Dee Jay Fuller

Dee Jay Fuller

November 27, 1932 - May 9, 2020

The Winds have welcomed you with softness.

The Sun has blessed you with its warm hands.

You have flown so high and so well that God joined you in your laughter

and set you gently back again into the loving arms of Mother Earth.

Those who knew DJ can attest to his knack for changing any conversation into a conversation about aviation. Flying was his life. As a child he drew pictures of airplanes. As a teen growing up in Texas, he washed people's airplanes in exchange for flying lessons. After high school he decided to enlist in the armed forces and not surprisingly he chose the U.S. Air Force. During this time, he married and started a family with his first wife; together they had four children. DJ also enjoyed music and earned his degree in it from Texas Tech, but aviation won out. He flew many types of aircraft over the course of his career, including hot air balloons. He also shared his passion and knowledge with others as a flight instructor.

In his later years, he met his current wife, Michelle, and they married in 1996. After retiring, he kept himself busy golfing and building an experimental kit airplane. When his health began to slow him down and flying was no longer possible, he developed an interest in watching the birds visiting the feeders in his backyard. In his final weeks, he would sit on the porch swing gazing at the hummingbirds doing their elaborate swoops and dives and get a far away look in his eyes. Ask him what he was thinking about, he would reply, "Oh, about when I used to fly...." More often than not a story about his time in the F5, "The most beautiful aircraft built," followed.

My sweet husband, Dee Jay Fuller, passed away in the early hours of May 9, 2020, slipping his earthly bonds and making his final flight heavenward. He was loved so very much and will be missed more than words can say.

Dee Jay is survived by his wife Michelle Fuller, sons Don and Dale Fuller and sisters Donna Langehenning and Gwen Farrell. He was preceded by his first wife, Cathrine, daughters Carol Fuller and Shirley Feather and sister Wanda Hudgins.

A special thanks to Nurse Susan from Valor Hospice and Dr. S. Dev of the Southern Arizona VA Healthcare System. Your efforts, kindness and care meant so much.

A celebration of life will be held at a later date.

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