Velma Roxy Garland Bulvin

July 19, 1918 - Oct. 6, 2020

Velma Roxy Garland Bulvin, age 102, passed away at the Laramie Care Center in Laramie, Wyo., on Tuesday, Oct. 6, 2020. Velma was born on July 19, 1918, to Thomas and Roxy Milner Salsbury in a farmhouse in Republic County, Kan.  She was the middle child of five girls.

Velma grew up on a farm in rural Kansas where she attended school in Neosha Falls, and graduated from high school in LeRoy, Kan. As a child she would fish in a local river using a stick, some string and a hook. She eventually caught a 48-pound catfish on a ‘limb line.' Velma taught school for two years in rural Kansas before marrying her high school sweetheart, Robert James Garland, Jr. on April 17, 1938 in Iola, Kan. Velma and Robert moved to Greybull in 1942 where they raised their four children, Tom, Donna, Wilma and Bill. They celebrated 60 years of marriage shortly before Robert’s death in 1998. 

On her 84th birthday, Velma married Benjamin Bulvin in Greybull and they lived in Basin. She later moved to Laramie, lived with her daughter for several years before moving to an assisted living facility there. Velma thoroughly enjoyed raising her children, sewing, knitting, cooking, ceramics and many outdoor activities, including fishing, hunting, snowmobiling, four-wheeling, and golfing with family and friends.  One of Velma’s favorite memories was the years she had a pet bobcat named Tuffy, whom she eventually had to give to the zoo in Red Lodge, Mont.  After her children were grown, Velma worked for JC Penney/Williams Store for 20 years. When she was 50 she decided she wanted to learn to paint. She painted with watercolors, acrylics and oils. She completed her last painting when she was 101 years young and “essentially blind.” 

Velma will be sadly missed by her family and many friends.  She is survived by her two daughters, Donita (Donna) Louise Garland and husband James Harnly of Bethesda, Md., and Wilma Kathryn Harnden and husband William of Laramie; daughter-in-law Sharon Garland and husband Wade Ettleman of Cheyenne; 11 grandchildren, 21 great-grandchildren and 12 great-great grandchildren. She was preceded in death by her parents; her husbands, Robert J Garland, Jr., and Benjamin Bulvin; two sons, Thomas R. Garland, and William L. Garland; one grandson, Thomas M. Garland; five sisters, Irene Smart, Mabel Campbell, Dorothy Sherwood and Betty Bachelor and daughter-in-law, Louise Neil. 

In lieu of flowers, donations can be sent to the South Big Horn Senior Citizens Center in Greybull. Visitation for family and friends will be held on Friday, Oct. 16 at 6 p.m. at the Atwood Family Chapel in Greybull.  A funeral mass will be celebrated at 11 a.m. on Saturday, Oct. 17 at the Sacred Heart Catholic Church in Greybull. Burial will take place at the Donald J Ruhl Memorial Cemetery.  Arrangements have been entrusted to Atwood Family Funeral Directors.

 

 

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