A scholarship is being created in memory of Naomi “Roni” Fuller, a long-time math instructor whom colleagues describe as a wonderful storyteller and dedicated teacher.

The Math Department is working with the DVC Scholarship Office to establish a scholarship. For those interested in contributing, they can write out a check to the DVC Foundation, with “Naomi Fuller Scholarship” in the memo line, according to Rachel Westlake, dean of math and computer science.

Fuller, 56, died unexpectedly Feb. 20. The Inquirer was unable to confirm the cause or place of her death.

Fuller, who began teaching part time at DVC in fall of 1993, was currently teaching two sections of Math 120. She also taught at Laney College in Oakland.
 

Students were informed of Fuller’s death by the department chair, who also introduced the instructor replacing her. Counselors went to each class to help students in need of someone to talk to, said Rachel Westlake, dean of math and computer sciences.

“She was always very friendly and welcoming to me,” said Cheryl Haynes, the division’s senior administrative secretary. “She loved to tell stories and loved her students and was a very wonderful teacher.”
 

Fellow instructor Leslie Month described Fuller as “dedicated to her students” and a mentor to other part-time instructors.
 

Month shared a story about how Fuller saved another teacher’s life by coming to her home on a day she didn’t show up for school. When the teacher appeared disoriented and wouldn’t let her in, Fuller had the door broken open. Once at the hospital, the teacher was diagnosed with a brain tumor and underwent surgery.

“It was really because she cared so much that she did that,” Month said. “She was just that kind of person.”
 

Colleagues also talked about Fuller’s love for mystery novels and painting.

According to the pamphlet given at Fullers memorial, written by her brother and fellow instructor Peter Fuller, She was born on Oct. 11, 1953 in Berkeley, Calif. Her parents were missionaries to Hong Kong at the time, and she was born during a furlough year.

Fuller moved often as a child and by her senior year of high school had lived in Hong Kong, Texas, California, Saigon, Bangkok, Singapore and Oregon.

She earned a bachelor’s degree in math from the University of the Pacific in Stockton and a master’s degree in statistics from University of Florida in Jacksonville.

Contact Julie George at [email protected]