Mom may have forgotten us but we won’t forget her
Donation protected
Howdy from a Jackson Hole native.
My parents Jim and Cheri Fulmer left Redlands California and came to Jackson Wyoming in the early 1970s. There they immediately fell in love with the beauty of the valley and the incredibly friendly atmosphere of the town and its people. My father Jim worked at the local ski area Snow King for years and took care of odd jobs for many of the valley’s old timers, helping out people when ever he could. Meanwhile my mom Cheri was an artist of many talents, working as sign painter and calligrapher for local businesses and eventually started and ran a home businesses called National Park Needlework. During this time she created beautiful pieces of art that captured through needle and thread the very soul and majesty of the national parks. I came along some time later, named Jack after the valley of Jackson Hole that they loved so well. Mom homeschooled me and gave me a passion for creativity, while dad taught me how to ski, play baseball, and showed me that growing old does not mean growing up.
Fast forward after thirty beautiful years and mom, although only in her early 70s, developed Alzheimer’s and severe Dementia. It was a slow decline, first forgetting little things like the conversation we had a few days earlier and more recently forgetting bigger things like who dad and I even are some days. But just because she can’t remember us does not mean that we are going to forget her. We don’t want her to die alone and confused in some rest home, so my dad Jim quit his job and came home to help me be full time hospice care for her. Things were tough but we were making it work. Unfortunately to add to our struggles the housing market in Jackson Hole Wyoming dried up and we ended up being homeless for three months eventually having to leave our beloved home town of forty plus years. Graciously some of our family members in California came to our rescue and got us set up with a temporary place to stay at Jim’s brother’s home in Big Bear.
It took us a while but with a lot of help from the family we were starting to get our feet back under us, we sighed up for a house to rent and applied for help from the local hospice. We hoped that we would be able to work from home and take care of mom at the same time. But unfortunately it has become painfully clear that caring for a loved one with dementia is a full time job. We had thousands in our bank account when this started, and now we are thousands in debt and can barely manage to pay rent. So it is that we are humbly asking for some help to pay bills during this time, and ease our debt so that we can continue to keep Mom at home. She always took care of us, and was and still is the heart of the family. We know times are tough for everyone, but anything small you could spare would be deeply appreciated and even just sharing this Go Fund Me link with your friends and family makes a big difference.
Sincerely the Fulmer family, Jim Cheri and Jack.
My parents Jim and Cheri Fulmer left Redlands California and came to Jackson Wyoming in the early 1970s. There they immediately fell in love with the beauty of the valley and the incredibly friendly atmosphere of the town and its people. My father Jim worked at the local ski area Snow King for years and took care of odd jobs for many of the valley’s old timers, helping out people when ever he could. Meanwhile my mom Cheri was an artist of many talents, working as sign painter and calligrapher for local businesses and eventually started and ran a home businesses called National Park Needlework. During this time she created beautiful pieces of art that captured through needle and thread the very soul and majesty of the national parks. I came along some time later, named Jack after the valley of Jackson Hole that they loved so well. Mom homeschooled me and gave me a passion for creativity, while dad taught me how to ski, play baseball, and showed me that growing old does not mean growing up.
Fast forward after thirty beautiful years and mom, although only in her early 70s, developed Alzheimer’s and severe Dementia. It was a slow decline, first forgetting little things like the conversation we had a few days earlier and more recently forgetting bigger things like who dad and I even are some days. But just because she can’t remember us does not mean that we are going to forget her. We don’t want her to die alone and confused in some rest home, so my dad Jim quit his job and came home to help me be full time hospice care for her. Things were tough but we were making it work. Unfortunately to add to our struggles the housing market in Jackson Hole Wyoming dried up and we ended up being homeless for three months eventually having to leave our beloved home town of forty plus years. Graciously some of our family members in California came to our rescue and got us set up with a temporary place to stay at Jim’s brother’s home in Big Bear.
It took us a while but with a lot of help from the family we were starting to get our feet back under us, we sighed up for a house to rent and applied for help from the local hospice. We hoped that we would be able to work from home and take care of mom at the same time. But unfortunately it has become painfully clear that caring for a loved one with dementia is a full time job. We had thousands in our bank account when this started, and now we are thousands in debt and can barely manage to pay rent. So it is that we are humbly asking for some help to pay bills during this time, and ease our debt so that we can continue to keep Mom at home. She always took care of us, and was and still is the heart of the family. We know times are tough for everyone, but anything small you could spare would be deeply appreciated and even just sharing this Go Fund Me link with your friends and family makes a big difference.
Sincerely the Fulmer family, Jim Cheri and Jack.
Organizer
Jack Fulmer
Organizer
Baldwin Lake, CA