Lives Filled With Pranks, Devotion to Boy Scouts : Twins, 80, Rarely Apart Until One Died

L.A. Times Archives

Jan. 2, 1988 12 AM PT

Associated Press

QUINCY, Mass. — Until Buell Fuller died last week at age 80, he and his identical twin, John, were separated only twice in their lives: once when John preceded Buell at birth by two minutes, and a second time three decades later when Buell joined the armed services for two years.

The two never married and lived with their mother until she died 20 years ago. They slept in twin beds in the same bedroom, dressed in identical clothes every day and drove matching mini-vans. They also ate identical breakfasts every morning: half a banana, 20 raisins, a glass of orange juice and a cup of coffee.

John Fuller said he began to prepare for his brother’s death last summer when Buell moved into a nursing home. He visited him every day for three hours and was with him when he died of complications from a brain aneurism just days after the twins’ 80th birthday.

“I said to him, ‘Do you want something more to eat?’ and he said, ‘No, I’m pooped,’ and he slumped over and died,” Fuller said. “I think it was good that he went quickly like that.”

Fuller Remains Upbeat

Since then, except for “some of the littlest things that trip you up and make the tears roll,” Fuller has remained upbeat, a trait the twins shared.

Fuller talks gleefully about a life that sounds like a grand adventure, filled with the kind of games and pranks that only twins can play, games the Fullers continued long into adulthood.

“At the funeral, the reverend said we never grew up,” said Fuller, who often refers to himself and his brother in the present tense. “That’s true. We’re young in mind. So many people stay in just their own generation, but Buell and I kept in touch with young people.”

Fuller recounted the many times the twins fooled others about which twin was which, a practice they enjoyed even while working together at Northeast Airlines. John Fuller was a mail manager and Buell was an instrument technician until they both retired 25 years ago.

Sources of Amusement

The twins turned even mundane tasks into sources of amusement. Every year, they designed their own Christmas cards depicting two elves nicknamed “Number One and Number Two.” John, “because of my two minutes’ seniority,” was “Number One.”

Photographs of the twins over the years invariably show them in identical outfits.

“The person who got up first every morning decided what we would wear,” said Fuller, who added that they never fought. “If we couldn’t get two of something, we wouldn’t buy it.”

The twins’ devotion to each other was matched only by their lifelong dedication to the Boy Scouts. When they were 12, they became the nation’s first twin Eagle Scouts.

John Fuller still directs three Boy Scout troops and leads Scout camp-outs. Until several years ago, the twins often drove a group of Boy Scouts out West on camping vacations in the 24-foot camper still parked in their backyard.

‘Plenty of Girlfriends’

Fuller had his brother’s body dressed in his full Scout uniform and plans to scatter his ashes over a Boy Scout camp near Cape Cod, where the two often camped with Scout troops.

Fuller said the twins “had plenty of girlfriends” when they were younger but never married because “of the type of work we did and our schedule.”

“We figured that if you went to a weekend party and spent $50 on you and your date, you could use that same money and take 10 boys on a camping trip,” Fuller said.

Fuller said he and his brother were continually busy with their Boy Scout work and many church events.

“If you keep occupied, you keep out of trouble,” said Fuller, pointing out many projects in progress around his living room. “I have enough to do now to keep me busy for the next 20 years.”

Fuller said he cries rarely over the loss of his twin and only has trouble “sometimes at night when I wake up and my mind starts to race.” Otherwise, he said, he lives much the same way he did before his brother’s death.

Only breakfast has changed. “Now instead of having just half a banana, I have a whole one,” said Fuller, “and I’m putting weight on because of it.”