Rachel B Fulkerson

Funeral services for Rachel Fulkerson will be held on Saturday, March 5, 2016 at 1:00 p.m. at Gillette Memorial Chapel, 210 West 5th Street, Gillette, Wyoming. Interment to follow at Mount Pisgah Cemetery. Rachel Beth (Marquiss) Fulkerson, 96, passed away in Scottsbluff, Nebraska on February 16, 2016. Rachel was born in Gillette, Wyoming on July 2, 1919 to Olive Spencer Marquiss and R.B. "Ted" Marquiss. She and her two younger brothers grew up on the Little Buffalo Ranch south of Gillette. She attended country schools and graduated from Campbell County High School in 1938. After high school she attended Barnes Business College in Denver. She began taking flying lessons and soon, with a new pilot's license and a severe case of homesickness, she flew home to the ranch never to return to school. The love of flying she shared with her father and two brothers brought her in contact with her future husband, Jim Fulkerson. The two were married February 13, 1942 at the Little Buffalo Ranch. They spent the war years in Spearfish, South Dakota, where Rachel worked at the airport and Jim trained pilots for the war effort. Following the war they returned to Gillette to farm, ranch and operate Fulkerson Aviation. To this marriage were born two children, Ann and Richard. Rachel and Jim later divorced. Rachel remained in the house they built in 1947 until her health necessitated a move to Scottsbluff, Nebraska to an assisted living facility in 2009. She was a rancher through and through and took pride in her flock of Columbia sheep, a breed developed in part by her father. Rachel loved animals and was very fond of her llamas. She always had a milk cow and homemade ice cream, cottage cheese and butter were daily fare. Rachel had a garden every summer. She loved to sew, making most of the clothing for her family. She took up oil painting and displayed the artistic talent of her mother. To celebrate her 80th birthday Rachel went skydiving. Rachel was active in the Wyoming Homemakers Club, the Campbell County Woolgrowers, the First Presbyterian Church and the Ninety Nines. It can be said that Rachel loved Wyoming, almost as much as she hated rattlesnakes. She would kill snakes and make necklaces from the bleached snake vertebrae. She took great delight in her eccentricities. Rachel is survived by her daughter Ann Rosenberry Kurtz and husband Dale of Scottsbluff, Nebraska and her son Richard and wife Mary of Centennial, Colorado. She is survived by eight grandchildren: John (Kim) Fulkerson, Katherine (Jason) Abar, Elizabeth (Mike) Gray, Patrick Fulkerson, Michael (Lisa) Fulkerson, Christine (Armando) Arrieta and Nick (Carrie) Rosenberry, Emily (Tom) Glynn. She also leaves behind 16 great-grandchildren, with two more expected in April. She was preceded in death by her parents, brothers and sisters-in-law, Quentin and Toots Marquiss, Don and Bonnie Marquiss, son-in-law Del Rosenberry, great-grandson Matthew Fulkerson and nephew David Marquiss.A memorial for Rachel has been established with the Rockpile Museum Association in Gillette. Memorials and condolences may be sent in care of Gillette Memorial Chapel 210 West 5th Street, Gillette, WY 82716. Condolences may also be sent via internet at www.gillettememorialchapel.comFuneral Home:Gillette Memorial Chapel210 West Fifth Street Gillette, WYUS 82716