James Fuller

Residents of Ellis County awoke this Monday, September 2nd, 2013, to find the clouds still dark and hanging low. The previous night had been a restless one for many as thunder and lightning kept up a perpetual chorus. When daylight broke, it revealed that James Lawrence "Larry" Fuller, 53, had departed this world much like the prophet Elijah, amid a whirlwind and chariots of fire. Larry lived a life of truly biblical proportions: getting himself into trouble faster than Adam (and getting out of it faster than Daniel), rising to greater heights than Moses, on the road more often than either Abraham or the Apostle Paul, getting more done in a single day than Joshua (and without having to stop the sun in the sky), solving problems quicker than Solomon, a marksman on par with David, taking on giants that would tower over Goliath, averting disasters better than Noah, fighting with a strength beyond Samson, and coming back from the grave more times than Lazarus. Yet it was the patriarch Jacob with whom Larry Fuller had the most in common. Not only was he a master negotiator who turned bowls of stew into birthrights seemingly every other week, but he held onto his life with such tenacity that one could say that he had wrestled with God and held his own. (It is quite likely that several angels are currently nursing shiners after being tasked with escorting him out of this world.) Larry began his singular life on November 26th, 1959, in Dallas, Texas - the third of four children born to Robert Cletus Fuller Jr. and Madelon Janet Hokett Fuller. When he wasn't watching his older brothers get into mischief or accidentally discharging firearms in the direction of his sleeping parents, Larry spent his childhood scrambling and shooting his way through every creek bottom and pasture in the county. His energetic personality made him an "endearing" pupil in Sunday School at the First Methodist Church in Waxahachie, though he found a more constructive outlet for it in Boy Scouts, where he attained the rank of Eagle Scout as a member of Troop 232. By the time he reached high school as a freshman, Larry was a familiar face to everyone in town and, most importantly, the seniors - who were not above kidnapping him directly out of the classroom when they needed someone to drive the ski-boat on Lake Waxahachie. After graduating from Waxahachie High School in 1978, Larry rambled through the campuses of both Baylor and Texas Tech is pursuit of higher education, only to scrap it all when he was 22 credits away from graduating to become an entrepreneur. Taking the reins of Aardvark Trailers, Larry planned to eventually make use of his welding skill and SCUBA certification and become a deep-sea oil rig welder. His plans changed when complications from an automobile accident put him into a coma for seven days and into the afterlife for four minutes when his heart stopped. Upon resurrecting, his first words were a proposal of marriage to Kimberley Allene Smith. She agreed and, on December 18th, 1982, became his first and only wife. After a fire destroyed the business, Larry decided to swim with creatures more dangerous than sharks and joined the field of medical sales. Given his entrepreneurial streak, he soon obtained a distributorship and, along with his partner Kelly Sanders, put together a team that frequently earned awards as the top sales team worldwide. In August of 2008, doctors diagnosed Larry with Stage IV melanoma and gave him a timeline of six months. Unfortunately, these oncologists had never met Larry Fuller before and much confusion resulted from his failure to die according at their duly appointed times. Doctors from Dallas to Houston to Boston to Monterrey, Mexico, marveled at his resiliency and he took a special pleasure in being greeted by these world-renowned specialists with opened mouths and questions of "How are you still alive?" Through a cocktail of ingenuity and stubbornness, more potent than any chemotherapy or radiation treatment, he managed to continue living his 100 mph life for another five years. It is only fitting that on this Labor Day, the world's hardest-working man finally took his rest. He earned it. (Though, knowing his spirit, the family will make sure they do not pack the dirt too tight.) He is survived by his wife of thirty years, Kimberley Allene Fuller; his sons Robert and his wife Cynthia, Andrew, (11)and Adam Fuller (9); his daughter Logan Fuller Rutan and her husband Brian Rutan; his brothers Dennis and Steve Fuller; his sister Janet Fuller; his aunt Dorothy Lee and her husband Kels Lowrey; several cousins, nephews, and nieces; and by the countless others he touched during his life. He was preceded in death by his parents. The family will receive friends and relatives from 6 to 8 PM this Thursday, September 5th, 2013, at the Wayne Boze Funeral Home. The celebration of his life will be on Friday, September 6th, 2013, at 3 PM at the Cowboy Church of Waxahachie with Johnathan Mohler officiating. Interment will follow at Sardis Cemetery in Sardis. Pallbearers will be Matt Boruff, Bryan Cravens, Scott Ellis, Scott Green, Jeff McLean, Michael Mitchell, Mike Morgan, and Kelly Sanders.

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