PRAIRIE VIEW, Texas (February 14, 2020) – When it comes to finding love at Prairie View, Roy G. Perry College of Engineering Professor John Fuller, Ph.D., P.E., and Sherylle Hackney-Fuller have a unique story that has been unfolding since 1967.
The self-professed country boy from Hempstead arrived on “The Hill” in 1965, and the lovely lady from Lufkin came in 1966.
“We didn’t meet until my junior year,” John said. “We met off-campus at a little get-together,” he laughed as his bride of nearly 48 years picked up the story.
“The engineers had aced this test. And a friend of mine took me to this party they were giving off-campus. And that’s where I met him. But the ironic thing is the next day he didn’t know me,” Sherylle quipped as her husband sat next to her, smiling in agreement.
“He was coming from the engineering building, and I was going to the dining hall. And I stopped and said, ‘Hi!’ And he spoke,” she recalled. “And I said, ‘Do you remember me [from the off-campus party last night]?’ ‘No!’ [He answered.] “After I reminded him of where we met, he said, ‘Fine.’ I turned around, and we walked on together. And we’ve been walking together ever since.”
Sherylle said, from that moment forward, they were a couple, and they would be together. And soon, distance would test that togetherness.
“It was almost his senior year because we had less than a year together,” said Sherylle, who is a Budget Specialist I in the Texas Undergraduate Medical Academy. “We got to know each other off-and-on. My friend’s boyfriend in engineering was his best friend. So, most of it was through communication, because he had graduated. I was still here at Prairie View. So, he kept me!” she laughed.
After John graduated, Sherylle became a member of Phi Beta Lambda, and through pledging, each candidate had to perform a talent. She sang a love song dedicated to him.
“Also, as a member of the Prairie View Chamber Choir under Dr. Henry, I was one of four selected as a Raylett to Ray Charles singing “Georgia” and also performing with Quincy Jones,” she said.
Long-distance Love
“I went to work for the Bendix Corporation in Kansas City and got my Oldsmobile 442 automobile. And we just communicated back and forth,” John added.
As for the “442” car, it was “the” car for PVAMU engineering graduates in the late 1960s and early 1970s. And Sherylle loved the ride just as much as John.
“And he would come down from Kansas City. And when the engineers came for homecoming, they all showed up in their 442s. Hey! Hey! Hey!” she said laughingly.
Being some 700-plus miles away in Missouri in a big city, the distance didn’t destroy the connection between these two Panthers.
“I had a couple of years as a bachelor there. I’m an old country boy, so after that one year in Kansas City, I said ‘Hey, that’s enough of this,’” John spoke about his decision to make Sherylle Hackney his Mrs. Fuller.
Just like that, John decided he would marry Sherylle. He shopped for the ring in Kansas City. However, he chose a different way to deliver the engagement ring.
Special Delivery
“When I went home for Christmas—back to Lufkin—certified mail had come to the house, which my mother accepted,” Sherylle said about the package from Kansas City. “And she brought it to me, and she said, ‘Now this came in the mail for you.’
He never said, ‘Will you marry me?’ I don’t think even as of today he’s asked me to marry him. I just knew what that ring meant. And that was it,” she said, as John nodded in agreement.
John did follow the tradition of meeting the parents during their pre-marriage time together. And her parents, who owned a small grocery store, knew their daughter had chosen wisely.
The Fuller children pictured left to right: Sharlotte Michelle, Sonja LaTrell, Shadia Rochelle and Shara Danielle
“They were pleased that he was an engineer. ‘Oh, my goodness! Yes!’” Sherylle remembered about their approval.
Saying “I Do”
With a non-traditional courtship and engagement, the bride-to-be handled the planning of the traditional wedding. And, being the organizer that she is, Sherylle had only two tasks for John to complete for their wedding.
“All I had to do was give him the date to show up. And he let his parents know, and they came. And that’s the way it went,” she said. And again, John nodded in agreement.
So, on June 12, 1972, Sherylle Hackney and John Fuller married. Soon after, she joined him in Kansas City.
Commitment Through Career Change
With employee support from the Bendix Corporation, John enrolled in evening classes at the University of Missouri Kansas City (UMKC), taking electrical engineering master’s degree-level courses. At the time, UMKC did not offer a degree in electrical engineering. So, after a year of taking evening courses, the Fullers moved to Columbia, Missouri, so that John could complete his degree at the University of Missouri in Columbia. With the persuasion of his academic advisors, he continued and earned a doctorate in electrical engineering. While completing the doctorate, John taught undergraduate classes in electrical engineering, and from the reaction of his students, discovered a new career.
The completion of his degree opened up the opportunity for “Doctor Fuller” to assume his dream job as a professor at his alma mater, and later, for them both to return to their home state of Texas and be close to family. After returning to Prairie View, Sherylle continued her education by obtaining a master’s degree in counseling and guidance.
Unstated, Steady Love
Four daughters and eight grandchildren later, the Fullers’ loving partnership remains strong. It’s a steady love. When you see them together, their mutual adoration and support of one another are almost tangible. They complement each other organically.
Yet, both will tell you the phrase, “I love you,” is something they don’t have to say. They just know it and have lived it every day since meeting at Prairie View A&M in 1967. In the words of Mrs. Fuller, “It’s just a connection.”
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By Michael Douglas