by Richard Prior
Realty/Builderr Connection
Larry Fulton just isn’t the retiring sort.
“I guess I’m a Type A personality,” said Fulton. “I have to be busy, involved.
“My family says it would be impossible for me to retire. They believe I could play just so much golf.
“My wife says I definitely have to be out of the house.”
The 52-year-old Mandarin resident decided to go back to school in July 2001 and get another degree after 30 years in the U.S. Marine Corps.
Now, nearing graduation, he has been named president of the Northeast Florida Builders Association student chapter at the University of North Florida.
“I felt somewhat proud that my fellow students would want me in that position,” said Fulton, who is earning a bachelor’s degree in building and construction management.
In addition to promoting the management program, the chapter and its president, “try to involve the students and the members with the construction industry, especially the local construction industry,” he said. “We try to get them some background in construction, get them some contacts.”
The chapter also runs job fairs and seminars, gets students introduced to builders and has them “go out and help with construction and repairs of some of the homes.
“I think it’s working out good. I think we’re being well perceived here.”
Fulton, originally from Jackson, Miss., served 18 months in the Marine Corps after being drafted in 1969. He enrolled at Mississippi State University after his discharge, majoring in industrial engineering.
The Corps persuaded him to come back on active duty when he graduated. He retired as a colonel in July 2001.
Artillery was his specialty, but he was named station director for the Marine Security Guard Battalion, making him responsible for security at all the embassies around the globe.
“After a certain period, you pretty much end up with some type of high-level staff position,” said Fulton.
During postings at Quantico, Va., and with the Joint Chiefs of Staff at the Pentagon, Fulton helped develop concepts for how the Marine Corps would fight 20 years in the future.
“You look at the technology and work with the scientists and engineers,” he said. “So far, I’ve been pretty pleased with the direction we’ve gone.”
Considering today’s challenges with providing security at those stations, Fulton said, “I’ll leave that to the younger guys.”
Toward the end of his career, Fulton was named facility engineer for Marine Corps bases in Japan.
“In that job,” he said, “all of the construction side of the house came under me. I really enjoyed that.
“We were developing warehousing; building roads, dams and high-rise condominiums for housing for military and civilians. All the environmental issues came under me, too.”
Fulton’s stepson, Bill Pyburn, got into land development in the Jacksonville area about eight years ago, “and he convinced me that a lot of growth was going on, especially in the construction side. He said this would be a good second career.”
Fulton was also persuaded by his son-in-law, Mike Bourne, who earned a bachelor’s degree in building and construction management at the University of Florida.
After he graduates in December, Fulton will start his own construction business in the area and plans to get involved with “high-end custom homes.”
Today’s students, Fulton said, “in some ways seem to be a lot more focused. At least the ones I’m associating with are.
“They chose UNF because they have a tremendous opportunity to work in their career field, both residential and commercial construction. The whole time they’re in school, they’re usually employed.”
Before deciding on construction management, Fulton had considered teaching in the Junior ROTC programs in school.
“But after working closely on the construction side and having some contacts in the industry here, it seemed this would be a natural fit,” he said. “I think it is.”