FULCO, Samantha Michael (Sammie)

The Verde Independent, Cottonwood, AZ August 16, 2006 Samantha Michael Burnett Fulco, 12, died Aug. 5, 2006, after a nearly five-year battle against leukemia. Sammie was born in Tucson on May 23, 1994, the daughter of Diane Burnett and John Fulco. She lived in Oracle for the past seven years. She loved animals and people, desiring to be a vet or a doctor when she grew up. In her own way, she achieved both of these goals. Samantha had two desires before she died: To be 12 years old, and to be baptized to publicly declare her love of Jesus. She was baptized by Shawn Boonstra, evangelist of It Is Written, in April 2006, and turned 12 in May. She attended Camp Yavapines Youth Camp in Prescott in July, one of her favorite activities of the year. She is survived by her parents and her grandparents, Michael and Nancy Burnett of Cottonwood. Services were held in Tucson at Desert Valley Seventh-day Adventist Church on Aug. 7 and in Cottonwood at Seventh-day Adventist Church on Aug. 8. Samantha was buried on her favorite property at the Burnett Family Cemetery following the services in Cottonwood.