July 6, 1925 - September 11, 2013
Elton L. "Tex" Fulford, 88, of Sarasota, Florida died September 11, 2013. He was born on July 6, 1925 in Fluvanna, Texas the oldest of 9 children to Sidney and Emma (nee Blue) Fulford. The family moved from Texas to Virginia when he was 16 years old. Imagine 9 children and 2 parents in an old Packard.
Tex moved from Woodbridge, Virginia to Sarasota in 1970.
He is survived by his wife, Jean Stevens Fulford; a daughter, Phyllis (Les) Emig of Bullard, TX., 2 sons, Norris (Carol) Fulford of Southside, AL and Edward Lee (Lisa) Fulford of Casselberry, FL; 8 grandchildren; 11 great grandchildren; 4 brothers, Scott, Edward, Darwin and Sidney. He was preceded in death by his parents, a son, Steven, 3 brothers, Varl, Lawrence and Judson and a sister, Yvonne Carder.
Tex was a World War II Navy veteran, serving from 1941 to 1944 and was on a "shake down" cruise on the USS Houston and later USS Vicksburg. He was wounded resulting in a hearing loss. He saw many Japanese airplanes shot down and ships hit. He watched them raise the flag on Iwo Jima. After the war he gassed up airplanes in the D.C. Airport for $.39 cents an hour. He drove produce trucks from New York to Florida and California and back.
Jean heard Tex singing on the radio before she ever met him and later in the 1950's they made friends with Patsy Cline, Jimmy Dean and Buck Owens when they were first starting out in show business. Tex always sang "You Are My Sunshine" to Jean, even after his stroke, and would laugh at himself if he forgot the words.
Tex was a volunteer fireman in Virginia and once ran into a burning house and got a crippled lady out of bed and carried her out to safety. Another time on his way home from work, he saw an automobile run off the road and into a canal. The car was sinking so he dove in and rescued four drunk Marines bringing them out to safety. He was in the town of Bowling Green when it burned to the ground on Easter Sunday 1955.
Tex was a Master Plumber and a wonderful craftsman. He could take a pile of ugly wood and make a beautiful piece of furniture. He could build anything that anyone wanted. He repaired and Jean refinished furniture for many years together. His two sons are also craftsmen.
He loved animals. He had cows, chickens, rabbits, geese and 2 pigs named Esmeralda and Delfina, a goose named Cicero who didn't know he was a goose, he thought Tex was his mama. He once raised 14 baby calves on bottles which was a lot of fun, but a lot of work. After he had back surgery he was not able to work in his shop so he took up embroidery and was excellent at that, as well.
Tex was a long time member of Faith Baptist Church.
While Tex was in the nursing home all the nurses and aides loved him and said he was so sweet and never gave them any trouble.
He will be sorely missed.
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