Reverend Dr. Paul Hamilton Fuller IV passed away Monday, April 10, 2017, at the McGraw Center of Community Hospice, Mayo Clinic, Jacksonville, Florida.
Born February 3, 1947, in DeLand, Florida to Julia Vann Fuller and Paul Hamilton Fuller III, Ham graduated as valedictorian from DeLand High School in 1965 as part of a senior class that has remained close through the years since.
He attended Davidson College, graduated from The Florida State University, and earned a master’s degree in education from Stetson University and a PhD in educational administration from the University of Florida.
He served as headmaster of Holy Comforter Day School, Tallahassee, Florida, where he met and married his beloved wife Lynne.
While there, Ham answered the call to the ordained ministry in the Episcopal Church and went on to obtain a Masters of Divinity from the School of Theology at the University of the South, Sewanee, Tennessee.
As a priest, he served Episcopal parishes in Montgomery, Alabama and Tampa, Florida as an assistant rector, and parishes in Wilmington, North Carolina, Jacksonville, Florida, and Bristol, Virginia as rector. He retired from parish ministry in 2007, but then was called to lead a ministry that was one of the great joys of his life, the ministry to the homeless of The Church of the Advocate, Asheville, North Carolina.
Ham lived out his love of God and of people wherever he went, sharing encouragement and celebrating of the possibilities and blessing of life in God with all his life touched. He relished wonderful food and drink but even more the sharing of it with those he loved. Ham loved to work in his beautiful garden, delighting in the beauty of creation.
He treasured his heritage as a descendant of the early prominent families of coastal South Carolina and Georgia but loved and served all, particularly those less fortunate, with warmth, kindness, joy and humor.
Ham was predeceased by his parents and his sister Sally Landon Fuller Ten Eyck.
In addition to his wife of almost 36 years, Lynne Pierce Fuller of Mills River, North Carolina and Jacksonville, Florida, he is survived by their son Vann Hamilton Fuller (Katie Beals) and grandson Liam Hamilton Fuller, all of Johnson City, Tennessee, his sister Jean Fuller Underhill (Frank) of DeLand, Florida, ten nieces and nephews and numerous great nieces and nephews.
>A celebration of Ham’s life will be held at noon, Wednesday, April 19, 2017 at St. Barnabas Episcopal Church, DeLand, Florida, where he was baptized and confirmed and served as a youth minister as a young man. He will be interred at a later date at St. Helena’s Church, Beaufort, South Carolina among many generations of his Hamilton and Fuller ancestors.
In lieu of flowers, contributions in Ham’s memory may be made to The Church of the Advocate, 60 Church Street, Asheville, North Carolina 28801.
Arrangements by Hardage-Giddens Oaklawn Chapel, 4801 San Jose Blvd., Jacksonville www.hardagegiddensoaklawnchapel.com
Published in the Florida Times-Union on Apr. 16, 2017