My father Ray Fuljenz was a trial lawyer. Even though he tried a universal array of lawsuits, he never tried universal coin lawsuits. When he was approached with local coin related controversies, he assisted collectors in working out their disputes.

Ray Fuljenz introduced me, Mike Fuljenz, to coin collecting. In first grade he would give me Morgan Silver Dollars for every “A” I made on my report card. My grandfather did likewise. On Saturdays he would bring me to local coin shops. He bought me the leading coin publications of the day and discussed them with me. Once a month we attended coin club meetings. He also drove me to area coin conventions. When at 15, I became President of the Southwest Louisiana Coin Club, he helped me publish the club’s newsletter. When I was 18, I was chosen Chairman of the Louisiana State Coin Convention and Dad helped me with the publicity and dealer contracts. That year he also drove me to my first American Numismatic Association National Money Show.

My mother was a school teacher, but my lawyer father, Ray Fuljenz, was also an educator to me. Besides assisting with my numismatic education in his free time, at work dad was the prosecutor for juvenile court for ten years. He spent considerable time educating and counseling the young men at the juvenile detention home on life choices and better dispute resolution.

My love of education, coins and working with youth can be traced to the invaluable time and talents my father made sure to share with me in my formative years. I also learned a lot about dispute resolution from the examples he set working with coin collectors and dealers.