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I first met him in 1973, at USC, after I hitched with a buddy across the country to see him. He took the time to speak kindly with me. I still remember his big blue eyes magnified through his thick glasses, and his warm, strong, sailor’s hand handshake.
1974, again, in Philadelphia, same greeting. A gracious and humble man. Later, the last time I saw him, in San Marcos, Texas.

In every encounter, it was after he had been speaking for several HOURS extemporaneously, without notes, to exhaustion! – He was in his late 70’s by then, in fact, that last time, his ‘handlers’ gently had to stop him, and help him off the dais.

I often say I stand on the shoulders of GIANTS, who, in turn, sit like little children on the shoulders of the giant-MAKER. I like to think he would have appreciated it said that way. (He was a poet, too.)

One of my most treasured possessions is a book signed by him to (my name) “in friendship”…it’s falling apart. I took it everywhere with me! Going to have to get it re-bound one of these days ;)

You might like this site:
http://www-sul.stanford.edu/depts/spc/fuller/index.html
Somewhere in there is an old video of the SoCal speech…I couldn’t find it, but saw it a few years ago. (I was on the floor, in front, near stage left – you better believe I was looking for 19-year-old “me”! Maybe it’s a good thing it was taken from the other side of the auditorium, haha!)

I picked out a few highlights from that site, notice especially the one from 1982:

1915 Bucky is expelled from Harvard for the second and final time. Administration cites “lack of ambition.” (given his subsequent achievements, seems that Harvard’s snooty condescension is not such a recent phenomenon)
1917 Bucky enlists in the U.S. Navy Reserve. He volunteers his family’s cabin cruiser, with a crew of six including his brother Wolly and best friend Lincoln Pierce, to patrol the Maine shoreline.
1918 Fuller attends the U.S. Naval Academy for a 3-month short training course and is promoted to Lieutenant J.G.
1922 Alexandra (his firstborn) dies, leaving Bucky with an extreme sense of tragedy that he wasn’t able to provide her with a better shelter. (few understand the strength of character - brings tears to my eyes to think about - to harness such sorrow, yet it explains a lot about the man)
1927 (after the failure of a company he founded) Considering himself a complete failure, Fuller seriously contemplates taking his life. Instead, he vows to use his life an experiment aimed at discovering what an average, healthy individual (albeit penniless and with a family to support) can do in service of all humanity. He enters a period of deep introspection, absorbed in study and meditation, speaking to almost nobody for two years. His second daughter, Allegra, is born

1940 Fuller works with the Butler Manufacturing Company of Kansas City to develop Dymaxion Deployment Units, low-cost shelters built from Butler’s metal grain bins. The units are used by the military during WWII to house equipment and troops in rural, isolated locations.
1946 Bucky is awarded a patent for his Dymaxion Air-Ocean Map, which is considerably less distorted than traditional map projections. (a cut-up icosahedron, showing the true over-the-north-pole proximity between the major world populations)
1954 Fuller receives patent for geodesic domes. The Marine Corps experiments successfully with airlifting and delivery of small geodesic shelter domes by helicopter.
1975 Synergetics, the result of decades of exploration into an alternate mathematical coordinate system, is published (related to nano-tech, superconductivity, and in chemistry, 60-carbon atoms: “buckyballs”)

1982 Fuller receives the Medal of Freedom, the nation’s highest civilian award, from President Ronald Reagan.

1983 Fuller dies on July 1, 1983 in Los Angeles, while visiting his comatose wife, Anne, in the hospital. Anne never wakes from the coma and dies 36 hours later. (in a few more days, they would have celebrated their 66th anniversary!)