A graveside service in loving memory of Kathryn Marie Fuller Nelson will be held on October 13, 2012 at 11:00 am at the Vashon Cemetery. Mom passed away of complications from heart disease on January 16, 2012 surrounded with the warmth, comfort, and love of her family. She was 85-years-young. Mom will be laid to rest in peace in the Fuller Family plot, adjacent to her husband (our Dad), Gerald J. Nelson, and her parents, Frank and Kate Fuller. The Fullers are a Vashon pioneer family. Our family chose this day of internment to also honor what would have been our Dad’s 90th birthday.

Mom was born in Swedish Hospital in Seattle on March 9, 1926. Mother of George, Cheri (husband Ray Clarke), Jerry, & David (widow, Maria de los Reyes); grandmother of Paula (husband, David Grant). Sara (husband, Keith Cotton), and Blaine; great-grandmother “GG” of Colton, Tiffini, Jordan, Jadin & Zoey. Mom was preceded in death by our Dad, Gerald J. Nelson & son, David C. Nelson; her parents, as well as siblings Harriett Spencer, Carl Fuller and Louie Fuller.

As a young girl she helped her father grow tomatoes and other vegetables in their family hot house which he supplied to the Pike Place Market produce vendors. She helped him pelt mink her family raised for the sale of fur. She said the natural oils of the mink kept her hands constantly soft. As a young woman she worked at the Betty Ann, the only burger joint on the island; and at Nordstrom Shoes when Nordstrom was strictly a shoe store. Many Vashon islanders may remember her as the cashier at the Shell Service Station in the 1960s. In the 1970s, she worked at the K-2 Ski manufacturing plant and then at M&I in Seattle from where she retired in the early 1990s.

She enjoyed her retirement years in Puyallup and occupied her days reading, sewing, knitting, crocheting, and enjoying craft programs on television and re-runs of “The Lawrence Welk Show”. She continued her involvement in her 68-year membership to the Rebekahs (a Fraternal Order & Service Organization), the Fern Hill Craft Guild, and the Orting Senior Center.

Without a doubt, Mom’s affinity for family was foremost in her life. She kept close touch with her numerous cousins, nieces, and nephews; took interest in them and their children’s and grand-children’s lives; planned and co-hosted family reunions; joyfully took part in events and celebrations in the lives of her immediate and extended families. Those occasions marked the many highlights of her life. She was warm & loving, yet she didn’t hesitate to practice her firmness when something tough had to be said and done. She was a Mae West and a June Cleaver combined.

Mom had a special fondness for Alaska, the place of the early part of her married life and the start of her young family. She had a sense of humor which was always egged-on by her sons. She believed in and practiced life’s values of simplicity, love of family, and hard work — you work for what you want in life. For these and many reasons, she was irresistible to love. Her greatest legacy is the reflection of those values as practiced by her children: George, Cheri, Jerry, and David.

Please visit our online guest book at www.islandfuneral.com.

Paid Obituary.