James Fischer

Who was James R. Fischer? James Reuben Fischer was born and raised on a farm in Nebraska, this is where he learned to work hard and that is what he did for the rest of his life. He took the skills of working with heavy equipment and shaping the ground that he learned on the farm and translated that to road construction work which led him to Wyoming. While working on a road project in Buffalo, Wyoming he met his future wife Lois. Eventually they married and he adopted her 3 daughters and raised them as his own children loving them the best he knew how. He and Lois had one son also named James. The family moved to Casper when little Jim was 1 year old and bought a house that Lois still lives in today. Jim worked construction jobs until getting hired on at the Shirley Basin Kerr McGee uranium mine driving an electric haul until the mine closed. He then moved to Thatcher and Sons doing oil field construction work. A great many of the oil well locations throughout central and northeast Wyoming and all of the roads accessing them were built by James Reuben Fischer and most were done by feel without the aid of engineering and surveyors. When it came to operating a road grader or blade it would be hard to find his equal. He had a deep love of the outdoors and although he worked more than he lived he shared this love with his family and taught his children to hunt and to fish. It bothered him to see children from broken homes and watch kids whose fathers had abandoned them so over the years it became his life mission to be a dad for as many of them as he could so he always had "extra" kids along for most of his outdoor outings. His love and attention helped a lot of children make it through a rough time in their lives. A lot of these children he met through his work at Calvary Baptist Church in Casper teaching in Children's Church and it was his life's passion. Quite possibly several of the adults here today knew him from attending Children's Church. Eventually his health deteriorated to the point where he could no longer work and he could no longer teach Children's Church, both were a serious loss in his world. Eventually he became too blind and crippled to fish or to take scenic drives with his wife and for the last several years of his life he was confined to a nursing home. He lived to be 85 years old despite all of his health issues and many thought he was indestructible. His grandson summed it up best: "Since he lived to be 85 despite all of his health issues, Grandpa would have been immortal if he had made better health choices". Technically as long as someone is still alive who remembers him with love he is immortal.

Service

Thursday, March 26, 2015 11:00am