Keohane Funeral Home

Janet Beryl (Hollenbeck) Fulton 

06-24-1939 to 02-18-2015 

Janet Fulton of Hingham died at home on February 18, 2015, succumbing to recurrent anaplastic thyroid cancer. 

Janet was the loving wife of Norman Fulton for 53 years.  She was the mother of Steven (and Janet) of Davis, CA; Jonathan (and Elizabeth) of Port Alto, TX; Timothy (and Amy) of Hanover, MA; Daniel (and Melinda) of Weymouth, MA; Andrew (and Wendy) of Weare, NH; Joseph (and Khiengchai) of Oronoco, MN; James (and Deirdre) of Hewitt, TX; and Lydia Fulton of Hingham, MA.  She has 30 grand children and 2 great-grandchildren.  She was predeceased by her sister Ellen and is survived by her brothers Alan (and Fran) and David (and Lola) Hollenbeck. 

Jan was born in Washington DC to Earl and Elizabeth (Dickerson) Hollenbeck.  She was the eldest of 4 children and lived her early life in northern VA.  Jan met Norm while she was attending the Lucy Webb Hayes School of Nursing at Sibley Memorial Hospital in DC.  Norm was a Navy Lieutenant JG serving in the nation’s capital.  She impressed him favorably while canoeing around Roosevelt Island on the Potomac River with some members of a young adult church group.  They grew in mutual appreciation, married on July 30, 1961, and started on their life journey together.   

After their wedding and a whirlwind honeymoon in PA, Jan and Norm set to work together guiding hundreds of volunteers in the completion of Hope Valley Camp in Mt. Airy, MD.  The camp was an ecumenical institution for year-round youth camper activities and church retreats.  It came to serve a diverse populace with a wide range of life experiences; mainly youngsters from the nearby cities, some suburban youth, and occasionally its rural neighbors.  The camp brought together groups of people in a natural setting for a unique Christ-centered experience during the 60’s into the 70’s.  Norm was the chief builder and became the full-time camp facility and program director.   

Jan and Norm made their first home in a 10’x16’ milk house off an old barn at the camp.  They were truly roughing it.  Their one room abode was furnished with a bureau, a table, an electric lamp, and a bed.  Heating and cooking was afforded by a combination wood and electric stove.  They had to carry water from a spring across the way and they washed dishes and clothes on a bench outside the door.  The level of primitive living brought both Jan’s and Norm’s mothers to tears at each first visit for the challenges they saw her facing.  It was a time of grit and hard work mixed with fun, friends, and laughter.  They shared a zest for life and were sustained by much faith, hope, and love.  Jan served as the camp nurse and the head cook.  She would often serve 50 campers at a sitting, getting a start on a lifetime of over 100,000 meals planned and prepared.  She did it all, including sometimes driving the camp bus.  Her young married life was truly an adventure and her family quickly grew apace with the camp.   

Jan and Norm moved their young family of 6 sons to Massachusetts in 1972, briefly living with Norm’s parents in Weymouth before moving to Hingham in 1973.  Return trips to Maryland were a regular feature of summer life and usually revolved around mowing and trimming Christmas trees at the family’s tree field while camping out on the land.  The trips always included visits to family and dear friends.  They were blessed with another son and finally a daughter as the 70’s came to a close.   

As the 80’s dawned, Jan and her family moved to her final and much loved home and refuge, her family-built Sandy Meadow homestead in north Hingham off Main Street.  Life was busy with child rearing.  All the while, Jan was cooking, baking bread, canning, and freezing foods and also producing superb jellies, jams, pies, and juices from the homestead crops.  Though born a southern belle, she quickly became a frugal Yankee and excelled at stretching her family’s means to cover their needs.  Near the end of the decade she and Norm started their own family carpentry business, to which her management skills and dedication were critical.   

Jan devoted herself to nearly 40 years of active and engaged mothering (from the 60’s through the 90’s!).  She was always a steady presence and made her house a home, and made her home a welcoming meeting place for her children’s friends.  She was keen to host foreign exchange students (and sometimes adults) and shared her home with folks from France, Egypt, and Brazil.  Jan enjoyed snow days and came to look forward to them nearly as much as her children did.  She grew her children independent and strong.  As they moved about the country for temporary or permanent away time, she always kept them up to date with the Sandy Meadow happenings through her gift of journaling and note writing, thus keeping the postal system in business!   

Jan made friends wherever she went, even within the oncology suite during her last hospitalization.  She maintained ties by sending notes, undertaking visits, attending reunions, recognizing birthdays, sharing the occasional meal out, and engaging in acts of reciprocal kindness.  Her later years of struggles with health issues were immeasurably brightened by the thoughtful loving-kindness of her dear friends, near and far.  She cherished her friends and was always available to be supportive and help out where ever and whenever.   

As her family matured, Jan became an avid collector and gifter of quality items like Longaberger baskets and Dedham pottery.  She always enjoyed a good shopping trip.  She would find and send along special children’s books, always with a note and sometimes with an author’s signature!  She liked bird watching and identification through her kitchen window, had a green thumb with house plants, and kept beautiful flower and herb gardens.  Her lists and notes kept her organized as she tended to her many interests.  Jan especially appreciated singing and theatrical productions staged by her many multitalented grandchildren. 

Over the years she found just enough time to enjoy participating in the South Shore Fine Arts Chorale and also church choir groups.  She had a most wonderful voice and her children and others invariably appreciated her singing.  She enjoyed participating in her church diaconate helping those in need.  When her own children were grown, she provided craft project and child-care services for many years aiding Vacation Bible School and Community Bible Study programs.  Jan loved her Lord Jesus; her faith shaped her outlook and provided a strong foundation for her to face life’s many daily challenges. 

Jan bravely fought through a series of life-threatening health issues in her later years; recovering from a major stroke, malignant melanoma, broken hip, and a first round of anaplastic thyroid cancer.  She overcame long odds time after time and her family thanks God for so many miraculous reprieves and years salvaged.  She now suffers no longer. 

Those who know Jan will grieve her loss, yet celebrate their good fortune in being part of her legacy and having an abundance of fond memories of a life fully lived.  

Relatives and friends are respectfully invited to attend the visiting hours on Friday March 6, 2015,  4-8 PM in the Pyne Keohane Funeral Home, 21 Emerald St. (off Central St.), HINGHAM. A Memorial Celebration of Life will occur on Saturday March 7, 2015  at 2PM  in the South Shore Baptist Church, Hingham.   Donations in memory of Janet may be made to The Jimmy Fund c/o Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, PO Box 849168, Boston, MA 02284-9168 or South Shore Baptist Church, Mission Fund, 578 Main Street, Hingham, MA  02043 or East Weymouth Congregational Church, Window Restoration Fund, 1320 Commercial St. E. Weymouth, MA  02189.