Carl Duane Fullbright: 1942-2024 

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• Carl Duane Fullbright, Oct. 17, 1942, to June 15, 2024.

On June 15, 2024, after a 23-year-long disagreement with prostate cancer, Carl Duane Fullbright passed away in his Arcata home in the comfort of family and friends. Born Oct. 17, 1942, to Omar and JV Fullbright in Los Angeles, California, Carl grew up in Pico Rivera with his parents and younger brother, Harrol, graduating from Sierra High School in 1960. Carl was an athlete who played football, ran track, wrestled and surfed countless Southern California beaches. After one too many moving violations, Carl ended up in front of a judge, who "suggested" that he enlist in the military. Convinced, he joined the U.S. Air Force, serving at multiple posts, including Cambria, California and Kotzebue, Alaska. Carl considered these days as pivotal to his life because it was here that he "opened up a book and found that I had a brain."

Upon returning home, this epiphany led him to attend University of California at Irvine, where he graduated with honors, and ultimately to a rewarding career in medicine. Graduating from the USC Keck School of Medicine in 1970, Carl became one of the first board certified emergency room physicians in the United States at Long Beach Community Hospital. It was there and at West Anaheim Medical Center that he met a group of physicians who became his lifelong friends. During this time he also met the love of his life, Anita. In 1980, Carl and Anita moved to the Central Coast, where he continued his medical career at General Hospital in San Luis Obispo, served as the San Luis Obispo County director of emergency services, and began work as a physician at the Cal Poly San Luis Obispo Student Health Center. Carl also nurtured and cherished time with Anita and their four daughters, taking them on numerous adventures canoeing in Morro Bay, hiking sand dunes, and going to Avila Hot Springs.

Ten years later, drawn to the beauty of the redwoods and the North Coast, Carl took a job at the Student Health Center at Humboldt State University, serving as director during part of his tenure. Valuing the challenge and impact it provided, he also continued his role as an ER physician at Redwood Memorial and Mad River Community hospitals, ultimately retiring in 2002. Though an expert diagnostician with a vast understanding of medicine, Carl's joy and focus centered on developing connections with patients and providing personalized healthcare. He flourished working at the university health centers because he loved interacting with the students. This ability to make and sustain genuine relationships meant that he always had a friend, and time for that friend, wherever he went. From an early age, his grandchildren noticed that wherever they went — whether at the Co-Op, Starbucks or the beach — he would always end up deep in conversation with someone, even strangers. "Boppy knows everybody!" they would joke.

Carl lived a rich life full of adventure, play, and a deep appreciation for music, art, and food. A lifelong surfer, he was a member of the North Swell Surfing Association, where he made countless friends and memories. Throughout his life, Carl would venture to his favorite spots at the Jetty or his beloved Camel Rock to check the swell, which way the wind was blowing, and who was in the lineup. Even when standing on shore, his spirit was out among the waves. After retiring, Carl and Anita fulfilled a lifelong dream of spending summers living on their sailboat in Hawaii. They returned to Humboldt full of the Aloha Spirit that characterized their life together: loving, generous, and fun. Life was never boring with Carl, and many of his grandchildren's most cherished memories involve spending time with him, combing the shore for driftwood, crab shells, or walking sticks, making music together, or following his neon orange baseball cap as he maneuvered through the farmer's market.

Carl was a man who put his loved ones at the center of everything he did. He leaves behind an extended network of family and friends bound by their love for him and strengthened by the depth of their memories. Preceded in death by his father, JV Fullbright, he is survived by his wife Anita; mother, Omar; brother Harrol and wife Pat; daughters Kirsten and husband Carl, Monika, Katie and husband Brian, and Jennifer; his nine grandchildren, Hanna, Kyle, Brienna, Peter, Leah, Nathan, Olivia, John, and Ben, along with three great-grandchildren, Beck, Junie, and Addie; as well as countless relatives and friends whose lives he touched. The family gives special thanks to Carl's oncologist from the start, Celestia Higano, MD, and dear friends Bill Hoopes, Jim Sanders, and Kurt Wendelyn, MD and his wife, Chris.

Carl Duane Fullbright was loved by all who knew him. His kind heart, generosity and sense of humor made everyone love being around him, for he had the rare gift of making anyone he was with feel special and cared for, and he did so with the utmost sincerity.