A mural that will be installed on the southern wall of the 104-year-old Zarzour's Cafe on Rossville Avenue is just the latest visible sign of the influence Shannon Fuller had during her relatively brief history in Chattanooga, her husband, Joe "Dixie" Fuller, said.
Shannon Fuller died Feb. 21 after being diagnosed in December with Stage 4 cancer.
"She didn't know anybody in Chattanooga when she moved here with me [after our marriage in 1993]," Dixie Fuller said. "I'm blown away every day at the number of people she touched, and the thing is, every one of them knew how important friends and friendships were to her."
Shannon Fuller was honored with a birthday party and fundraiser Jan. 29 and during that event - attended by hundreds of people - Karen Diane Randall snapped a photograph of Shannon Fuller donning a pair of multi-colored angel wings.
That picture will be used by April Cox, creative services director at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga, to create an 11-foot-by-17-foot mural that Printree Printing & Signage will install on the building on or before April 28. It has been approved by the city of Chattanooga and an anonymous donor is covering the cost of the mural and installation.
Longtime friend Jeff Styles got the mural idea rolling, and Jennifer Crutchfield - another regular at Zarzour's and good friend to the Fullers, has helped coordinate the design and installation. The mural is actually a wrap similar to what businesses use to advertise on vehicles. Crutchfield said the city will install a light to illuminate the wall in the coming weeks as part of the process.
"Shannon was somebody special, for sure," Crutchfield said.
Shannon Fuller had worked at Zarzour's since 1996 and took over day-to-day operations when her mother-in-law, Shirley, died in 2015. In the late 1990s and early 2000s, the area was considered a rough part of town, and Shannon Fuller worked hard to attract business to not only the restaurant, but the Main Street area.
She was also an advocate for animals and the homeless.
She was not the first person associated with the restaurant to advocate for others, however. Fuller's grandfather, Abe Zarzour, was known as the "Mayor of Main Street" and for donating baseball equipment to needy children. The restaurant claims to be Tennessee's oldest continuously operated in one location.
Dixie Fuller said that while his wife was busy running the restaurant, he spent most of his time as talent and production coordinator with the Riverbend Festival and he didn't always see the impact his wife was having at his family's restaurant, or in the community.
Fuller said the attention his late wife continues to garner from people "amazes me daily. It really does. What an impact she had."
Contact Barry Courter at bcourter@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6354. Follow him on Twitter @BarryJC.