Under the Sun: Frank Fuller, Sonoma Market butcher

How did you get your start, Frank?
Well, I actually was born in Japan where my name was Frank Morita. My father was in the U.S. military and my mother Japanese; they were not married. I was part of an unwanted generation of “half-breeds.” I’d thought my mother put me in an orphanage, but recently learned I was abandoned in a park as an infant. Imagine that.

Wow. And you ended up here.
I was adopted at eight by Jean Fuller, a WAC Captain in the army. She decided to adopt a whole crew of “Eurasians” and brought five of us with her to the U.S. She added to that and ended up with two boys and six girls. It made the papers; special legislation was passed and signed by Eisenhower to let us in. We ended up on a ranch in Kenwood.

And how was that?
My adoptive mother was a real taskmaster. I began working the ranch at 10 years old. We raised animals — goats, lamb, beef, pigeon, squab; had a chicken farm and delivered eggs to San Francisco. It was hard work; pick, shovel and haul. Everyday I had to shovel out chicken manure. Since then, I’ve worked hard all my life.

When did you start your butchering career?
Things were not easy at home. I ended up a ward of the court at 13 and sent to St. Vincent’s School for Boys. Eventually I worked at the butcher shop at Mendocino State Hospital as vocational training and I took to it. They had 2,000 patients there, and we went through a lot of meat every day. It was mostly boning and grinding. From there my first real job was at Food City in 1965 at $105/wk. and it was a union job. When Alberson’s opened up nearby I got laid off and ended up at the Hamilton AFB Commissary; that’s where I really learned my trade. I even worked on ships! Things were different than nowadays when meat comes to the butcher cut and packed in wholesale boxes. Back then beef came “quartered,” two fore-quarters and two hind-quarters, hanging on a rail. Quarters had to be broken down, cut and trimmed. Very heavy, hard work. But I learned a lot at every job I had.

Did you have a lot of jobs?
I moved around a lot. I learned slaughtering at Countryside Meats, which is now the Vineburg Deli. I worked for a while in Petaluma at Royal Tallow; I was the “grease man.” Then for four or five years I was at Sonoma Valley Meat in Schellville, a union job again. We did slaughtering there, but very humane. We used a stun-gun that killed instantly. I worked for Angelo for a while. And I had my own “kill” truck; I’d travel on my day off to local ranchers. Finally, I ended up at Sonoma Market in 1992. Leslie Cook hired me on the spot, my best day ever!

That was 23 years ago.
From the day I started I’ve felt like I’ve belonged and been respected. Dale and Don make me feel so much like family I feel guilty only working part-time. As long as it’s fun, I’ll continue. I love my job and this little town.

Interview by Larry Barnett