During our first in-person discussion
about this piece, Dr. Fulwider’s subtle,
yet penetrating energy, projected a
palpable humility that, to this moment,
continues to standout in both my notes
and memory. Humility is abundantly
woven into the fabric of her personality,
as is the positive energy that those
around her tend to describe as upbeat
and having a good heart. “It’s just the
energy that she brings to our office,”
remarked Tina Miley, mentally
searching for ways to describe the
physician she openly admires.
the chance encounter necessitated by an
injury to her horse.
With no exaggeration, there was a
quality in Cole’s voice that generated the
impulse to find this guy who’d caused
the indelible teenage crush some forty
years ago leading to her career in
medicine—Lanny Cornell, D.V.M..
“I’m tickled that I might have inspired
someone to pursue medicine,” said the
unwitting Dr. Cornell, who was clearly
caught off-guard by the belated flattery.
“Although, I don’t think that I really had
much to do with it,” Cornell added, “she
probably had that in her already.”
“I do remember the injury,” said Dr.
Cornell. “The horse had impaled himself
on the handle of a wheel barrel as I
recall, the injury was quite severe.”
Not surprisingly, Dr. Fulwider genuinely
didn’t think there was anything
particularly interesting about her life or
her journey. “There’s not much to talk
about really,” she remarked, as we
discussed scheduling a series of
interviews—some in person, others by
phone.
Mysterious Forces Often Intersect
Positively
When asked about her path into
medicine, Dr. Fulwider quickly related
her story about moving from Hermosa
Beach to Palos Verdes at the age of
fifteen and meeting “a very good looking
young man named Dr. Lanny Cornell,” a
veterinarian. “I thought he was a great
guy and I decided, well, I want to be a
Vet,” said Cole Fulwider, as she recalled
Refraining from conjecture about how
these mysterious forces often intersect
positively in one’s life, it merits mention
that Dr. Lanny Cornell went on to
pioneer a program of preventative care
for marine mammals and later, under
his direction and for the first time in
history, successfully developed a
program that bred a killer whale in
captivity at Sea Wo rld.
When I caught up with him on a
Saturday morning at his lab, Lanny
Cornell, D.V.M., answered his own
phone. To this day, Dr. Lanny Cornell
continues his research as president of
Pacific Research Laboratories.
As it turned out, the requirements for
getting into school to become a
veterinarian were the same as for
medical school. Once she got into
college, Cole Fulwider realized that there
was only one veterinary school west of