Jo Pippa (Stephenson) Fulton, 93, passed peacefully into the ever-loving arms of her Lord and Savior Jesus Christ in the early hours of Sunday, June 26, 2022. Her husband and daughter were at her side as she breathed her last breath on this earth and her first with the Almighty in Heaven.
Jo was born on March 18, 1929, in Jackson, TN, to Katie Vernal (Penick) Stephenson and Rev. Edwards George Stephenson. As the daughter of a traveling Baptist preacher, Jo grew up in Tennessee, southeastern Missouri, and the St. Louis area. She attended Collinsville High School in Illinois and then Hannibal-LaGrange University, graduating with a bachelor’s degree in Sociology before going on to Iowa State University for advanced course work. It was at ISU, as the only female student in her statistics class, that Jo caught the eye of David A. Fulton. The two were wed on September 1, 1956, in Collinsville. Dave and Jo moved a few times with their two young children, Dwight David Fulton and Lori Lynne (Fulton) Nowack, before landing in Liberty, MO. While raising her children, Jo worked as a social worker. She was passionate about establishing the city’s new Head Start program, which provides children from low-income families with comprehensive services designed to meet their emotional, social, health, nutritional and psychological needs. In 1972, the family moved to their farm outside Kearney, MO, where they put down roots and have lived for the last 50 years. Once on the farm, along with bookkeeping and occasionally driving a tractor for Dave, Jo became involved at local Arley United Methodist Church. For many years, she was active with the United Methodist Women, taught a women’s Sunday School class, and served as church historian. Jo will be remembered for her loving devotion to her family as wife, mother, grandmother and great-grandmother, for her service to the youth of Liberty, for her courage and determination in the face of pain and adversity, and for her kind words of honesty and compassion.
Jo is predeceased by her parents and brother, Harold.
She is survived by her husband, Dave, of the home; son Dwight, of Round Rock, TX; daughter Lori, of Branson, MO; twin sisters, Ann and Nan, and sister Ava; grandchildren, Sarah (Fulton) Bovio and Rebekah Fulton; grandchildren, Phoebe, Hannah, Stephen, Margaret, Carl, and Hope Nowack; and two great-grandchildren, (little) Jo and Otto.
Visitation will be held at Arley Church on Friday, July 1, 2022, from 1:00 to 2:30 p.m., followed immediately by the funeral service and interment at the adjoining cemetery. Memorials to the Arley United Methodist
Church would be a blessing.
Arrangements in care of Fry-Bross & Spidle Funeral Home, Kearney.
Our Sincere Condolences
Dave & Family,
You have our deepest sympathy and prayers for God’s comfort.
Pat & Susan Hyland
Jo was like a neighborhood Mom in Liberty before her family moved to Kearney. Jo was such a sweet lady. Bless Dave, Dwight and Lori.
On behalf of the McQueen family.
Carol McQueen Tuttle
