Madeleine Elizabeth Fulton

Madeleine Elizabeth Fulton boarded the ship sailing to heaven on August 15, 2025. She had celebrated her 100th birthday just a month before. As we stand on the dock waving goodbye and saying, “there she goes” those who preceded her in death are on the other shore saying, “here she comes.” Madeleine will be greeted by her husband Ted, her sons Michael and Timothy, and a host of family and friends.

Madeleine was born in Merced, California on July 1, 1925, to Canadian parents William and Amy Sluman. She was an only child and spent the first five years of her life traveling in the back seat of her parents car as they traveled the country. He father set up refrigeration service centers for Kelvinator at the dawn of the refrigeration industry in the 1930’s United States. She lived in thirty-nine states during those five years. This is where she learned to be an avid reader, excellent in math, and learned to love to travel.

She grew up on the west coast of the United States. She graduated from Whittier High School in Whittier, California at the beginning of WWII. After graduation she became a teletype operator for Western Union in San Francisco then transferred to Seattle. It was here she met and married her sailor, Theadore Fulton. Ted was serving in the Navy on the USS Bremerton. They moved briefly to Colorado before moving back to Washington and after some moving around, settled in Olympia in the mid-1950’s. They raised two sons Michael and Timothy (who precede her in death) and one Daughter Tracie (Sydney) Boyd.

Three things were important in Madeleine’s life friends, family, and traveling and in these she was never idle. Besides having three children of their own, Madeleine and Ted also “adopted” many a waif and neighborhood kids. These kids became family members and permanent friends. Some were brought into their home for dinner, others to live in the Fulton home during troubled times. She and Ted took them on family vacation and treated them with the equal amount of love as though they were her own. Boys and Girls, now Women and Men in their 70’s, all stayed in touch including at her 100th birthday and purely out of love and respect.

In the 1990’s she was nominated for Washington State volunteer of the year for the hundreds of dozens of cookies she made for the USO, VFW coffee stops, Job’s Daughters, and many other organizations. She and her recruited volunteers made center pieces for dinners, scarves for the special Olympic athletes, and cards for hospitals and nursing home residents. Madeleine was a Life member of VFW Post 318 here in Olympia. She also worked as the Tour Director of Olympia Senior Center for 8 years late 1990 early 2000’s.

Madeleine worked as a bookkeeper between 1962 and 1989, for the Olympia Country Club as well as for several doctors including Drs Harper, Levy, and Wulf. When She and Ted retired, they followed their dreams, bought a motorhome and hit the road for a 2-year journey around the United States and Canada. Madeleine managed to visit every state in the United State and every Provence in Canada. She also managed to travel to ten Central American countries. Madeleine was an incredible storyteller. It didn’t take much to get her to regale a favorite story about any of her trips or volunteer events or her kids.

Madeleine is survived by her daughter Tracie (Sydney) Boyd, son-in-law Gregg Boyd, Daughters-in-law Lorelei, Jayne Fulton, Maggie, and Amelia; Three Granddaughters Cheri, Rowena, and Champaen; Three Grandsons Theodore, Ron, and William, twelve great grandchildren, great-great grandchildren and a host of adopted waifs and kids.

Mamma will be greatly missed.