Obituaries for June 15, 2011

John Elbert Fisher, 88, a longtime Haines resident, died June 11, 2011, surrounded in love by family and community after a short battle with lung cancer.

His memorial service will be at 11 a.m. Thursday at Coles Tribute Center, 1950 Place St. Bob Charlton will officiate. Inurnment will be at the Haines Cemetery with military rites by the Oregon Army National Guard Honor Guard.

Elbert was born on May 3, 1923, at Pendleton. He was the sixth of seven children born to John and Avaline McCutchen Fisher. He graduated in 1941 as class valedictorian at Boardman High School.

He worked as a fitter/welder in the shipyards at Portland prior to enlisting in the U.S. Army Air Corps in 1943. He trained and served his country as an airplane mechanic until his honorable discharge in 1945.

He relocated to Haines where he owned and operated a custom grain rolling business. He married Evelyne Faye Stephens on April 6, 1952, at the Haines Baptist Church in Haines.

In 1966 he became the rural letter carrier for the Haines-North Powder route where he worked until his retirement in 1985. Elbert was active in both national and state Rural Letter Carrier Associations.

Upon his retirement, he became active in beekeeping, and volunteering for community services. He served as a 4-H leader and was greenskeeper for the Haines City Park.

Elbert enjoyed various hobbies, spending countless hours in his workshop. He was known in Haines for his creation of a boy and girl on bicycles that decorate the city park. The school children named them Bert and Ellie.

Survivors include Evelyne, his wife of 59 years; his children, Jane Edwards, and her husband, Ron, of Aberdeen, Wash., Sue Fisher-Alexander and her husband, Bill, of Pendleton, Joe Fisher of Medford and Laura Wallace and her husband, Greg, of Las Vegas, Nev.; six grandchildren and two great-grandchildren; and numerous nieces, nephews and cousins.

He was preceded in death by his parents, five sisters and one brother.

Memorial contributions may be made to Mercy Medical Corps through the Coles Tribute Center, 1950 Place St., Baker City, OR 97814.