Pulitzer
winner at St. Jerome School
By Lou Baldwin
Special to The CS&T
PHILADELPHIA — Pulitzer prize winner Charles Fuller, the author
of “A Soldier’s Play,” never attended St. Jerome School
— but he was a lunch dad at the school while his son David was
a student there.
Young teens, often as not, are underwhelmed by their parents’
accomplishments, and so it was with young David, even though his father
is the only living Philadelphian to hold a Pulitzer for drama.
As a boy, David Fuller knew his father wrote the play about the effects
of racism in the U.S. military, which was based on the insights his
dad had gained as a serviceman in the U.S. Army.
But in April 1982, when he learned his father had won the Pulitzer for
the play, he thought: “That’s nice. He won a prize.”
The next day, his father’s award was announced at school at lunch-
time. “Then I knew it was something — when everybody clapped,”
David Fuller remembers. He was even more impressed later, when a CBS
news crew showed up at the school to interview his father.
The Fuller family moved into St. Jerome Parish from Gesu Parish in 1979,
when David was going into sixth grade, and his brother, Charles, was
attending Roman Catholic High School — as had their father.
“I went on to Father Judge and Xavier University, but I’m
still close to the parish,” David Fuller said. “St. Jerome’s
is a really good school, and I had some really great days here.”
Meanwhile, his playwright father has moved to Cathedral Parish after
the recent death of his wife, Miriam.
But the elder Charles Fuller returned to St. Jerome with both his sons
in early October, for the dedication of the school’s renovated
library, where a plaque has been hung honoring Miriam, and him.
“She [Miriam] was the inspiration for all that happened. She felt
strongly that we should support education and reading,” he said.
“She encouraged me to donate a gift to buy books and expand the
library.”
“Charlie is very supportive of Catholic education,” said
St. Jerome Pastor Father Joseph B. Graham, who blessed the renovated
library. “He always supported the school, and helped financially,
emotionally and morally. He is very much enthusiastic about education,
period — but Catholic education in particular.”
Miriam Fuller, he said, “was one of our most devoted parishioners.
She was in our church every single Sunday. I can show you exactly where
she sat.”
“We’re honored that Mr. Fuller has come here,” said
Alice McGee, vice principal of the 603-student school. “It’s
extremely important, and validates the work we are doing.”
The playwright’s visit also impressed St. Jerome’s students.
The student council attended the dedication ceremony, while the rest
of the students watched it on closed-circuit monitors in their classrooms.
“It’s a great honor,” said seventh-grader Brian Suchowierski.
“I read ‘A Soldier’s Play,’ and I think he’s
one of the best authors I’ve ever read.”
Lou Baldwin is a member of St. Leo Parish and a freelance writer.