Elizabeth Fisher — life's still good at 103

By Carolyn Walton
Staff writer

Elizabeth "Lizzie" Fisher was honored with three celebrations last week — for her 103rd birthday on January 15. One of those parties was a luncheon at the Court Arthur Apartments, where Mrs. Fisher has her own apartment.

She was also feted at a luncheon last Friday by the ladies of Beacon Chapel and a dinner last Saturday at the Spokane House attended by about 70 family members and friends.

"I don't think much about age," Mrs. Fisher said. "I enjoy life and I don't realize I am as old as I am but I have nieces and nephews with white hair."

Last Christmas she baked eight dozen cookies for her children and grandchildren. "If I want any good cooking I go to her," said her daughter, Pat Browning.

In addition to cooking and cleaning her apartment, Mrs. Fisher also has a small garden where she raises carrots, lettuce, string beans and tomatoes. Browning does Mrs. Fisher's laundry and grocery shopping and once a week curls her silver white hair for church on Sundays at Beacon Chapel.

Mrs. Fisher was born in 1884 in Glencoe, Minnesota, and moved with her family near Ritzville seven years later.

She grew up on a farm with seven sisters and four brothers. Two other sisters died in infancy from whooping cough, she said.

While growing up, she always looked forward to the annual family outing at Crab Creek, Washington, each June. It was a community gathering known as "Pioneer Picnic," attended by about 200 people. Mrs. Fisher's family would camp out three to four days and go to horse races, foot races, ball games and a dance every evening.

Before she married in 1923, she and her sister cooked for the farm crews during harvest and she worked as a bookkeeper in a department store in Odessa.

Her brother, John Luiten, started the first Ford dealership in Odessa. That dealership, called the Luiten Building, is now used as the site of the youth gardens during Odessa's annual Deutsches Fest.

When Mrs. Fisher married her husband, Christian (Chris), she was 38; he was 31. Her husband was a neighbor and told her when he was 12 years old that when he grew up he would marry her.

During the Depression, Mrs. Fisher and her husband lived on a small farm near Davenport and were able to share with others, she said. With World War II, they moved to Davenport and owned a fuel yard where they sold coal and wood.

After the war, they bought a 1,000-acre timbered ranch north of Reardan and raised cattle and alfalfa.

When her husband died in 1972, after 49 years of marriage, Mrs. Fisher moved to Spokane.

Her son, Kenneth, and his wife, Alma, now own the ranch.

Of her brothers and sisters, only her sister, Lillie Burghard, Ritzville, is living. She will celebrate her 94th birthday on January 29.

Mrs. Fisher does not wear a hearing aid and uses only a cane to walk.

"I don't have a yearly check-up," she said. "I go to the doctor when it's necessary."

When she was 95, she had a pacemaker put in and a cataract removed from her left eye on the same day. Her last hospital stay was four years ago when she fractured her right hip slipping on hidden ice outside her apartment.

Twenty years ago, she went blind in her right eye because of a retina separation, but that has not deterred Mrs. Fisher from being an avid reader. She reads the Bible daily, reading it through yearly, and enjoys reading other spiritual books.

Asked about the secret of her long life, Mrs. Fisher replied, "I've always been healthy and I never drank or smoked."

—From The Spokesman-Review and Spokane Chronicle; Thursday, January 22, 1987∼At age 105, first flight pleases

Woman took trip to have lunch with the governor

Elizabeth Fisher of Spokane, who was five years old when Washington achieved statehood, was among a group of centennial year centenarians to attend a recent luncheon with Gov. Booth Gardner in Olympia.

Sponsored by the state Aging and Adult Services Administration, the gathering was billed as a chance for Gardner to congratulate 32 guests from around the state for their health and hardiness. Guests also met with Gov. Gardner's wife, Jean, and Secretary of State Ralph Munro, heads of the state Centennial Commission.

Following her first-ever trip by air to attend the luncheon, Fisher said she enjoyed flying. The Ritzville native and one-time bookkeeper has devoted most of her life to her family. She has a son, Kenneth, of Mondavi, Washington, and a daughter, Pat Browning of Spokane. Browning accompanied Fisher to Olympia.

—From The Spokesman-Review and Spokane Chronicle; Thursday, May 18, 1989 ∼Service for Elizabeth Johanna "Lizzie" (Luiten) Fisher, 112, will be at 11 a.m. Saturday at Ball and Dodd Funeral Home-South. Burial will follow at 1 p.m. at Mountain View Cemetery in Davenport, Washington.

Born in Glencoe, Minnesota, Mrs. Fisher died Saturday.

When she was 7, she moved to Ritzville with her family. She later ran a cookhouse for harvesters in the Ritzville area.

She attended Northwest Business College and moved to Odessa, Washington, where she worked as a bookkeeper for Michaelson's Dry Goods.

In 1923 she married a neighbor, Chris Fisher. They moved to a small farm near Davenport.

Following World War II, they moved to a 1,000-acre timbered ranch north of Reardan, Washington, and raised cattle and alfalfa.

Her husband died in 1972, and she moved to Spokane.

She was honored and spoke at the Washington State centennial celebration in 1989 in Riverfront Park and in 1989 took her first airplane ride to eat lunch with Gov. Booth Gardner in Olympia.

She was a longtime member of Beacon Bible Church.

Survivors include a daughter, Pat Browning of Spokane; a son, Kenneth Fisher of Reardan; five grandchildren and numerous great-grandchildren.

—From The Spokesman-Review; Friday, August 9, 1996