A Fuller education
at St. Jerome School

By Tom Waring
Times Staff Writer

Noted writer Charles Fuller Jr. recalls moving to Holme Circle in the summer of 1979 and enrolling his son David as a sixth-grader at St. Jerome Elementary School.
Fuller was among the volunteer parents who watched the students during lunch and recess in the schoolyard. He recalls his son receiving a quality education for three years.
"St. Jerome’s was quite wonderful for him," he said.
The elder Fuller, who won a Pulitzer Prize for drama in 1982 for A Soldier’s Play, lived on Longford Street with his wife Miriam until she passed away last December from complications of multiple sclerosis.
A nurse, Miriam Fuller insisted that David and his older brother Charles III receive a good education. They attended the Gesu School, a Catholic school at 17th and Thompson streets, before the family moved. While Charles III graduated from Gesu and Roman Catholic, David went on to Father Judge (Class of 1982).
After learning that St. Jerome wanted to refurbish its library, Fuller decided to become a benefactor.
"I believe kids should read," he said. "I’ve been very fortunate, and I had an opportunity to give to the church."
Over the summer, the St. Jerome parish family replaced the carpets, painted the walls, organized the books, decorated and made other renovations to the library.
Last week, the parish welcomed back Fuller, his two sons and daughter-in-law Cathy to check out the new look.
In honor of Fuller’s literary achievements and in appreciation of the monetary contribution, the school unveiled a sign reading "The Fuller Library" over the entrance door to the library.
Student council officers and representatives attended the ceremony, and the rest of the students watched on closed-circuit television.
Fuller was humbled by the honor and immediately thought of his wife.
"Miriam would be proud," he said. "She was the inspiration. She felt very strongly that we should always support reading and education."
David Fuller, who lives with his family in his childhood home, can vouch for that.
"My mom was a stickler for education, reading, learning and staying out of trouble," he said. "She pounded that into Charles and myself."
The Rev. Joseph Graham, pastor at St. Jerome for 17 years, blessed the library and said a prayer that all who visit gain wisdom from their reading or studying.
Graham is grateful for the gift from Fuller.
"Mr. Fuller has always been supportive of Catholic education," he said.
Fuller grew up in North Philadelphia and attended the former St. Elizabeth Elementary School at 23rd and Berks streets and graduated from Roman Catholic. The Fullers were a rare black Catholic family in a neighborhood of Irish-Catholics.
After noticing that Roman’s library had no books by black authors, he vowed to become a writer.
Fuller wrote a number of plays, but none approached the success of A Soldier’s Play, which told the story of the racially charged search by a black captain for the murderer of his black sergeant on a Louisiana Army base in 1944.
The play was produced in 1984 as a film, A Soldier’s Story. Fuller wrote the screen adaptation, which was nominated for an Oscar, a Golden Globe and a Writers Guild of America award.
Fuller, who has worked as a movie producer and written short fiction and screenplays, has received grants from the Rockefeller Foundation and the National Endowment for the Arts.
Over the years, the Fullers had homes in California, New York and Toronto.
Today, Fuller lives in Center City and likes to travel. Though semi-retired, he is writing children’s books. He started one more than 30 years ago when his children were younger.
"Now that they’re both married with kids," he said, "I decided to finish the book." ••
Reporter Tom Waring can be reached at 215-354-3034 or twaring@phillynews.com