CORRIE GILBERTSON

Corrie Eugenia Dellinger Fullbright Gilbertson, a longtime Sutton resident, died on Monday, Aug. 16, 2010 in Wasilla. She was 90 years old.

Corrie was delivered by a midwife at her parent’s home in North Carolina and weighed 2 pounds at birth. She was the second of three children born to Robert Lee and Mary Bell Dellinger. Both her older sister, Ruth Hollar and her younger brother, Haven Dellinger preceded her in death.

Corrie was married to William Fullbright for 20 years prior to their divorce. Several years after that, she responded to an ad in the “Lonely Hearts Club” in a magazine and met her next husband, Kenneth Gilbertson.

She moved from North Carolina to Alaska (her one and only airplane trip) shortly after the Good Friday earthquake in the 1960s. She and Kenny moved to Sutton in the late ‘70s. Kenny died in 1997.

At that time, a neighbor, Elaine, began to check on Corrie, help her with her bills, and taking her shopping as Corrie had never driven. When Corrie was no longer able to get out much, her friend took on more and more to enable her to stay in her home. When Corrie moved into an assisted living home, she received the loving care that helped her in the journey through her final years on this earth. At the end, the supervisor of that home, Debbie Hartman, was never far from her side.

“Corrie was peaceful and at ease, knowing that she was ready for the next step in this journey we call life,” her friend Elaine wrote.

Corrie was laid to rest next to her husband, Kenny, at the National Cemetery at Ft. Richardson on Wednesday, Aug. 18. “Rejoice, for she has gone on,” her friends quoted. “If you get there before I do, Please tell my friends that I’m coming too. Away far over Jordan, we’ll meet in that beautiful land, so grand.”

“I hope to dance across heaven someday with Corrie, as she never danced on this earth,” added Elaine. “Corrie was my friend and taught me more than words can say. I love her, and was privileged to have known her.”

Arrangements were with Valley Funeral Home and Crematory in Wasilla.