One of the drawbacks of being a few months on either side of the age of 85 is that you have to deal with a lot of your Monongah High classmates passing away.

That hit me again with news that Eva Geraldine Fullen Ross, Class of 1950 like me, passed away in Benton Harbor, Michigan on September 29.

Her brother, Bernie Fullen, informed me with this post:

“Today is a sad day for me and our family, we lost one of our wonderful sisters, Geraldine Ross. She lived in Harbor Beach, MI. She had just turned 86 years young.”

Geraldine, 86, joined 24 other Class of 1950 graduates in Heaven. That still leaves 20 survivors, best as I can figure, from the Class of 1950. That means 44.5% of the 1950 graduates still are alive. Since those 85 and older comprise only 10% of America’s population, the Class of 1950 are sensational, sturdy survivors.

Since West Virginia is among the top 10 states in having the oldest population, maybe growing up in the Mountain State has something to do with our unusual survivor rate. And that the 85-and-older group, thanks to modern medicine, is the fastest growing segment of America’s population.

More good news: Statistically, the Class of 1950 has on average another 6 or 7 years to romp through life.

I remember Geraldine as a quiet girl at Monongah High. I talked to her by phone for the April 8, 2015 Catching Up With article that I wrote about Geraldine for the Monongah High Alumni blog (spikes in hits when I write these Catching Up With articles prove that MHS alumni are very interested in catching up with their former classmates).

She was friendly and upbeat, as I remember her at Monongah High. She was living in Harbor Beach for 46 of her 64 married years with husband Don Ross. They met when both were serving our country in the Air Force.

“I had to go from Monongah (actually, Carolina) to Baltimore to Texas to meet the man of my dreams and move to Michigan,” Geraldine told me. She hasn’t been back to West Virginia since 1984, after her parents, Delbert Fullen and Rose Glover Fullen, passed away. Six of her siblings also predeceased Geraldine.

Another six siblings survive among the 13 children: Bernie, married to Donna McGinnis Suppa Fullen and living in Shinnston; Donald Fullen, marred to Lucy and living in Falls Church, Virginia; Patty Fullen McDaniels, living in Louisville, Ohio, about 20 miles from my Tallmadge home; Ted Fullen, married to Libby and living in Pennsboro near Parkersburg; Carolyn Boughton, married to Charles and living in Pensacola, Florida; and Vicky Wells, married to Don Wells and living in Carolina.

Geraldine and Don have a son, also named Don, of Minden City, Michigan; a daughter, Eva, of Strathroy, Ontario, Canada; four grandsons and two great-grandchildren.

With 13 children in Geraldine’s family alone, plus cousins, from 1945 through 1968 there was a Fullen at Monongah High every year except 1955, the year my sister, Jackie Olesky Straight, who lives in Rivesville, graduated.

Such as Shirley Fullen Bartosh, Class of 1954; Delbert Fullen, Class of 1960; Jean Fullen Huffman, Class of 1962; and Bernie Fullen, all second cousins of Monongah High de facto historian Ramona Fullen Michalski, Class of 1949, widow of Frank Michalski, who started with the Class of 1950.

Ramona’s first cousins included Danny Fullen, Class of 1961, married to Ina Kincaid Fullen, Class of 1962; Jimmy Fullen, Class of 1962; Janice Fullen Mayfield, Class of 1964;  George Fullen, Class of 1965; Connie Fullen Cantrell, Class of 1966; and Charlotte Fullen Lloyd, Class of 1968.

Shirley Fullen Bartosh’s father was the half-brother of Ramona’s grandfather.

