Roy Lee Fuller

Roy Lee Fuller, age 94, passed peacefully, surrounded by family, on February 20, 2022, from complications due to a recent fall. He was born on March 25, 1927 in Abilene, Texas to Mary Gertrude and Roy Cox Fuller, the 2nd of four children. In 1944, after graduating from Abilene High School, he served in both the Army Air Corps and the Navy Air Corps during WWII. Directly after graduating from Hardin Simmons University in 1947, Roy went to work as a mathematician for Geophysical Services Inc. (GSI), the predecessor of Texas Instruments (TI), where he started out looking for oil in the swamps of Louisiana. He married his first wife, Mary, in 1950 and worked for Humble Oil and Enco (now Exxon) in the 1950’s and 1960’s, in Midland, Texas and Anaheim, California. After accepting an offer to return to the GSI division of TI in Dallas in 1965, Roy worked his way up to become a Vice-President of the company.

In 1980, with his four children grown, he married Pat Collins, who had three grown children, forming a dynamic blended family. It was a match made in Heaven. They took on a TI assignment in Rio de Janeiro for one year, where Roy managed oil exploration activities for Southern Latin America. What a honeymoon! He took early retirement in 1982, and then the fun began. They owned and operated Fuller’s True Value Hardware store in McKinney for five years. He then served as Chairman of the Board for McKinney Chamber of Commerce. He developed the first Small Business Development Center office for Collin College. Next was a venture in buying and managing small warehouses. In the early 90’s they sold their home and hit the road for two years traveling in a truck and fifth-wheel throughout the lower 48 states, Canada and Alaska. Back home in Dallas, they bought a new home and he started buying and selling rural land, an endeavor he loved and engaged in for the next 20 years. He was able to raise cows, ride his horses and buy lots of farm equipment. He was a renaissance man with many gifts and talents. Roy excelled at everything he did, except perhaps retirement. In 2020, after moving to a senior living facility and much to Pat’s chagrin, he bought his last farm property selling it in 2021 at the age of 94. Roy was musically gifted and maintained a lifelong love of music. He had a wonderful singing voice and sang in many church choirs. He played a mean clarinet and was pretty good on the piano. He had a repertoire of corny jokes on every subject and he told them whether you wanted him to or not. He was a fun, easygoing man. He was the beloved patriarch of our family; a creative and wonderful problem solver, providing sage advice to family and friends throughout his life. He will be missed dearly and the world will never be the same without him.

He is preceded in death by son John David Fuller; stepdaughter Nancy Loquercio; sister Aletha Fuller; brother J. Frank Fuller and first wife Mary G. Fuller. Roy is survived by his wife Pat and children LeeAnne Gilman (Gil), Kay Fuller (Sally), Glynda Fuller; stepchildren Daniel Loquercio (Debbie) and Teri Norton (Larry); eight grandchildren, six great-grandchildren and dear brother, Dr. David Fuller.

Memorial services will be at 3:00 PMCST, Tuesday March 1st at Highland Park United Methodist Church Sanctuary, 3300 Mockingbird Lane, Dallas, Texas 75205. The service will be livestreamed: https://online.brushfire.com/hpumc/funeral/

In lieu of flowers memorials may be made to EQUUS Foundation, www.equusfoundation.org, (an organization that ensures the comfort and dignity of America’s horses) or a charity of your choice.