Sackville Town Crier David Fullerton delivers the 2021 New Year’s Day message online. Fullerton served as town crier for 18 years from 2004-2022. Photo: Town video
David Fullerton’s three children remembered their father last week as a man who was passionate about politics, history, teaching, music and sports.
“Stick to your convictions,” former Sackville Town Councillor Merrill Fullerton quoted his father as saying during David’s funeral service at Sackville United Church July 18th on what would have been his 81st birthday.
Fullerton died on June 16th in the Drew Nursing Home. He had been suffering from Alzheimer’s.
In his eulogy, Merrill spoke about driving around town with his father during the 1987 provincial election campaign.
When Merrill, then a young boy, admired the attractive red Liberal signs that were popping up on lawns everywhere, David (known by his family and friends as Dave) shocked his son by saying he’d be supporting the candidate with the scarcer — and far homelier — orange signs.
“Politics should never be about fashion,” Dave told his son, though on election night Frank McKenna’s fashionable Liberals painted the electoral map red, winning every seat.
Merrill also recalled how his father deplored the racist attitudes of many New Brunswickers in 1990 when Mohawk protesters near the Quebec town of Oka engaged in a 78-day standoff with police and the Canadian army over the expansion of a golf course on land that contained an Indigenous burial ground.
“Always remember that the First Nations were among the first to enlist in World War Two to fight for our country,” Dave reminded everyone then.
“He had a strong sense of social justice,” Merrill said, adding that his father supported official bilingualism as a way of uniting the province’s two main linguistic communities.
Dave Fullerton also volunteered with the Sackville Refugee Response Coalition, sponsoring families fleeing war and persecution, because he believed Canada should always provide a safe haven.
‘Greasy Dave’
“Greasy Dave” lead singer of the Dipsticks. (Family photo)
Matthew Fullerton remembered his father’s passion for music, especially the Rolling Stones.
“He was born only eight days before Mick Jagger,” Matthew said, “and he was a rock star of sorts himself.”
As a “rock star” umpire with Sackville Minor Baseball, he said Dave made everyone laugh at his antics behind the plate.
As lead singer of the teacher band “Greasy Dave & the Dipsticks,” he entertained students during variety shows at Amherst Regional High School, where he taught social studies and history for more than 30 years.
“He was a funny and fun-loving father,” Matthew said.
He recalled how Dave was working part-time in the Mount Allison library, with plans to study library science at the University of Toronto, when he met his future wife Diane. He fell madly in love, abandoned any thoughts of faraway Toronto, and earned a teaching degree in Halifax instead.
Dave and Diane were married for almost 55 years.
‘Teaching, his true calling’
Dave’s daughter Kathryn remembered his love of teaching and how he took on the role of historic figures as he acted out their famous speeches.
“Teaching was his true calling,” she said, a thought echoed by several retired teachers who were part of the overflow crowd watching the funeral service in a packed Ducky’s pub.
David Fullerton, town crier with his late mother Marcie, early 2010s. (Family photo)
George Pugsley, who taught math and science at Amherst High, described Fullerton as popular with students and colleagues alike because he was open and outgoing with everyone.
“He was interested in whatever you were doing,” Pugsley said, “and it didn’t have to be one of his main interests either.”
“I would say that Dave was special,” said Dale Fawthrop, who served as head of the English department at Amherst High during the 80s and 90s when David Fullerton was head of history.
“He loved his job, he loved his students, and he put his heart and soul and all his energy into the classroom, and the students learned and they loved being there,” Fawthrop said.
“My three children all had him as a teacher,” he added. “He would energize the students and they loved his sense of humour and the way he presented ideas.”
Passion and community spirit
Everyone at Ducky’s had a story about Dave Fullerton, with recurring themes of Dave’s kindness, humour, generosity, and his passion for life, community, and people.
Rick d’Entremont, who served as Amherst High vice principal until 2011, said he would have been the one to deal with any disciplinary problems in Dave Fullerton’s classroom.
“But there weren’t any,” he said. “Kids liked to be there and they liked to stay there.”
He added that after Fullerton retired from Amherst High in 2003, he recruited him to serve as a substitute teacher for four or five years, working one-on-one with kids with special needs.
