Donald E Fuller

In 1946, Don Fuller was born on Easter Sunday to R. John and H. Majorie Fuller. Luckily the room they had was on the ground floor of the hospital, so his five-year-old brother, Ron, could be lifted up by their dad to get a look at the new baby through the outside window of Saint Francis near downtown Colorado Springs, just seven blocks from the family home.

Don’s childhood was spent in Colorado Springs. They had a one-bedroom home with the cutest address, 444 ½ E. Pikes Peak Avenue. In the springtime, his brother, Ron, would be relegated to the covered back porch and Don to a dresser drawer as a tiny baby, when all the extended family came to visit from Kansas. They lived in the same area until after everyone was raised and out on their own. It was a terrific neighborhood to have grown up in. The type where you knew where everyone was from the bikes piled in a yard. Where pick-up baseball or basketball games were easy feats, with over twenty-two kids living in a two-block radius on their dead-end street. During one game, a bigger boy held Ron up by his neck but his little brother, Donnie, was quick to the rescue with a baseball bat to the assailant’s head. Kick-the-can was played till dark. Then everyone headed toward Mom’s home cooking.

Every summer, Don looked forward to visiting Grandma and Grandpa Fuller and Aunt Juanita and Uncle John Georgi in Eugene, Oregon, to explore the rock garden, turn stones into gems, and go deep sea fishing off the coast. They took trips to the Snyders for harvest time on the farm in Sabetha, Kansas, catching lightning bugs and baling hay with his grandpa, who owned the first steam-powered tractor in the state of Kansas. Winters were a time for pick-up games of hockey on the frozen duck pond at Monument Creek near Colorado College.

Don always consumed information voraciously, reading the whole Bible through when he was in elementary school. It wasn’t all books though, as he and his brother persuaded their parents to get their first television set since Pastor Newman’s kid had one in his living room. However, his knowledge expanded as he grew with good grades and a head that enjoyed learning. He was very involved in Future Business Leaders of America, ran varsity Cross Country all four years of high school. Then he left home to attend Colorado State College in Greeley, Colorado. He ran the newspaper all four years, out performing the actual town paper’s marketing department. At the school that would later become UNC, he was also very involved in Chi Alpha.

At a Chi Alpha retreat during college, Don met an “older” (just two years, but she would never live it down) woman named Linda Montgomery. They courted and waited for the “younger” man to also graduate from CSC. They were wed on June 21, 1968, at Calvary Temple in Denver, Colorado, and settled in the rural outskirts of Aurora in Village East to raise their family. Good thing that the house had a fireplace for the Blizzard of 68-69 had no power for the young newlyweds. They always had a love for travel and adventure, taking trips to China, Alaska, Canada, and the Caribbean. Just before their first child arrived, they were planning to jump out of a helicopter to go skiing in Canada. As the children grew, they all sailed on catamarans and twelve-meter boats in the Caribbean, backpacked in the Rockies (even when the children were small), golfed all over Colorado, and participated in church ministries and other activities.

Don’s teaching days in the Aurora Public School District began in 1968 at Hinkley High School, then Central High, where he taught Business and Marketing. Then he taught, worked as the Job Placement Specialist, the Coordinator of Institutional Services, and later became Assistant Director all at Pickens Technical Center. After his retirement in 2002, Don continued to work with student-teachers for Colorado State University and served as an education consultant. Through his career he contributed to several projects with the Bureau of Educational Research with the University of Denver. He also served on several steering and assessments committees as a member and often facilitator as well as chairing multiple boards, working with accreditation of colleges, and schools as an adjudicator. He earned his Masters in Public School Administration from the University of Denver in 1974. Much to his chagrin, it will also be stated that he is actually Dr. Donald E. Fuller as in 1984, he earned his Ph.D. in Vocational Administration from Colorado State University with the most-checked-out dissertation from the University Library.

Of course, a significant stroke in 2012 altered Don and Linda’s lives. They accepted this new life together. They trusted in a personal God who knows and cares (available to anyone who places their trust in Him) for them both. A God who carried them through the subsequent troubles producing endurance that forever impacted their characters, gave them HOPE and a legacy of what it means when you vow “to have and to hold from this day forward, for better, for worse, for richer, for poorer, in sickness and in health, until death do us part. I will love and honor you all the days of my life.” Don’s prayer for those ten years was that God would give him the strength to be able to be Linda’s caregiver. God answered those prayers. They were wed for almost 55 years. Linda will be happy to know that she is no longer the older woman, so Don can stop teasing her about that, as he stayed with us for only two years after her death. Now he is in a far better place with no pain or tears. To think of all the first-hand stories he is listening to from Jesus and the Bible characters of old–soaking up every detail.

Left to cherish his memory is his daughter, Amy Fuller Stenger and her husband, Thad Stenger (London, Kentucky); his son, Jonathan Fuller, and his wife, Heidi Fuller (Grand Junction, CO); four adoring grandchildren–Casey Stenger Faulkner and husband, Jalen Faulkner (Richmond, KY); Cole Stenger ( Lexington, KY), Jonah Fuller (Grand Junction, CO), and Clara Fuller (Grand Junction, CO). Also treasuring his memory are his brother, Ron Fuller (Teresa); brother-in-law, Dan Montgomery; sisters-in-law, Donna Untiedt (Mike), and Susie Wathen (John) and a host of other relatives, friends, stroke & grief survivors, and hundreds of former students. May the HOPE of seeing him again grant all of us peace that passes understanding during this time.

In lieu of flowers please consider donating to one of the following:

The Fuller Memorial Scholarship (providing theological training for native students preparing for Christian ministry in their own country outside of the US)

Checks to “AG Foundation”, Attn: Jason Idell, Memo: Fuller Memorial Scholarship Fund, [email protected], 417-447-2440 or 855-558-3900, 3900 S. Overland Ave. Springfield, MO 65890

The Gideons International https://gideons.org/donateor Grief Share at Parker Evangelical Presbyterian Church 9030 Miller Road, Parker, CO 80138