Janice Lucille Fisher

Janice Lucille Fisher, 105, went home to glory at Shady Grove Center, Rockville, Maryland on Thursday, December 14, 2017. Born in Lakewood, Ohio, she is the wife of the late William Rowley Fisher and the daughter of the late Bertrand A. and Agnes I. Webster Jones. Janice and William spent 50 loving years together. Married during the Great Depression, they worked hard to provide a better future for their sons. Janice was a straight A student at John Marshall High School in Cleveland, Ohio. For most of her life she was a private secretary for Elliot Electric and Grantello Sales. After her retirement, she served as a member of the FISH organization, assisting the elderly in Ohio. With her husband, she was a sponsor of the Lakewood Little Theater. She also kept busy selling Christmas cards until she was 92 because she enjoyed being with others. Janice also enjoyed swimming, gardening (fresh flowers on the kitchen table), and ceramics at the local Senior Center, winning many awards for her creations. In 2005 she moved to Lancaster where she became an active member of Calvary Church. She is survived by her sons: Lawrence R. (Velma) Fisher of Potomac, MD, James D. (Pamela) Fisher of Newton, MA, and Ronald W. (Rosa) Fisher of Lancaster, PA. She is predeceased by three sisters, Sue Brown, Dolores Pratola, and Jeannie Witherill, and also survived by her brother, Bertrand Jones of Port St. Lucie, FL, twelve grandchildren and fifteen great grandchildren. Relatives and friends are invited to celebrate Janice’s long, spirited, and fruitful life at a Memorial Service at Calvary Church, 1051 Landis Valley Road, Lancaster, PA 17601 on Saturday, January 13, 2018 at 11:00 a.m. with Reverend Robert Kilgore officiating. The family will receive friends at Calvary Church from 10:00 a.m. until time of service. A fellowship meal for all will follow in the church fellowship hall. Private interment will be in Lakewood Park Cemetery, Rocky River, Ohio. Memorial contributions in Janice’s name may be sent to: Huntington’s Disease Society of America (HDSA), 505 Eighth Avenue, Suite 902, New York, NY 10018. Lancaster Newspaper Article for her 100th Birthday Growing up during the Great Depression in suburban Cleveland, Ohio, Janice Fisher had the intelligence for college, but it wasn't a financial possibility. She earned all A's in school, her son Ronald Fisher said Friday as she celebrated her 100th birthday at Lancashire Hall Nursing and Rehabilitation Center. "Get that in there," Janice Fisher said of her academic ability. "My father always said, it's a pity she didn't go to university because she had the smarts to do it, but her father couldn't provide for that so she found outlets in other ways to use her abilities," Ronald Fisher said. She worked as a secretary for about two decades at a General Electric subsidiary, then another 20 years for a sales company. And until she turned 92, she also sold personalized Christmas cards. "Even though she graduated from high school in the Great Depression, she got a job and had it all her life, basically," Ronald Fisher said. As for so many people who lived during those years, the Depression impacted his parents' life, Ronald Fisher said. They lived very frugally, he said. "Though they were, quote unquote, deprived, they thought there'd be a better day and so they thought of our future," he said of himself and two brothers, Larry and Jim. "Instead of feeling they had missed out or it wasn't fair … they saw it as they had the opportunity to provide for their sons," he said. "And that was a satisfaction for them." Ronald Fisher credits his mother's work ethic in part for her longevity, along with regular morning exercise -"Touch my toes … that's a good exercise," she said - being active in other people's lives and a faith in Christ, although that was late in coming. When she was 89, she accepted Christ after she had a mini-stroke while flying back to Cleveland from visiting her sister in California, her son said. The mini-stroke prompted a diversion to Kansas City. "That may have been something that made her think," Ronald Fisher said. He said his mother also was easy-going. "She's told us many times, 'I'm content wherever I am.' She is not a complainer," Ronald Fisher said. Janice Fisher also belonged to ceramics clubs for 30 years, creating pieces such as vases and animals. "She must have at least 40 ribbons that she won at various showings," Ronald said. She enjoys the outdoors and loves getting her nails done, said Jamie Smith, her activity aide at Lancashire Hall. She also enjoys baseball and card games. About 50 residents at Lancashire Hall celebrated her birthday with marble cake and iced tea. Janice Fisher wed her high-school sweetheart, William Fisher, and they were married nearly 50 years until his death in 1983. "My parents were married during the Great Depression, married on a Thursday, Thanksgiving Day, so they could have a four-day honeymoon. Because no one dared take work off for a honeymoon," Ronald Fisher said. Her children, nine grandchildren and nine great-grandchildren plan to celebrate her birthday Saturday at Eden Resorts. Janice Fisher lived on her own in the Cleveland area from after her husband died in 1983 until 2005, when she moved in with Ronald Fisher in Neffsville.