“He loved that and they loved him,” d’Entremont said. “He had all the patience in the world working with those students.”
To read, David Fullerton’s full obituary, click here.
Dave Fullerton was born and grew up in this house at 362 Main St. in Middle Sackville. It is now the HQ for The New Wark Times
This comment is a tribute to Dave. He is an extraordinary example of how a little kindness and even a helping hand can shape our future. His help was crucial in launching my small business and touching off a resurgence of water craft sport in this province. Here’s the background:
In the 1990’s, people almost forgot the outdoors as a source of recreation. Chestnut Canoe company had collapsed. Of the many things mentioned about Dave, he was also a local entrepreneur who operated a sports shop mostly dedicated to soccer. Opening a small business is no mean feat. Dave gave me good solid advice. 1. Don’t expect to be a millionaire. 2. You better love the water because boats sink. (His sense of humour I didn’t share.)
Once SouthEast PaddleSports received its first shipment of Old Town Canoes and they were stacked like cord wood in the back yard, I was ecstatic. Old Town cared about two things: Loving their canoes and knowing the rivers of New Brunswick.
Then the first Kayak arrived. A Feathercraft K1 folding kayak made of aircraft quality aluminum and Neoprene Hypalon. Feathercraft always sold factory-direct much like Rad bikes. Immediately I went to Dave at his shop. The kayak had arrived and I had not anticipated that Feathercraft wanted to see their Kayak in a shop. I was in a panic.
“Well Wayne, put the Kayak on the shelf and take a picture,” he said with a wry smile.
The photo was taken of a solo kayak in a soccer store on a shelf. Being a kind person which he was, being a good sport which he was, and being a man who could
see the humour of a rubber kayak surrounded by terrestrial gear, he took the iconic picture. This ‘helping hand’ KICK STARTED a resurgence in small craft water activities in NB. I even had an order for a Hudson Bay Canoe from Montana. Remember these were the days my friends that famous brand names such as Tieken, Harry and Necky, Mike were being built in backyards and happy to have someone to promote their craft. In 2002, Alison Hughes an adventure writer came to Sackville to see the Julkier Lakes. She published PADDLING IN PARADISE ISBN 0-86492-340-6.
Thank you Dave from a grateful paddler and all my fellow paddlers. Truly a man who showed there is good side to the Butter Fly Effect.
“In the 1990’s, people almost forgot the outdoors as a source of recreation.” I’m so sorry to be critical of you Wayne… and yes, we did speak by phone once many years ago .. though you probably don’t remember now… this happens to me a lot around here… but… this is a highly suspect comment since all I see are people enjoying their rural lives in this province as they have for generations.. from hunting and fishing camps to ATVs and hiking and exploring and day trips to waterfalls and so much more.. surely you cannot be serious publishing a comment like that about people in the 1990s in this province.. why do you do it? You must realize how foolish this makes you look.
Interesting observation Ms. Cunliffe and you’re right about our past. I had my first glimpse of Muskrat Falls in 1948 and it stuck. This shouldn’t change a real life example of how an almost forgotten helping hand, a simple gesture perhaps, but nevertheless there was a ripple effect that changed my life and many others.
Perhaps the term resurgence was a bad choice and Renaissance, which is the embodiment of the past, a better one. What happened in Sackville all those years ago did boost the general public’s interest in outdoor adventure tourism. Premier Frank McKenna’s government financed adventure tourism. Hard to even imagine now.
Baymount Outdoor adventures helped start Canoe Kayak Adventures around the world. Southeast Paddle Sport helped a company in Croatia called Huckleberry Fin Tours with paddling skills.
Frank Mckenna bought two Blue kayaks (I looked shocked.) “Well,” he says, “a Liberal can like blue, Wayne!” (laughter!) Everyone wants a deal. Join Canoe New Brunswick and you get 10% off. He did. There was an immediate boost in membership taking safety courses. I think it is fair to say the ripple effect hasn’t ended.
I feel bad enough that Dave never got to hear this personally, but I think he would understand.
Canoe New Brunswick became CanoeKayak New Brunswick.
It’s just a wonderful example of the ripple effect and I wish in my dotage I had done a better job of capturing and expressing that. I have a picture taken by Dave and, truth to tell, it made all the difference.