1950 - Nov 17 2016

It has been several weeks since my mom passed and I’m still trying to make sense of it all. Just shy of two years ago she was diagnosed with ovarian cancer. Despite this extremely unlucky turn of events, she still woke up every day with a positive attitude, a desire to make the most of that day, and a determination to live. She didn’t waste a minute.

My mom was incredible, full of so much joy. The kind of mom I wish everyone could have. She was solid as a rock. Her values were well-defined and she lived them out every day. She loved deeply, always saw the best in everyone, and somehow could find the silver lining in every situation. Sometimes her never-ending positivity would drive me nuts when all I wanted was for someone to be miserable with me. But she always pushed me to move beyond that. 

My dad, brother and I were her world. She loved us from the bottom of her heart, and told us every day. She would call me at college and cheerfully say “have I told you today?”. She would stay up late at night talking to my brother and I, helping us work through whatever it was that was on our mind. She had an uncanny way of understanding what each us needed while also giving us the space to find our own way in this world. She supported all of our crazy ideas without judgment, and goodness knows all three of us had plenty of those. She devoted her life to us. I often wonder how the three of us got so lucky. She chose us. 

In times that I felt discouraged or down, she would gently tell me that we control our own happiness, and that every day we wake up, we have the opportunity to choose happy. When I was disappointed with an outcome, she would remind me to flow with life. She lived this through and through, even till the last seconds of her life on this earth. As one shitty thing after another went down in that last month, she never complained or talked about how unfair it was (something I thought often), only exuded love and gratitude, for her caretakers, for her family, and for the other patients she crossed paths with. How she was able to do this, is beyond me. 

From the time I was little, she and my dad taught me to pursue meaningful life work and, if possible, work that would make someone else’s life a little better off. She was living proof of this. My mom spent 35 years as an educator, always trying to think of new ways to reach that difficult student. She touched so many young kid’s lives. Her love for her students and fellow colleagues, and their love for her, was evident when she became sick and after her death. The outpouring of love and support from her Griffin School family continues to warm my heart. 

She taught me by example to love the outdoors, encouraging me to spend some time by myself outside each day. Her favorite outdoor time was in her flower garden (and on her daily walk). And what an extraordinary garden it was. A connoisseur of all things flowers, indeed. Though it will never hold a candle to hers, we’ll do our best to have that live on.

When people were mean to me growing up or when I felt the injustices of this world, through her own actions she showed me that being offended was a waste of time. And when I was a poor grad student for so many years, she helped me see that things are inconsequential and that, above all, relationships and experiences are what matter most in this life. Regardless of what they had, she and my dad made sure that we had adventures each year. From camping in our backyard, walking around ancient European cities, to exploring exotic tropical beaches, there wasn’t a year that went by without new experiences and quality time together.

Now, taken too soon from this earth, she is off on her next adventure. I miss her every day. As I fight the shock, anger, feelings of injustice, and daily sadness, I try to do what she would have done, look to the bright side. And that is, that I am the luckiest to have had such an incredible, loving mother in my life for 34 years. I will forever carry her in my heart. In honor of her, each day I will try and spread a little more love and little more light.

Linda graduated from Claremont High School in 1968.   She attended Pacific University, Forest Grove, Oregon and graduated from University of LaVerne in 1972.

She married Mark Fischer and moved to Olympia, Washinton where she was a Special Education teacher until her death.  

She is survived by her husband, Mark Fischer and two children, Jonathan Fischer and Stefanie Fischer, PhD., and two grandchildren, Alexander and Andrew Fischer.  

A scholarship has been donated in her name to be given annually to a special educated student from the Griffin School District in Olympia, Washington.