Remembering Patricia Lord Fisher
Celebrating the Life of
Patricia Lord Fisher
January 2, 1940 - January 3, 2020
The Virtual Celebration of Life for
Patricia Lord Fisher
from Sunday, January 3, 2021
1:00 p.m. Pacific
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Obituary
Patricia Lord Fisher, age 80, died on Jan. 3, 2020, at her home in La Jolla, CA after a battle with vascular dementia. Pat was a loving wife and partner, mother of three, grandmother of four, and friend of many. Her smile, take-charge attitude, and “no holds barred” witty repartee will be greatly missed by all who were blessed to know and spend time with her.
“Patsy” Fisher was born Jan. 2, 1940, in Toronto, Canada, the third child of Walter Russell Lord and Gretta Harris Lord. From the age of five she knew she wanted to become a nurse. After high school, she enrolled at Buffalo’s Millard Fillmore Hospital School of Nursing. Graduating as President of her Class in 1961, she worked in pediatrics, her first love. After marrying an aspiring surgeon, she followed him to Minneapolis for his residency where she worked in pediatric intensive care at the University of Minnesota Hospitals. One year later, she was appointed head nurse of a metabolic disease research unit. After moving to Bethesda, Maryland, she cared for children with leukemia at the Clinical Center of the National Cancer Institute.
There followed a necessary interruption in her full-time professional career while she gave birth to and nurtured two daughters and a son, but not without finding time to earn a Bachelor of Science in Nursing from the University of Virginia. Later in San Diego, she taught clinical nursing to students at Point Loma Nazarene University.
After waving her children off to their respective college campuses, she enrolled as a nursing graduate student at California State University Long Beach where she earned a Master of Science in Nursing and completed requirements for certification as a Pediatric Nurse Practitioner. Soon after, she began a decade of service to San Diego’s Unified School District. As the nurse at Emerson-Bandini School in Southeast San Diego, she provided primary care services to 1300 underserved children, among them several type 1 diabetics who like herself required insulin administration each day.
Patricia Lord Fisher was preceded in death by her sister, Virginia Luepschen. She is survived by a sister, Bernice Birkett of Palm Coast, FL, a brother Walter Lord of Mason, Ohio, daughters Janet Fisher Miller of Naples, FL and Susan Whitney Fisher of Brooklyn, NY and a son Stephen Lord Fisher of Dixon, CA as well as her husband, Jack, Professor Emeritus of Surgery, UC San Diego.
“What We Learned from Pat Fisher”
A Collaborative Poem
by her Family & Friends
January 2021
From Pat, we learned that a hike in the Sierras is best followed with a delicious piece of pie from the one & only Pie in The Sky Cafe.
We learned that a bunch of grapes is served by using scissors to cut into smaller groups of grapes.
We learned that her Head Lice In-Service was a highlight of every Back-to-School meeting at Emerson Bandini.
And most importantly, that Mammoth Mountain is a fabulous place for a summer vacation.
We also learned……
To read well written books.
To appreciate wildflowers while hiking.
To embrace the unique personality that each child brings to a family.
To travel to Mexico and learn about the food.
To not be angry at anyone.
To not complain about your health.
To have strength, devotion, and a love of life.
To not give in.
To love your family and accept their choices.
To hope.
In lieu of flowers
The family asks that Memorial Donations be made to
American Diabetes Association
Guest Book
Galleries
Memories of Pat with her
family and friends
A Video Tribute to Pat
Remembering Grandma
