Margaret Gunther Fisher, of Westminster, died Monday, December 19, 2011, at the Dove House, Carroll Hospice Center. http://www.prittsfuneralhome.com/vcalendar/event_view.php?event_id=179
Born November 14, 1919, she was the daughter of the late Nereus W. Gunther and Marie C. Albright of Baltimore. She was the beloved wife of Charles Osborne Fisher for 69 years.
After attending Seton High School, Margaret left school to work and help support her family. With her beauty and poise, her first job was as a model for Hutzler Bros. department store in Baltimore. Her alluring voice soon won her a job at C&P Telephone Company where she was known as “the voice with a smile”. While working the swing shift, she continued her education and cultural development by spending many hours at the Enoch Pratt Library reading and listening to opera.
Romance bloomed at the 1939 Preakness Ball where she met Charles, who won her musical heart by playing a tune with spoons on water glasses. In 1942 they began their married life in New Jersey where Charles was stationed during World War II. Their first two, of eight children were born on the Fort Monmouth Army base. After the War, they returned to Westminster, eventually moving into Charles’ childhood house where she created a loving and beautiful home.
She became a member of the Westminster Woman’s Club and served twice as president of the Carroll Garden Club. A Certified Master Gardener, her garden and floral arrangements were legendary. Margaret was instrumental in securing the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra’s performances at Westminster High School for the Carroll County Symphony Society. At St. John Catholic Church in Westminster, she organized the chicken dinner fund raisers and was the chairman of the first St. John’s Christmas Bazaar which is now a long standing community tradition.
Margaret loved art and travel. She was a volunteer at the Baltimore Museum of Art and a member of the Walters Art Gallery. She visited the major art museums of European, Mediterranean, Mexican, Canadian and American cities.
She was a woman of many talents. Her Irish roots gave her the gift of gab with a graciousness and serenity that put everyone she met at ease. She could cook on a camp stove for 8 people, call her children to dinner with a whistle that could be heard for blocks, backpack across the mountains of Greece, dress for the opera or symphony looking like a movie star and entertain Governors in her home. She was proud of being sprayed with “mace” while attending the 1968 Democratic Convention in Chicago and proud to have been part of the 1963 Civil
Rights March on Washington. But her greatest pride was her children, her family and her husband.
Surviving are her husband, Charles O. Fisher, children, Charles O. Fisher, Jr. and wife Bridget Fisher, Kathleen T. Palaia and husband Arthur Palaia, Paul N. Fisher, M. Eileen Churchill and husband R. Paul Churchill, James I. Fisher and wife Lily Shin, John D. Fisher and wife Kellie W. Lee, Miriam L. Fisher and husband Lawrence J. Yumkas, and Anne’s husband Thomas C. Kelly, Jr., sixteen grandchildren, ten great-grandchildren and brother Denis H. Gunther and wife.
She was predeceased by her daughter, Anne C. Kelly, her brother, Nereus W. Gunther, II and sister, Frances Browning.
The family will receive friends on Thursday 2-4 and 7-9 at the Pritts Funeral Home and Chapel, 412 Washington Road, Westminster where a Christian Wake Service will be held at 3:30 p.m.
A Mass of Christian Burial will be held on Friday at 11 a.m. in St. John Catholic Church, 43 Monroe Street, Westminster, MD 21157 with Monsignor Arthur Valenzano as celebrant. Interment will be private in St. John Cemetery.
In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions may be made to: St. John Catholic School, 43 Monroe Street, Westminster, MD 21157 and Carroll Hospital Center Foundation, Inc., 200 Memorial Avenue, Westminster, MD 21157. http://www.prittsfuneralhome.com/vcalendar/event_view.php?event_id=179
