Donald B. Fullerton (July 6, 1892 – April 9, 1985) was a Christian missionary and teacher who founded the Princeton Christian Fellowship, called the Princeton Evangelical Fellowship until 2017, and served with it from 1931 until 1980. He was noted for convincing many students at Princeton University of what he saw as the truth of the Christian faith. Arthur Glasser also credited his conversion to Dr. Fullerton, through hearing him speak at the Keswick Bible Conference. In addition to his evangelistic efforts, Dr. Fullerton was a major spiritual influence on many students including Paul Pressler, a major figure in the Conservative resurgence of the Southern Baptist Convention, and the noted Reformed theologian John Frame. He was a member of the Princeton University Class of 1913 and received an honorary Doctorate of Ministry from Grace Theological Seminary.
Student, soldier, and missionary
Student days
Dr. Fullerton was the son of Henry S. Fullerton, a Wall Street Broker and country gentleman, and was a member of the Princeton University Class of 1913. At Princeton, Dr. Fullerton served as a counsellor for the Princeton Summer Camp, which served boys from poor neighborhoods in Princeton, Philadelphia, and New York City. The camp was funded by the Philadelphian Society, an evangelical society on campus whose later demise led to the founding of the Princeton Evangelical Fellowship. Fullerton was also a member of the English Dramatic Association, starring as Adriana in Shakespeare's The Comedy of Errors and receiving accolades as Abigail in Marlowe's The Jew of Malta. As Princeton was an all-male college at the time the female parts were played, in true Elizabethan fashion, by men. The review in the Daily Princetonian wrote:
The audience did not allow anything humorous to escape it; and once in a while it fairly howled over lines such as the one which announced that Abigail, quite mature as played by Fullerton, was but fourteen years of age. However, the performance was by no means marred by such unexpected outbursts, and after the first few minutes of the performance the audience even took Abigail seriously. Fullerton, in this pathetic role of the unfortunate heroine, had one of the most difficult parts to play, and he not only kept it from appearing ridiculous to his fellow students, which is in itself a feat, but he also played it well.
World War One
After the entry of the United States into the First World War, Dr. Fullerton trained with a number of other Princeton alumni at Fort Myer. He served as a 2nd Lieutenant in the 313th Field Artillery whose six batteries were equipped with the famous French 75s. The unit participated in the Meuse-Argonne Offensive during which it was engaged in combat without rest or relief for 47 days and suffered 164 casualties, more than 11% of its soldiers. While serving with Battery A, three of Fullerton's men were killed on 14 October 1918 near Nantillois when a German shell hit their gun. While serving with Battery E two of his men were killed on 1 November 1918 by shell fragments in the fight near the Grande Carrée Ferme, north of Bantheville.
On 11 November 1918, the unit's last day in combat and the day of the Armistice, Fullerton intrigued to procure sufficient hay for the 313th Artillery's horses from a recalcitrant infantry officer: It was on the 11th that we paid our first visit to Ferme Boulaine. Some one had discovered there a barn full of hay, and as our horse were short of forage we began to carry it over, but presently an infantry officer who had two horses stabled there placed a guard over it and refused to let us have it. We never found out exactly what his reason was, for surely there was hay enough for all of us, but when E Battery encountered the difficulty Lieutenant Fullerton solved it for the time being by arranging with the infantry officer to let each of his drivers carry over an arm load of hay. The infantry officer thoughtlessly forgot to ascertain how many drivers E Battery had or how they might be identified and as a result we drew all the hay we needed.