She was the youngest of eight children born to Harold and Ora Belle Collins. Her mother was exhausted after the birth and asked the family doctor, who had delivered all of Ora Belle’s children, to name the baby. He named her after her mother, Ora and his wife, Mae. Her nickname was Tinker Bell shortened to Tinker and then to Tink. She was the light of her family’s life. Ora’s family moved to West Plains, MO in March 1965.
Fairview school did not have kindergarten, so she told everyone she was a kindergarten dropout. She attended Fairview Elementary and West Plains High School graduating in 1977. A few years later she joined the United States Army and then became licensed practical nurse in 1991.
She married Roger Dale (Josh) Fulton on February 25, 1998, and they shared many loving years together before his passing in 2018.
Ora is survived by her children, Ora Alicia Schaefer (Clifford) and Kevin Kanatzar (Laura), her grandchildren, Ryan Lee Dickman (Calais), Christopher Riley Kanatzar, and Sean Dylan Kanatzar, all of Greenville, IL, Kaley Ann Dickman (Mason), and great granddaughter, Haysley Mae of Granite City, IL, her sister, Judy Harden (Bill) of South Fork, MO, her brother, Sibley Collins of West Plains, MO, and numerous nieces and nephews.
Preceding her in death were her parents, her brothers Harold Collins, Kenneth Collins, Robert Collins, Joseph Collins, her sister Sheila Keller, and her niece Ada Shinohara.
In accordance with her wishes, she will be laid to rest with her husband at Jefferson Barracks National Cemetery in St. Louis, MO and no services will be held.
