Rebecca Jane (Fulton) Eisele

Rebecca Jane (“Becky”) Fulton Eisele, the beloved wife of James P. (Jim) Eisele and Statesville resident for almost thirty years, died at Gordon Hospice House at 3:00 p.m. on Wednesday, July 19, 2017. Becky’s death followed seven years of declining health and four years of serious illness following a vibrant and joyous life in the Statesville community. Born on May 20, 1941, Becky was the daughter of the late Albert Lee Fulton and Mary K. Fulton of Huntington, Indiana. One of her first of many exciting ventures after high school graduation in 1959 was to work in the Nation’s capital as an aid to the Administrative Assistant of Indiana’s Late Senator, Vance Hartke. She attended the 1964 Democratic National Convention which nominated Lyndon Johnson for President. In search of her true passion, Becky then attended Parkview Methodist School in Fort Wayne, Indiana, where she earned her R.N. degree in Nursing in 1967. Her first professional position was at Huntington County Hospital in the town where she was born. In July of 1967 Jim Eisele traveled with his mother, the late Corinne K. Eisele, to visit his mother’s sister in Huntington. On that trip he met Becky, fell in love with her, and in April, 1968, Jim and Becky were married in the same church in Huntington where Jim’s mother and father had been married in October, 1929, and the same church where Jim’s maternal grandparents had been married may years before. A graduate of UNC at Chapel Hill, Jim moved with his bride to Greenville, South Carolina, where he worked for J.P. Stevens Company. It was during these early working years that Becky’s first daughter, Kathryn Ann Eisele Hayes (Edward), was born in 1972. Jim and Becky’s second daughter, Adrienne Leigh Eisele Warren, was born in Statesville in 1977, after Jim and Becky had returned to Statesville for Jim to manage the late SportKnit-Carolina plant. Jim later co-founded Piedmont Tile and Marble Company in in Charlotte, which ironically, installed the tile work during construction of Gordon Hospice House. Becky thereafter held a variety of nursing positions at Iredell Memorial Hospital until 1991, when she joined Piedmont Stone Center in Winston Salem as a traveling sedation nurse serving much of North Carolina and Virginia. She fully retired in 2010. An accomplished musician, Becky for many years played the organs for services at St. Therese Catholic Church in Mooresville and at St. Philip the Apostle Catholic Church in Statesville. Her musical performances ceased, however, when a severe arthritic condition prevented her use of the keyboard. Only in later years, however, did the condition interfere with her love of cross-stitching and crocheting for numerous family members and friends. Becky leaves a large and loving family, including not only her husband and two daughters but also a granddaughter, Savannah Jane Warren, of Troutman, North Carolina, who was like a daughter to Jim and Becky. Also surviving are her sister, Beth Ann Fulton of Ft. Lauderdale, Florida, and a brother, Michael Thomas Fulton of Simpsonville, South Carolina. Many brothers-in-law and sisters-in-law also survive, including Carolyn Eisele Brawley of Palm Beach Gardens, Florida; Delores Eisele Sink of Mooresville; Phyllis Eisele Smith of Hickory; Mary Frances (“Pris”) Eisele Kimel of Statesville; David and Amy P. Eisele of Olin; Douglas G. and Sally W. Eisele of Lake Norman; Jerome (“Pete”) and Loretta H. Eisele of Port St. Lucie, Florida; John F. Eisele of Troutman; and Alan R. and Bonita W. Eisele of Statesville. Many nieces and nephews of the extended Eisele family, too numerous and widespread to mention, also survive. A Mass of Christian Burial will be held at St. Philip the Apostle Church in Statesville at 11:00 a.m. on Saturday, July22, 2017. Visitation will be at the church between 9:00 a.m. and 10:45 a.m. preceding the service. Burial will follow in Oakwood Cemetery. The Jim Eisele family wishes to express its utmost gratitude to the personnel at Gordon Hospice House and the Gordon Family for making possible what Jim calls “the most wonderful, caring facility you could ever imagine”. The family’s preference is that any donation in memory of Becky be made either to the Gordon Hospice House or to the Forward with Christ Building Fund at St. Philip the Apostle Church in Statesville. Online condolences may be left at www.nicholsonfunerals.com . Nicholson Funeral Home is entrusted with the arrangements for Becky Eisele.