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Fischer Family History Some Short stories, Sea Stories, War Stories, etc. All persons depicted herein are deceased Corrections welcomed & encouraged

General history of Gerald Dean (Butch) Fischer 1940-2001:

This is Gerald's Obit:
Gerald Dean Fischer was born April 21st,1940 at Mobridge, South Dakota, where he joined two other sisters already there.
The family moved to Chicago, Ill., Where his Dad worked for Crane Steel Co.
Another sister joined the family there. The family of six drove out to Washington State in the early 1940's and made their home in Tekoa.
The dad now worked as a railroad brakeman. Butch may have acquired his nickname from an Uncle, Nick Fischer; as long as can be remembered he had that name.
He may have used Dean at school and Gerald at work. Butch attended Public elementary, Mt St Joseph Academy , and graduated from Tekoa High School.
He lettered in football and basketball. Butch liked hunting and fishing and did quite a lot of it with dad, cousins and friends.
The creek was a favorite place in the summer time. Also the farm scene was one of his favorites, he could be found up at the Law farm when you could not find him anywhere else.
After graduation from high school Butch attended classes at WSU for a year.
The next summer he was a fire fighter in Washington and Montana.
That fall he joined the Air Force. The last two years of his service he was stationed at Athens Greece.
He was responsible for maintenance & repair of Cryptographic Radio equipment. Because of the highly classified work, their cover story was that his unit was installing a radar system there. There was no base housing for them so three or four of them rented a house, living close to the beach.
Butch sent lots of pictures and some movies of people on the beach home for family and friends to enjoy.
He also sent lots of recordings home to his Mother, and she enjoyed the really good music.
After Butch was discharged he bought a truck, leased it to Mayflower Van Lines and hauled people's household goods across the US, from coast to coast and in between.
When he sold that truck he came back to Washington, resided with his parents at Mt Hope, WA until he bought a piece of property on Lake Creek.
It was located on the South side of Mica Peak and was called the Buckhorn.
There was plenty to do there when he was not driving truck. When he was driving he was always interested in how each product he hauled would be used and what things each customer made at their facility - he would usually get a factory tour. Butch got married, and built a log house on that property. He and his wife also boarded two nieces and a nephew so they could attend school in nearby Worley, Idaho.
Butch had some health problems during this time and also was accidentally sprayed with some fertilizer he was unloading.
Butch was driving for Matlack Tanker when they moved their Board to Portland. He had had back surgery and was diagnosed with some other health problems, and so did not move with the company.
Butch helped his nephew with farming and did his own farming until he sold his place.
He bought an RV and went to Arizona in the winter returning to Washington in the warmer months.
Butch spent about a year with his sister after hospitalization in Arizona.
While there his sister did a lot of paper work for him and got him his Teamsters Retirement, and some Medicaid.
You see Butch needed an advocate. He wasn't willing to sign up for help.
When he was in California a cousin that lives there became his advocate, visiting him and helping him with Drs., Medicaid, etc.
Another Cousin traveled to Cal. a couple times and finally moved Butch to the facility he was in when he died.
Butch enjoyed some of his last days at the Veterans Nursing Facility at Loma Linda, CA.
He could get outside where it was warm and there was beautiful landscaping, with ponds and ducks for him to feed.
Butch believed in the Lord Jesus Christ and read his Bible every day. Some of his last words were "I am ready to meet my Maker."
Butch's gravesite is at the Riverside National Cemetery in Southern California, off I-215.
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