Barbara Van Fulpen

Barbara Ellen Bradeen Van Fulpen lived a good life, always cheerful and the life of the party passed away November 30 in her apartment at Centre Meadows. She died at age 96, but always wanted to live to 100 so she could get her picture in the newspaper. She was the youngest of 11 children born to Albert Earl Bradeen and Edna Gay Dickinson. When she was a very little girl, she burned her hand on the stove, which fused her fingers together, so she spent much time at University of Michigan Hospital with several operations. She called the doctors there, quacks, and Dr. Doane corrected her saying they were some of the most brilliant doctors in the country. She never called them quacks again.

She walked or took a bus after her father was hit by a drunk driver, and he never drove again. He worked at Monarch Paper which became Allied Paper. Back then people rented and never purchased homes, so they lived along Burdick Avenue so her father could walk to work. Later she would point out all the houses she lived in as a child, The Works building, Belmont, Remine and Alcott. The houses on the corner of Alcott and Burdick had a gas station. Her brothers Chet and Cecil worked at the gas station. Her mother was a chamber maid at a hotel in Kalamazoo- Her dad was a funny old man. She would always say, "You would like him." He would dance the Scottish gig, and his arms and legs would be going back and forth. Her mother was more straight-laced, and she would say "Earl!". The men at Earl's work would light the oil rags in each other's back pocket just for a laugh, Uncle Fred and Aunt Gertrude, who lived in Edmore, Mi, would help them out when her father was laid up after the accident. They were killed when the oil well that was piped into their house exploded along with her grandmother. She said her grandmother never liked her because she talked back. Grandma made her dry the dishes when it was Etta's turn. Etta would hide out in the bathroom. She said her grandmother was an Indian (Native American) because she had long black hair and would sit in the rocking chair with her arms folded and rock.

Barbara would walk to her sister Pearl's house in the Oakwood neighborhood and take care of her cousins, Pat and Stan. They would go over and work on cleaning up the south beach on Woods Lake and get into mischief. At fourteen, Barbara worked as a soda jerk at

Beattie's Drug store on Oakland Dr. She always bragged that she served an astronaut, James McDevitt. In high school she worked in the Women's Ward at the State Hospital. She later worked at Allied Paper where she met her husband, Arthur Van Fulpen Jr. She had several jobs in her life. She worked at Brundage, Eckrich and she was a nurse's-aide in a nursing home. Then she became a home health aide, where she took care of some of the rich and famous in Kalamazoo. She took care of Mrs. Gilmore, Mrs. Fetzer, Mrs. Bloom and later Mr. Fetzer. She went to Honolulu, Hawaii for a month when Mr. Fetzerfirst moved there. She also worked at Corstange's Greenhouse by her home.

she would put dots all over her finished work. Her favorite things were her black cats, Sugar and Shadow, her emotional support animals. She always said one slept at her head and one at her feet. She always felt protected. The rest of the Bradeen family called her Auntie Lush, but she never drank. Barbara was very proud of her Scottish heritage. Her father never drank or smoked either, but he would say "Goll darn it, I left my pipe at the beergarden."

As a child she belonged to the Dutch Reformed church. They were poor so Barbara and Etta wore feed-sack dresses. The girls in her Sunday School class would make fun of her dresses so she would sneak out and go to Etta's class. Etta's teacher, Juliann Devine, was beautiful and kind. When she heard about it. She bought Barbara and Etta store-bought dresses. Barb always said she would be an angel in heaven. Barbara liked to go to the movies with her friend and many times when she looked across the theatre, she would see her father. Her mother, on the other hand, loved to play Bingo. Her mother belonged to the Rose Club, and they made quilts for poor people. Barb would sit and watch them tying the quilts on the quilt frame.

Barbara would swoon over her favorite singer Johnny Mathas, but she also liked Vaughan Monroe, too. She was always a card, and her son remembers the arthritis of the finger.

Her first husband was JB Snyder from North Carolina and in 1960 She married Authur VanFulpen Jr., the love of her life. She had 9 children. Steve Smith (Candy) of Florida, Mike Snyder (Dana), Christine Vosburgh (Richard), Mari De Angelis (Vince), Karen Chasse (Joe), Chet Snyder (Marlene), David Van Fulpen (Christine), Marc Van Fulpen and Tom Van Fulpen (Pam). Barb had 13 grandchildren and 27 great- grandchildren. She had 3 girls and 6 boys, and she would say her father had 9 children, 6 girls and 3 boys.

Her siblings were: Pearl Parsons (Brander), Cecil Bradeen (Blanche), Chester Bradeen (Lu Lu), Elsie Kik (Bud), Freida Algers (Lucky), Beatrice Butcher (Carlos), Bernice Simons (Ted), George Bradeen (Joyce), and Etta Kuras (Walt).

While at www.amsfuneralhomes.com please take time to sign Barbara's guestbook and/or share a memory with her family.

The Van Fulpen family is being cared for by the Avink, McCowen & Secord Funeral Homes and Cremation Society, 129 South Grand Street, Schoolcraft, MI 49087. 269-679-5622.