Juliette Salisbury

Juliette Salisbury

CLARKSVILLE — Juliette Salisbury, known to her friends as “Julie,” was a sociable woman with a great sense of humor. She died on Thursday, Nov. 5, 2015, at her home with her family near her side. She was 87.

“She enjoyed her family, and they enjoyed her,” said her daughter, Rose Pritchard. “She had a great sense of humor.”

Mrs. Salisbury was born to Ralph and Rose Marie (née Beaulac) Turmel on Feb. 17, 1928, in Albany. She attended Greenville High School before marrying her husband, Oakley Salisbury Jr., on April 24, 1948.

Mr. Salisbury died of colon cancer in 1983, at the age of 58.

Mrs. Salisbury never remarried; before she died, Mrs. Salisbury told her family that she was ready to see Mr. Salisbury, again, her daughter said.

“If he came back, she’d have married him all over, again,” said Mrs. Pritchard. “He was a good man.”

“I’m 87, and I’ve had a good life,” Mrs. Salisbury told her family a week before she died, her daughter said.

Mr. and Mrs. Salisbury had eight children together. Mrs. Salisbury was a housewife, and she enjoyed family gatherings; dancing; singing; and card games.

“She took a trip with my sister and I to Connecticut,” Mrs. Pritchard said. “She liked to gamble.”

At the end of her life, Mrs. Salibury used a wheelchair, but was still able to get into a car with assistance from her family.

“We always managed to take her. She enjoyed going to Racino in Saratoga,” Mrs. Pritchard said of the Saratoga Casino and Raceway. “We used to take her out as much as we could.”

Mrs. Salisbury suffered multiple fractures due to osteoporosis as she aged, and four years of dialysis contributed to her weakened bones, her daughter said.

“We couldn’t take her too far,” Mrs. Pritchard said of her mother’s later years.

Mrs. Salisbury was a member of the Onesquethaw Women’s Auxiliary. She was also a member of the Clarksville Community Church, and worked with a group of ladies putting out the church newsletter.

“They used to take turns making lunch for the group,” Mrs. Pritchard said. “They’d all sit and visit and have a good time.” Once Mrs. Salisbury’s dialysis began, her appointments conflicted with the newsletter gathering, her daughter said.

Mrs. Salisbury remained affable, making friends among the patients and the staff at the dialysis center, with whom she spent hours weekly.

“She had a lot of acquaintances she got to know,” her daughter said. “They joked back and forth. She enjoyed going there with the staff and having a lot of fun. She met a lot of people that way. She really liked the staff. She handled it well, for her age.”

“The family wishes to extend their gratitude to the Albany Regional Kidney Center staff Karen, Brandi, Mia, John, and Atiba, and the many patients she became friends with,” Mrs. Salisbury’s family wrote in a tribute.    

In her younger life, Mrs. Salisbury had large family gatherings at the holidays.

“With eight kids, my parents were busy,” Mrs. Pritchard said. “We used to get together at the holidays. We always had a good time.” The family met most often at holidays, she said, because “a lot of us worked.”

“She never drove,” her daughter said. “We always took her where she needed to go.”

When her children were young, Mrs. Salisbury’s sister took Mrs. Pritchard and her siblings to their activities, Mrs. Pritchard said.

“She did practice driving,” she said. “She’d ride the [car with the] kids on the lawn!”

In her later years, Mrs. Salisbury drove a golf cart.

“She would tell the people at dialysis that she did a burn out! She was a character,” Mrs. Pritchard said.

“She had a sense of humor,” her daughter said. “She could always make you laugh.”

****

Juliette Salisbury is survived by her children, Rose Pritchard, and her husband, Karl; Karen Riley and her husband, Rusty; Elaine Biers and her husband, Charlie; Oakley Salisbury III; Earl Salisbury; Terri Henry; Brenda Salisbury and Mike VanDyke; and Kathy Scarcella and her husband, John; her grandchildren, Julie Gandolfo and her husband, Michael; Charlie Biers; Kayla, Connor, Miranda, and Erica Salisbury; and Ryan and Jarett Scarcella; her great-grandchildren, Aurora  and Ava Gandolfo; her sisters, Jeannette Kelafant and her husband, Ken; Rosemarie Tomaszewski and her husband, Babe; William Turmel; Lawrence Turmel and his wife, Phyllis; her brother-in-law, Leland Salisbury; and many  nieces and nephews.

Her husband, Oakley Salisbury Jr., died before her, as did her siblings, Rita Filkins and her husband, Warren; Edward Turmel; Evelyn Bader and her husband, James; Alice Geel and her husband, Bud; Theresa Salisbury; Lorraine Quick and her husband, Raymond; Ralph Turmel; and Delores Pawlus and her husband, Art. 

Calling hours are on Monday, Nov. 9, from 4 to 7 p.m. at the Applebee Funeral Home, 403 Kenwood Ave., Delmar. A funeral service will be held at Clarksville Community Church, 1997 Delaware Turnpike, Clarksville, on Tuesday, Nov. 10, at 11 a.m.  Burial will follow at Mt. Pleasant Cemetery, 2478 New Scotland Rd., Voorheesville.

Memorial contributions may be made to Clarksville Community Church, Post Office Box F, Clarksville, New York, 12041. 

— Jo E. Prout

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