Deceased Class of 1950 graduates:

Barbara Bazuk Franklin

Mary Ann Bienkoski Domico

Bill Birdsell

Kathleen Blagg Goldstein

Walter Brzuzy

Deloris Butcher

Martha Carpenter

Jim Commodore

Anthony DeMary

Theresa Demus

Ann Manuel Richardson

Virginia Manuel Eddy

Geraldine Fullen Ross

Richard Garrett

Lawrence “Sonny” Godby

Agnes Jean Larry DiLaura

Joe Manzo

Iris Martin Carpenter

Tom Orsini

Bill Pringle

Paul Rankin

Nancy Robinson Saunders

James Starcher

Lyman Wadsworth

James Wimer

Surviving Class of 1950 graduates (unless I missed their passing):

Rose Commodore Cain

Anna Currence Sutton

Tony Eates

Frank Franze

Barbara Glover Rombola

Bernice Grandstaff Maranville

Donald Halpenny

Lucille Herron Anderson

Bob Kasper

Pat Kiehl Williams

Reva McDougal Ash

Pat Meredith Wills

Arnold Morgan

John Olesky

Mary Ann Puffenbarger Moore

Hellen Snider Carpenter

Harold Spragg

Kathryn Toothman Crimm

Pat Urban Utz

Leatrice Yokay Greaser

RIP, Geraldine.

Say “Hey!” to Barbara Jean, Mary Ann, the 2 Bills, Birdsell and Pringle, Kathleen, Walter, Deloris, Martha, the 2 Jims, Commodore and Wimer, Anthony “Plumber,” Theresa, sisters Ann and Virginia, Richard “Tin Ear,” Lawrence “Sonny,” Agnes Jean, Joe, Iris, Tom, Paul, Jim “Judge,” Lyman and my Monongah High prom date, Nancy.

Tell them we’ll see them all some day. But we’re not in a hurry to get there.

Geraldine’s obituary:

Eva Geraldine “Gerry” Ross, 86, of Harbor Beach, Michigan, passed away on September 29, 2017 at Courtney Manor, Bad Axe, with family by her side. She was born on August 20, 1931 in Fairmont, West Virginia, to Rose (Glover) and Delbert Fullen. Gerry graduated from Monongah High School, Monongah, West Virginia in 1950. She married Donald Marvin Ross on November 27, 1952. She and Don were married for 63 years.

Gerry had worked as a teacher’s aide in the Detroit and Harbor Beach school systems and she was then the owner of The Coffee Shop in Harbor Beach for many years. She was an active and valued member of the First Presbyterian Church in Harbor Beach.

Surviving are Gerry’s children, Donald C. Ross (Debra) of Minden City, and Eva M. Ross (Duane Fairbairn), Strathroy, Ontario, Canada; grandchildren, Matthew Ross (Mandy), Cass City, Kyle Ross (Denver, Colorado), and Ryan Ross (Caitlyn), Pinckney, Michigan; great-grandchildren, Eloisa Abigail and Jacob Donald, Cass City, Michigan; siblings, Bernard Fullen (Donna), Shinnston, West Virginia, Donald Fullen (Lucy), Falls Church, Virginia, Patty Fullen McDaniels, Louisville, Ohio, Ted Fullen (Libby), Pennsboro, West Virginia, Carolyn Boughton (Charles), Pensacola, Florida, and Vicky Wells (Don), Carolina, West Virginia. Gerry’s parents preceded her, as did six of her brothers and sisters.

A funeral service will be held at 2:00 p.m. on Sunday, October 1, 2017, at the First Presbyterian Church, Harbor Beach, Michigan, Rev. Hays Wiltshire officiating, with William J. Rayment assisting. Visitation will be on Saturday, September 30, 2017, from 2:00 to 8:00 p.m. at the Ramsey Funeral Home in Harbor Beach and on Sunday from 1pm until the time of service at 2pm. Internment will take place at the Delaware Township Cemetery, Forestville, Michigan and a fellowship supper following the internment at Al’s Restaurant in Harbor Beach.
In lieu of flowers, please send memorial donations to the Sanilac County Humane Society or the First Presbyterian Church, Harbor Beach, Michigan. Memories may be shared at www.RamseyFH.com .