Joe Howard Fulton was born on March 1, 1932 in Franklin, Texas to Emma Lee and George Dewey Fulton. He was the fourth of six children, Dewey, Lois, Elsie, Donald and Ronald. He graduated from Sam Houston High School in 1949 and joined the Navy in 1951, where he proudly served the majority of his time in the Caribbean. After an Honorable Discharge from the Navy he attended the University of Houston from 1955 – 1959 graduating with a double major in Mechanical Engineering and Mathematics. He later went on to obtain a Masters in Engineering from Newark College of Engineering in New Jersey in 1963. He started his career at Bell Labs in New Jersey in 1959 where he met his future wife Margaurite (Marjy) Engle. They married in 1961 and had their first child (Bambi) in 1963. The following year he was recruited to work for the Space Program at NASA and he and Marjy made the decision to move back to Texas. Once back in Texas they had their second child (Karla) in 1965. He was proud to serve at NASA during the Gemini, Apollo and Skylab programs. Later in his career he supported the Mechanical Systems Office of the Facility Development Division. He retired from NASA in 1990 after which he was free to pursue his lifelong interests in gardening, woodworking, antique toy restoration and collection, and ranching. He continued to love and work on his cattle ranch (Notluf Ranch) until he became too ill. He leaves behind his loving family including Marjy, Bambi (Kevin) Grilley, Karla (Michael) Bradley, and three grandchildren, Amanda, Anastasia, and Alexander.

A Memorial Service will be on Saturday August 03, 2019 at 10:00am at the Webster Presbyterian Church. Visitation will be at the Crowder Funeral Home Webster, Texas on August 02, 2019 from 6-8pm. In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions to Joe’s beloved Webster Presbyterian Church may be made.