Curtis "Gene" Fuller, retired pastor, evangelist, and district superintendent, passed away January 27. He was 84.

Fuller was born January 30, 1931, in Union Springs, Alabama. He accepted Jesus as his personal savior at a holiness camp when he was 14 and began preaching at 16 on the circuit of churches in southern Alabama. He had a radio show in Alabama at age 17 where he preached the gospel on the air. 

He later attended Kletzing College in Iowa where he met his wife, Evelyn Schultz. They married on August 7, 1952, just before he transferred to Olivet Nazarene College ( now University) in Illinois for his last two years of college. 

On May 19, 1985, Southern Nazarene University honored him with an honorary Doctor of Divinity degree. 

Fuller was ordained in the Church of the Nazarene in 1952. He and his wife, Evelyn, served the denomination for more than 64 years. Over the years, he organized or helped organize 41 churches and missions. He pastored four churches for a total of 14 years in Streator, Illinois; Pensacola, Florida; Birmingham, Alabama, and Springfield, Illinois and served as district superintendent for Virginia, West Texas, and Central Florida. He was one of the youngest district superintendents ever appointed at age 37 and one of the longest serving at 32 years. When he retired, he served as executive pastoral consultant for his son, Pastor Mark Fuller, at CrossRoads Church of the Nazarene in Arizona and Grove City Church of the Nazarene in Ohio. Gene was also the author of The Hallelujah March, which chronicles the 75 years of the Church of the Nazarene in west Texas. 

Gene and Evelyn have two children,  Mark, who is married to Sue Fuller and is pastor of Grove City Church of the Nazarene, and Jeanne Mowry, who is married to Jimmy Mowry. In addition, they have five grandchildren: Lindsay Gibson, Courtney Gaston, Kelly Fuller, and Tyler and Travis Mowry, and three great-grandchildren: Ellie and Caleb Gibson and Francis Mowry.

A celebration of life will be held at 10:30 a.m. February 6 at Crossroads Church of the Nazarene in Chandler, Arizona.

--NCN News submissions