In Memoriam
Gus Eugene Fulbright
Shared with us by Susan Ray Fulbright
Taken from the local newspaper:
Gus Jr. (28 Dec 1946 - 28 Sep 1994) lived his entire life in Sallisaw, OK except for the four years in the Air Force. His father was Gus, grandfather - David Andrew "Drew," ggrdfth - Jesse, and gggrdfth - Andrew Fulbright of Independence County AR. Jesse, along with his mother, Elizabeth, and siblings were the first Fullbrights in Sequoyah County OK and this is when the second "L" began in the name. Gus Jr. married Susan Ray in Sallisaw on 6 Jun 1966. They had three children: Michael (27 Jan 1968), Gary (7 Jun 1970), and Jennifer (30 Sep 1971). Michael and wife Leilani have two children: Kristen and Matthew; Gary (divorced) has two sons: Jason and Andrew; Jennifer and husband Chris have a daughter Emma.
Gus was a full-time letter carrier with the US Postal Service, member and past commander of the American Legion Carney Welch Post No. 27, a Vietnam veteran, a former Sallisaw School Board member and a Little League coach. He was also active in the Democrat party and shortly after his death he was voted Democrat Man of the Year. He was also inducted into the Sallisaw High School Hall of Fame. He was full of life, loved playing jokes on people but, was also a workaholic.
Taken from the Tulsa World -- December 3, 1995, Sallisaw
Gus Fullbright, Jr. gave this eastern OK community all he had to give. For 47 years he gave it his time, his energy, his devotion, his heart and his soul. In the end, he gave it his life.
More than a year has passed since the volunteer firefighter, mailman, businessman, former school board member, baseball coach, and devoted father and husband died from injuries received in an explosion at a fire he was fighting.
On Saturday the community did what it could to give something back to the late fire chief -- it named the town's fire station after him and announced the creation of a college scholarship in his memory.
"His wife, Susan, said Gus would have been pleased if he could have seen this," said Mayor George Glenn. "I told her I thought he probably can."
Fullbright died at Tulsa's Hillcrest Medical Center September 28, 1994, following a 15-day battle for his life after receiving second and third degree burns over 80 percent of his body at a house fire on September 13. The injuries were the result of a car's gas tank exploding, spraying burning gas on firefighters standing nearby. Fullbright was the closest and the most severely injured. Six other firefighters who were injured have recovered and returned to duty.
One of the 15 volunteers firefighters who responded to the fire was Fullbright's son, Michael, 27, who also is a full-time firefighter in nearby Fort Smith, AR. At Saturday's dedication Michael Fullbright presented a firefighter buckle to his mother, Susan, 48. Fullbright was a volunteer from May 1974 until his death.
Choking back tears, Michael told the fiends who gathered at the ceremony that his father was "the greatest fireman who ever lived."
A memorial plaque was placed at the entry to the fire station.
Firefighter Mark Dooty presented Fullbright's widow with a clock, representing time Fullbright spent with the fire department.
Glenn noted that as Sallisaw continues to grow, it is inevitable that the fire department also will grow. He vowed that each new Fire Station No. 1 that is built in the future will continue to bear the name Gus Fullbright, Jr.
City Councilor Debbie Cheek Sparks said a special fund set up in Fullbright's name after the accident received almost $40,000 in donations from across the country. After all bills were paid, she noted, more than $10,000 remains in the account. That money has been used to create the Sallisaw Fire Chief Gus E. Fullbright Jr. Memorial Scholarship. The scholarship will be for eligible students who are attending Carl Albert State College, which has a branch campus in Sallisaw in addition to the main campus in Poteau.
Susan Fullbright, who teaches high school in Sallisaw and recently elected to the city council, said her late husband was one of a kind. "He loved Sallisaw, the fire department, and politics," she said. "He was always out there doing something. He lived more in 47 years than most do in 80. He didn't believe in sitting back and griping about things. He believed in doing." "We're still adjusting to his death. But there are parts of him in his children and grandchildren."
In addition to Michael, the couple had a son, Gary, 25, and a daughter, Jennifer, 24. They also had two grandchildren and a third is expected soon.
Susan Fullbright recalled how, more than 20 years earlier, her husband became a firefighter. At the time, she said, he was working at a Sallisaw convenience store in addition to working for the post office. He wanted to be a firefighter in the worst way, but he knew that being accepted at the department would not be easy. Other members of the department must vote on whether to accept an applicant.
On the night the firefighters were to vote on Fullbright's application he was working at the convenience store and a car in the parking lot caught on fire. "He called the fire department and then started putting out the fire," said Mrs. Fullbright. Firefighters arrived moments later and completed the job and then returned to the station and voted to accept her husband's application as its newest volunteer.
At the time of his death he had been the department's chief for two years.