of the establishment of religion clause of the first amendment to the US constitution to the several states by virtue of the due process clause of the fourteenth amendment.   Albeit that decision, written by Justice Hugo L. Black, is under intense attack by the radical Christian right, it still stands as a beacon in the annals of constitutional law in the US.

 In her later years, Vashti became a world traveler and an accomplished amateur photographer, winning salons at the local Champaign County Camera Club on a regular basis. She was in great demand to present her interesting, informative and entertaining slide shows to all kinds of groups, including at the assisted care facility in Champaign, where she spent her last years.  Her travels took her to all seven of the world’s continents.  She traveled on whatever conveyance was available, ferries, like the ones we read about in third world countries that turn over and sink, trains and buses filled with peasants and their variety of livestock and puddle jumping airlines.  She was even trapped in the Amazon jungle for a period, while pursuing an adventure on an historic railroad that had been discontinued shortly before she arrived.  She traveled to places that no longer exist and to others, now too unsafe for tourists to visit.  Most of her travels were on a shoestring.  The Soviets even gave her bargain cruise for two months just for bringing her slide shows along.  Vashti was clearly her mother’s daughter and knew how to divine the bargains and travel on the cheap!

 Most important of all, she was the best mother one could have!  She and her husband of over fifty years, John Paschal M^CCollum, managed to raise three boys and put them through college, (a lawyer, a historian and a successful businessman), two with advanced degrees and all of whom have made positive contributions to society.  A finer tribute cannot be given to anyone!

She will be sorely missed by friends and family, together with those whose lives she has touched in one way or another!

Additional information with pictures can be found at:

www.inmccollum.org/JIMMC/vashti_mccollum.htm

and

www.harvardsquarelibrary.org/unitarians/mccollum.html

(Posted by the Webmaster)