April 17, 1928 – September 14, 2024
Vesta Faye Fulghum, 96, of Colorado Springs, Colorado, passed into her Heavenly Father’s loving arms on Saturday, September 14, 2024.
Born April 17, 1928, in Sublette, Kansas, to Claude and Bessie Baker, Vesta grew up in nearby Garden City, Kansas in a home her father built. Her recollections of the 1930s Dust Bowl, or “Dirty Thirties,” included her dad shoveling the attic out after every dust storm – hard times. Vesta Faye, along with her sister Lila Marie, “always knew the Lord – taught by Mother and Daddy at Youth Fellowship” and “learned to pray a lot for self & others,” as she wrote in her diary.
High school turned Vesta’s musical interests into life-long passions. Whether playing tympani in the marching band, singing in the Girl’s Glee Club, playing Mitzi in the musical “The Seven Sisters,” or playing in piano recitals, Vesta loved music. After graduating in 1946, Vesta attended Southwestern College in Winfield, Kansas, majoring in Music. She played in their orchestra and band, sang in the A Cappella Choir, and met, then married in 1949, the love of her life, Don Fulghum. After she graduated with a Bachelor of Music degree in 1950, the couple moved to Riley, Kansas, followed by stays in Oklahoma, Wisconsin, Minnesota, back to Kansas, and then Colorado Springs. It was 1964, and they had found home.
Don and Vesta set about raising their four sons. This included lots of family camping in Colorado’s mountains and yearly fishing trips to Minnesota. And while Don worked at Colorado College, Vesta taught private piano lessons (State/Nationally Certified, retired 1990), sang in the Colorado Springs Chorale for 46 years, and became an enthusiastic Denver Broncos fan. An avid knitter, Vesta spent thousands of hours knitting caps/booties for babies and afghans for cancer patients at local hospitals. In retirement, husband and wife spent their time ballroom dancing, visiting Europe, and cruising the world’s oceans. And, true to their faith, she and Don served at and attended church (First Methodist, then First Presbyterian) for all of their 60 years in Colorado.
She is survived by her four sons, three daughters-in-law, four grandchildren, and three nieces.
Vesta’s Memorial Service will be held at 1:00PM on Wednesday, October 23, 2024, at First Presbyterian Church, 219 East Bijou Street, Colorado Springs, Colorado 80903 (live stream at https://memorials.sardius.live). A reception will follow.