By Albert Amateau
Lois D. Fisher, a Village resident for more than 30 years and an active member of Fire Island’s Cherry Grove community, died Mon., May 11, in Pax Christi Hospice on E. 19th St. after a 10-year struggle with breast cancer. She was 72.
“Lois was a woman of extraordinary courage and grace, a kind and indomitable spirit who set the bar high for living life large in the face of unrelenting health challenges,” said her longtime partner, Barbara Dowd. “She was a loyal and true friend, a dedicated member of her cancer support group, an avid lover of animals and a committed member of her Cherry Grove community.”
Lois Fisher was a teacher in San Francisco before coming to New York in 1977 to join the staff of the General Service Office of Alcoholics Anonymous, where she worked until retiring in October 2000.
“Lois was enormously proud of her work, which included coordinating the A.A. International Convention in Seattle in 1990 and participating in the first A.A. film for the public, ‘Alcoholics Anonymous – An Inside View’,” said Dowd.
“She was born in Delta, Colorado — she always said it was 26 miles from Grand Junction, but I didn’t know where that was either,” said Dowd about her partner’s western Colorado hometown. She graduated from the University of Colorado in Boulder and received her master’s from California State University in San Francisco. A teacher and assistant principal in San Francisco, she dealt blackjack in Reno and Lake Tahoe casinos during summer vacations, Dowd said.
“You’d never think of her as a blackjack dealer. She was full of surprises,” Dowd said.
In addition to Dowd, Fisher’s sister, Patsy Ballard of Denver, and close friends Audrey Hartman of Manhattan and Lynn Haley of San Francisco survive. Her dog, Gracie, and two cats, Sweet Pea and L.C., also survive. A memorial will be scheduled later.
Contributions may be made in her memory to the Cherry Grove Community Association, Inc., Benefactors Fund, Lenox Hill Station, Box 1615, New York, N.Y. 10021; the Arts Project of Cherry Grove, Inc., 332 Bleecker St. Apt. F 10, N.Y., N.Y. 10014; or the Cancer Initiative of the L.G.B.T. Community Center, 208 W. 13th St., N.Y., N.Y. 10011.
