**Our dear friend John Fuller passed away on Sunday, January 25, 2015. John was like a brother to my husband for 54 years, ever since they met early in the seventh grade when my husband moved from rural Idaho to Tacoma. His wife Laurie asked us to speak at John's memorial on January 31. Because John was also a friend of the BVGs, I reprint here what I said at his 'Celebration of Life':
My life definitely took a turn for the better when I met John Fuller. Forty years later it took a turn for the worse when he was in the hospital and we learned he was going to leave us.
I kind of inherited John and Laurie when I fell in love with my husband. The first time I met them, I felt like I had known them my whole life. Even before my husband and I got married, the four of us got together to celebrate New Year's Eve 1975 at my house. It was the beginning of a tradition that lasted for years and only ended in 1998 when our family moved to Hawaii due to my husband's job transfer. For 23 years we ended and began every year with John and Laurie.
When we got married in May of 1976, John and Laurie were our best man and matron-of-honor. Right from the beginning were had so much fun doing life together. Just hours before I went in to labor with our daughter, our first child, John and Laurie were leaving our house around 11 P.M. on a Saturday night. Their son Mark, who was three months old, was sound asleep in his car seat. As he was going out the door, John turned around, hesitated slightly, and thenspoke words of wisdom to my husband: "Enjoy the quiet---it won't last!" For years we quoted John over and over and over again.
Within a few years we added two sons to our family, and our New Year's Eve celebrations, which always included the kids and became overnight slumber parties, were anything but quiet. Our children made up plays and put on loud music to mimic being a band. Sometimes we had snow. Other times we went on outings up to the mountains on New Year's Day so the kids could go sledding in the snow. We have pictures of us all bundled up and roasting hot dogs over a fire for our dinner. Those were great times.
As our children grew, so did our circle of friends. We started hosting game nights and themed parties. We played Pictionary and Trivial Pursuit, and we went all out for Murder Mystery Parties, including parties leading up to our Murder Mystery Parties. We celebrated birthdays and holidays together. One year there were nine of us turning 39, and we decided to have a Jack Benny Party. (If you are too young to know who Jack Benny was, you can do a Google search.) John came to that party wearing a blue shirt with this slogan: "The older the violin, the sweeter the music." Twenty-seven years later he wore the very same T-shirt to my husband's Route 66-themed 66th birthday party. We had no way of knowing that would be the last time we would all be together as a group. Life is like that.
In 1998 our family moved to Hawaii due to my husband's job transfer, and after nine years there we were transferred again, this time to Virginia. It was so hard to say goodbye to our friends and family when we moved. John and Laurie came to visit us both in Hawaii and Virginia, so we added more fun adventures to our friendship. I wish you have seen him the day the four of us spent at Waimea Bay on Oahu's North Shore. While that area is known for its big waves. that day the water was flat and as clear as glass. For what seemed like hours John was out by himself, floating on his back, his hands behind his head. You know, a lot of people refer to Hawaii as paradise with a small 'p.' I like to think that John is doing the same thing today in Paradise with a capital 'P.'
In the spring of 2009 we were thrilled to be able to move back home to Washington due to another job transfer. We moved into our new house on May 1, which happened to be our 33rd wedding anniversary, and here came our best man and matron-of-honor with lunch to help us celebrate together. We sat out on our deck in the sunshine for hours that day, and we were thanking God for bringing us back with all the friends who meant the world to us. Before long we got the old gang back together again for game nights and themed parties and even a new Murder Mystery Party. John was at the center of all of it. His enthusiasm was infectious.
You might know that John wasn't much of a football fan, especially pro football. We would get together on Super Bowl Sunday for our own Souper---that's S-O-U-P-E-R--Bowl party. We would eat soup, and the only game going on that day for us was pinochle. This suited my husband just fine, because he didn't care about pro football either. But then I convinced him to watch the play-off game with the 49ers, and lo and behold, he became a fan. So much so that we carefully approached John and told him that since the Seahawks were going to the Super Bowl, we really needed to watch the game. We would still eat soup, but we needed to watch the game. To our surprise, he readily agreed, and so we got everybody together for soup and football. I wish you could have seen him cheering on the hometown team that day. We made a '12' out of him, and we had every intention of doing that all over again this year. We will still be getting our friends together tomorrow for soup and the Super Bowl, but John will be sorely missed. He now has as good a seat for watching the game as does Russell Wilson's dad.
I miss John. I miss his hearty laugh, his ready smile, the twinkle in his eyes, the hugs he had for everyone. John wasn't a materialistic man. He wasn't anything about his possessions. What mattered more to him was finding ways to help others. John didn't wear his faith on his sleeve, he just lived it. I miss sitting in church and worshiping with him and then going out to coffee afterwards with a group of our friends. Five months ago tomorrow was our last big group get-together, and John was happy and healthy and the life of the party. I remember looking around our living room that day and thinking, "Wow, we are all so blessed!" Only God knew that day that very soon Laurie would need our friendship, love, support and prayers in a new way.
Shortly after we were married, my husband and I got tickets for John and Laurie to accompany us to the Bill and Gloria Gaither concert at the Seattle Center. That night the Gaithers sang what was then one of their new songs, "Because He Lives." During the weeks and months that John was in the hospital, the words of that song kept coming back to Laurie as she found them comforting and inspiring. She has asked that we take some time now to listen to a recording of this song, and while we do, you can each reflect on your own special, unique memories of John. We don't all know each other, but we are joined together here today to remember and honor a man who was a part of each of our lives. John, we love you, and we will never forget you.
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