In early July, Hendricks Chapel enjoyed a very special phone call. Syracuse alumni Dr. Hugh ’48 and Zola Fulmer ’50 were preparing for the 70th anniversary of their wedding ceremony at Hendricks Chapel. Hugh and Zola’s story unfolded through a series of conversations with chapel staff and represents the best of #OrangeLove stories.
Zola and Hugh Fulmer were married at Hendricks Chapel in 1952.
In 1947, as college students, Hugh and Zola, whose families hailed from Syracuse, spent most of their time on campus during the school year, then headed to their cabins in the Thousand Islands for the summer. Zola Jones was studying home economics while Hugh was working on a degree in cultural anthropology.
While they were both in the Thousand Islands for the summer, Hugh noticed Zola, who was working as a waitress at a local hotel. He thought she was the most beautiful girl he had ever seen in her life. However, in the style of the time, Hugh patiently waited until the following summer vacation to express his interest.
Hugh’s plan for a date had to be done correctly to be respectful. He contacted Millie Lou, the waitress supervisor, and asked if he could make an appointment with Zola Jones for a big dance on Wellesley Island. Millie Lou told him that he could try to make this very important connection.
But on the night of the dance, Hugh found out that Millie Lou had set him up with another girl. Zola had apparently already spoken and was attending the ball with someone else. Hugh saw Zola from across the room and remembered, “He was so close, yet so far away.”
Fortunately, Hugh, now 94, persisted. Returning to Syracuse the following semester, he got on the bus and immediately noticed that Zola was sitting next to an elderly woman. Hugh waited impatiently, hopefully, until the older woman got off the bus and he thoughtfully moved to her seat behind her. He cleverly asked, “Aren’t you one of the Jones girls?”
Zola, who often modeled for Syracuse publications and local drugstore ads, responded even more cleverly: “Aren’t you Hugh Fulmer?” It would seem that this story would be over pretty quickly after this obvious love-at-first-sight moment. However, it took her a clever pursuit of Hugh making seven phone calls over a four-month period before Zola could find time for a first date with him.
On their first date, Zola wore a red dress. Says Hugh: “She was a knockout. She just she blew my mind.” Her daughter Kim still has her mom’s first date dress. After that one occasion, they “stayed strong” and eventually began planning their wedding.
Zola was in home economics class with Ann Noble, the daughter of Hendricks Chapel Dean Charles Noble, who was also dating George Fulmer, Hugh’s older brother. While planning their wedding, they realized that they should get married at Hendricks Chapel. On July 12, 1952, family and friends gathered to celebrate Hugh and Zola’s exchange of vows at the spiritual heart of Syracuse University.
Zola and Hugh Fulmer
Zola became a professor of home economics while Hugh completed his medical internship. Hugh came from a long line of Syracuse Medical University graduates. His grandfather, Dr. George Price, graduated in 1888. His father, Herbert Clifford Fulmer, graduated as a general practitioner in 1917 and also served as editor of The Daily Orange. Hugh’s brother, Dr. George Price Fulmer, graduated from Syracuse Medical University just before him. Hugh was disappointed when SUNY Upstate Medical College took over Syracuse University’s medical school, making him a SUNY Upstate graduate, but he continued with his career, building an impressive resume over his decades of experience. experience.
After graduating from medical school, Dr. Fulmer was recruited for the korean war. He enrolled in the Air Force as a general medical officer and received additional training as a flight surgeon serving the families of flight personnel in Maine.
After the war, Hugh and Zola moved their sons to Arizona to treat tuberculosis patients on the Navajo Nation through the Navajo-Cornell Many Farm Field Health Research Project.
They stayed in Arizona for a couple of years before Hugh went back to school and received a Master of Public Health from Harvard University. Hugh’s dedication to public health and medicine, combined with his roots in cultural anthropology, brought him and his family to Malaysia when he joined the US Peace Corps.
Later, from 1960 to 1968, Dr. Fulmer was a professor at the new University of Kentucky School of Medicine, where he founded the first Department of Community Medicine in the country. Dr. Fulmer worked at the University of Massachusetts Medical School until 1983 and then concluded his last official medical position as Executive Director of the Center for Reactive Community Care in 2015.
Hugh and Zola, both 94, currently live in their family’s country house on Wellesley Island in the Thousand Islands. Their children and grandchildren visit frequently from all over the United States.
“Learning about Hugh and Zola is an important reminder that our Syracuse University campus community is full of extraordinary people. Whether in marriage, military service, public health, or home economics, those who faithfully contribute to something greater than themselves truly lead in serving our common good,” says the Rev. Brian Konkol, dean of Hendricks Chapel. . “We are honored that Hugh and Zola chose Hendricks Chapel for their wedding, and grateful that they continue to shape the history of Syracuse University.”
For more information on Hendricks Chapel, including weddings, visit chapel.syracuse.edu.