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Monday, November 22, 1999     Page: 2A, 5A

Frances A. Fuller, Dalton, passed away Saturday at home. She was the widow
of Mortimer Bartine Fuller Jr., former president of International Salt Co.,
who passed away in 1989. Born in 1910, in Scranton, she was the daughter of
the late Frances Mears Acker and Warren Tampa Acker. She attended Scranton
Country Day School, Rosemary Hall, Greenwich, Conn.; and Smith College,
Northampton, Mass. Mrs. Fuller was an accomplished horsewoman, taught by her
father, who was a Cavalry Officer in World War II. She competed at Madison
Square Garden and won many championships throughout her school years. After
marriage she continued to ride competitively, often teamed with her husband.
She was a member of the Church of the Epiphany, Glenburn, for over 60 years.
She served as an alternate delegate to the Republican National Convention in
1952. Throughout her life, she was an active volunteer and served on the
boards and as an officer of many community organizations and agencies – among
them: the Junior League of Scranton, the American Red Cross, the Visiting
Nurses Association and the Lackawanna County Division of the Pennsylvania
Mental Health Association, and most notably, the Friendship House. In 1960 she
joined the Board of Directors of that organization and for almost 30 years she
served in various capacities including that of chair, “Her deep interest in
children’s mental issues coupled with her state-wide visibility as an advocate
for troubled youngsters resulted in (this organization) becoming a leader in
providing varied specialized mental health services to the emotionally
disturbed, abused and disadvantaged children of northeastern Pennsylvania.”
In 1979 an award, named for her, was established to publicly recognize “a
person whose skills and efforts have touched the children of Friendship House
in a way that broadens their horizons, improves the quality of their lives and
whose devotion to the goals and ideals of organizations such as ours embodies
an enthusiasm and selfless service to the children.” She herself composes the
citation and participated in choosing recipients. In 1986 a new facility was
dedicated and named for her in honor of her long-standing commitment to the
Friendship House. In 1973 she accompanied her husband to East Africa where
they retraced, with cameras, the route he had taken in 1930. To honor her
husband’s lifelong interest in the world of natural history, she recently
established the Overlook Estate Foundation, Inc., a private, charitable
foundation to recognize and promote efforts to study, understand and maintain
the natural beauty of the Abingtons. She has often quoted her husband as
saying, “This community gave me so much, I want to try and give back in part
what I was given.” She felt the same and worked tirelessly to hold on to the
Fuller property in North Abington Township, where the foundation now operates.
She is survived by two daughters, Patricia Acker Fuller, Providence, R.I.;
Frances Fuller Gunster, Dalton; son, Mortimer B. Fuller III, Rye, N.Y.; eight
grandchildren; seven great-grandchildren; several nieces and nephews. Funeral
services will be at 10 a.m. Wednesday in the Church of the Epiphany, Glenburn,
with the Rev. F. John Kelly, Rector, officiating. Interment will be private.
The family will receive friends at the family home from 3 to 6 p.m. Tuesday.
At the family’s request, in lieu of flowers, memorial donations may be made to
the Friendship House, 1615 E. Elm St., Scranton, 18505; the Overlook
Foundation, Inc., Box 255, Dalton, 18414; or to the Church of the Epiphany,
Glenburn. Arrangements are by the Howard J. Snowdon Funeral Home, 1810
Sanderson Ave., Scranton.