Nettie Lee Faulkner was born December 25, 1898 in Cherokee Nation, Indian Territory to George Alfred Faulkner and Maude May Weatherly.

She married William Joseph Higginbottom on December 24, 1932 in Muldrow, Oklahoma.

She died on January 3, 2001 in El Centro, California.

Nettie was the second child born into what would become a very large family. Four of the babies born to George and Maude Faulkner died in infancy, but 9 children made it to adulthood. Nettie was born into the position of tending to children, yet she would never give birth to her own.

On 24 December 1932 Nettie married Joe W Higginbottom in Muldrow, Oklahoma. On this day she also became a stepmother to three children, Mary Elizabeth Higginbottom was 11 years old, Jeanettia was 8, and Ben was 6. Their mother, Leona Merrial Higginbottom, died in Van Buren, Arkansas on October 10, 1929. Joe Higginbottom and his very young children buried her in Gracelawn Cemetery before they moved to Sequoyah County, Oklahoma.

Joe and Nettie were one of the first of the Faulkner families to move from Oklahoma to California. By April 11, 1940 they had set up a home at 837 Park in El Centro, California. Joe took a job as the Night Watchman for the State Relief of Immigration.

Nettie kept in touch with her family that stayed behind in Oklahoma. She visited them often. In 1968 she made the trip back home to attend the Faulkner Family Reunion. On May 7, 1970 the Big Basin Herald newspaper printed, “Mrs Nettie Higgenbottom is visiting with several relatives after attending her brother’s funeral, Mr Roy Faulkner. Mrs Higgenbottom is from Holtville, California.”

Nettie lived to be 102 years old. She died on 3 January 2001 in El Centro, California. The Imperial Valley Press published her obituary on 8 January 2001.

NETTIE L. HIGGINBOTTOM

Visitation will be from 6 to 9 p.m. Tuesday in Hems Bros. Mortuary Chapel in El Centro for Nettie L. Higginbottom, 102, of Holtville, who died Jan.3 in Valley Convalescent Hospital in El Centro.

Memorial services will be at 10 a.m. Wednesday in First Assembly of God in Holtville with her nephew the Rev. Art Zeigler officiating.

Burial will be in Evergreen Cemetery in El Centro.

Mrs. Higginbottom was born Dec. 25, 1898, in Oklahoma. After moving to the Imperial Valley, “Aunt Nettie” as she liked to be called, lived most of her life in Holtville. She enjoyed reading and talking about the Bible and listening to Christian radio. She was co-grand marshal of the 1999 Holtville Carrot Parade.

She was preceded in death by four brothers and four sisters, including Susie Bentley, Edna Keith and Woodrow, Clyde and Clifford Faulkner,all of Holtville.

Survivors include her sister-in-law, Dona Faulkner of Holtville; nieces, Peggy Murphy of Claypool, Ariz., Nancy Bentley of Lumberton,Texas, Phyllis Price and Shirley Bentley, both of El Centro, and Shirley Zeigler and Willie Nelson, both of Holtville; and numerous great-nieces and great-nephews.