Nellie Orona Fulmer

March 11, 1938 – December 9, 2024

Born on March 11, 1938 in Artesia, New Mexico, to Lucinda Cota Orona and Esequiel Yrigollen. She was one of eight children. From a young age she loved being outdoors and enjoyed going to work in the cotton fields with her father (he drove a tractor and plowed the fields). After graduating high school, she met and married William Salsberry and soon after they welcomed a baby girl who they named Wilma Jean. Eventually, Nellie moved to Madera, California with her parents and baby girl. Later on, Nellie and her little girl moved to Merced where they lived with her sister Toni Galvan, brother-in-law Jess Galvan and their family. During that time her brother-in-law Jess introduced Nellie to a friend of his, Harold Fulmer. They dated for about 2 years before tying the knot on October 6, 1962. In September of 1963, they welcomed a son naming him Harold Keith, a year later they had another son Eric Wayne. While she enjoyed staying at home raising her family, as they got older, she would work for some time at Franklin Elementary School, as yard duty/Teachers Aid. She also volunteered monthly, signing up people to receive their boxes of food, she would translate for the Hispanic families. Her husband worked as a lumber trimmer for 20 years, at the Jamestown Lumber Mill.

In her spare time, she enjoyed gardening, cooking and was pretty good at barbequing. She and her husband enjoyed always having pets, cats, dogs, doves, rabbits and even pet rats her son Keith had, along with several Finches in one large birdcage. She attended Assembly Church of God in Merced, where she enjoyed singing in the choir. Eventually she started attending Christian Church of the Valley, with her daughter Wilma. She loved the Lord and her new family of God at CCOV and especially the delicious potlucks. She cherished spending time with her family and friends.

Nellie is survived by her daughter Wilma Prine and her grandchildren Bonnie R. Villegas (Ruben), Dillon Fulmer and Drew Fulmer, her brother Esequiel M. Orona (Loretta), sister Mary Morones, four great grandchildren and nine great-great grandchildren.

She is preceded in death by her husband Harold R. Fulmer, her sons Harold K. Fulmer and Eric W. Fulmer and her granddaughter Angela T. Huff.