Obituary

Surrounded by her family and loved ones, Nancy Fisher went to be with Jesus in the very early hours of November 9th, 2023 due to complications from pancreatic cancer. She was 76 years old.

She was born Nancy Anne Burke on July 28, 1947, to Simpson and Esther Burke in Madison, Wisconsin, where her father instructed at the University of Wisconsin Medical School. The Burkes moved to Redwood City, CA in 1952 for her dad’s medical practice, and there Nancy grew up playing piano, working at summer camp in the Redwoods, and tagging along on neighborhood adventures with her older brother, Bob. She went north to Seattle Pacific College, where she earned a degree in Nursing, and met Paul Fisher, who became her loving husband and lifelong companion. Weeks after graduating college, they married on the first day of summer, 1969, and began their 54 years of marriage.

Nancy worked as a registered nurse in Dallas, Texas, and Bremerton, Washington before moving to Milwaukie, Oregon when Paul was hired with the Portland Police Department. They eventually settled across the river to raise their young family in rural Hockinson, Washington. As her kids grew older, Nancy returned to nursing, this time in the public schools. She eventually earned her Master’s Degree in Education from Portland State University, all the while working and taking care of her family. This accomplishment laid the foundation for a long career that involved loving kids, helping her community, and fulfilling one of her true callings in life: caring for people in need. When she and Paul both retired, they moved north to Bellingham in order to be close to their children and grandchildren.

Nancy was as loving a grandmother as she was a parent, taking joy in spending time with her grandchildren and rejoicing in each of their accomplishments and activities. Even on the coldest and wettest day of the year, she would arrive bundled against the cold to cheer for the whole team, all the while chatting up people around her and building friendships. At home, she loved to garden, and her yard became a haven for songbirds, bees, and forest creatures. Hummingbirds especially delighted her; the feeder outside her window was full summer and winter, often thawed with a small lightbulb through the harshest weather. Though she loved a cozy blanket, a Hallmark movie, and lots of sugar in her coffee, there was a toughness to Nancy. She infamously built a stone retaining wall by herself to meet her own exacting standards, sending Paul back to the quarry several times to exchange rejected rocks for better material. She was also game for roughing it with her boys on hiking trips to Hurricane Ridge or camping at Takhlakh Lake, high on the slopes of Mt. Adams in search of mountain huckleberries. In later years, she and Paul took many happy trips with their trailer, even driving the entire Alaska Highway on one especially memorable adventure.

Faith was a source of joy and strength in her life, her Bible often open on the kitchen table or sofa where she had been reading to start the day. It motivated her career choice, and it continued in retirement as she looked for ways to love people in need. Nancy volunteered at the Whatcom County Pregnancy Clinic for many years, using her medical training to provide medical care and perform ultrasounds. Wherever she went, she seemed to win people over through her gentleness, open heart, unpretentious manner, and refusal to give up on anyone.

Nancy is survived by her husband, Paul; her children Lance (CJ) and Todd (Kelly); her grandchildren Avery, Ben, Paxon, and Beckett; and her brother Robert (Donna) Burke. She will be deeply missed by all who knew her.

Memorial services for Nancy will be held at 1 pm on Wednesday, December 13th at Christ the King Church, 4173 Meridian Street, Bellingham. A live stream will be available at ctk.link/fisher. In lieu of flowers, please consider a donation in Nancy’s memory to one of these causes close to her heart: CTK Blessing or Childcare Worldwide.

“Not by might nor by power, but by my Spirit”, says the Lord God Almighty. Zechariah  4:6