God love you Mr Fisher…..

My heart is heavy today for someone has lost their father, their husband, their friend and mentor.  I feel these loses deeply now a days for I, too lost my father not so long ago.

I’ll never forget Mr. Fisher on the first day of 5th grade. Our little band room in the Arcadia was packed as everyone wanted to be in band. The patience of this man standing in front of us was way beyond our comprehension until I was an adult. The squeaks and toots and bangs of wanna be rock drummers was deafening but he patiently made us all try out the instrument that we wanted to play. He was a nice man but a large and in charge guy…and I was aware that he had once been my dad’s band teacher as well so I was nervous for my turn. Well as Mr. Fisher was going down the list he gets to me and I’ll never forget the look he gave me over his glasses as he asked, ” are you Ed Lake’s kid?” I said, “yep I sure am!” with much enthusiasm that he ‘knew’ me. He then smiled out the side of his mouth  with a little added chuckle and just said “oh dear!”

Well I am so anxious to go tell my dad after school that I got to meet Mr Fisher and that he “knew” me…my dad just bust a gut laughing!  “Well what’s so funny about that?” I ask. Well my dad was in band alright….he and Dave Hodgson (Janine and Wes’ dad, Grubb’s uncle) were quite the pair I gathered. They were  loud, last chair and horrible musicians! I think they were just there for the girls! So here I come and I can just imagine what Mr Fisher was anticipating from me! Well I wasnt anything like my dad…hee hee…I loved music, strived to get that first chair place, and stayed in band clear through 12th grade. You see Mr. Fisher had this way about him that never let you believe you were ‘that bank geek’ or that we were any less than the big schools. When we’d show up for the Torch Light parade he made us feel every bit of proud that we were there and going to be heard and loved!  We knew we couldnt win against the big schools but we could  sure play! We would be the only high  school drill team that traveled with the school band to competitions. While every other drill team had little uniforms and taped music Deer Park didn’t. I remember him turning to us telling us that this was tasteful and what our school brought to the table. That we were unique and we sure were.

We were out there playing for our football team in the snow, cold, and rain. We were there for every pep assembly and played proudly every time. Mr Fisher had student directors which we all thought was very cool and grown up. He treated us like people not little kids and we really responded to that. He always loved to push us to our perfection. He was a comforting face in your day.

I was also a cheerleader and he was our ‘leader’. He gave us guidance but never was pushy. He gave us a sense of pride that we should carry for Deer Park and that we should be good representatives of our school….which we gladly did. He always had an ‘old school’ vibe to him that was somehow refreshing and solid. I guess like he was your dad…but at school and didn’t ground you!

Im going to keep telling stories of Mr. Fisher for he was one of the teachers that made an impression on me that has stayed with me to this day.

To his family and friends….please know how many people he has touched and that we are thinking of you.

Love a student ~cyndi lake class of 1989

• ← Thanks Mr. Fisher!
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