Wanda Lee Fischer

On September 15 at shortly after 3 am, my mother, Wanda Lee (Sims) Fischer, succumbed to the cruelest, most demeaning and debilitating disease imaginable. After battling numerous forms of dementia, what was left of my real life Mary Poppins mom, who was unironically practically perfect in every way, rejoined the love of her life for eternity. Wanda was a devoted wife for more than 44 years to her husband David, my Pops, who preceded her in death by exactly 15 months - almost to the hour. As her only child, I cared for them both for years and until their deaths at their home in Ohio. My family, my husband Len and our children, Rachel, David/Hannah, and Abby; Mom’s sister Carolyn; her brother Jerry and sister-in-law Suzanne; her 15 nieces and nephews (Jennifer, Jayne, Stephanie, Randy, Scott, John, Jeff, Joe, LuAnn, Beth, Donna, Marsha, Lora, Brian, and Brad); and her husband’s children, David (Cindy and children Samantha and Kyle), Deborah (Mike and children Chris and Patrick), Mary Catherine (Tom and son Sean), Pamela, Patricia (children Vincent and Nicolas), and Michael (Heather and daughter Ashleigh) survive her. In addition to her blood and step grandchildren, she was a devoted grandparent to my stepchildren, Daniel and Joseph and her husband’s children’s stepchildren, Adam, Kaleb, and Kaitlynn. Her love and acceptance was a model of step parenthood.

My mom was born in Dover Hill, Indiana in August 1940 to Ella and Curt Sims. She was the eighth of nine children – all of whom were born at home on her family’s farm. According to my grandpa, Mom was born during a thunderstorm that ended a drought; a clap of thunder heralded her entrance into this world.

Mom grew up working in the fields rather than in the house. She earned money for her high school band uniform by building the fire to warm and provide light in the one room schoolhouse she had attended down the lane from her family’s farm from first through eighth grade - after her chores and before the bus took her to Shoals High School. Her work ethic provided her both opportunities and a chronically bad back.

After graduating from high school, Mom was awarded a full scholarship to study business at Vincennes University in 1958. When she overheard her dad telling his friend that he expected her to use that business sense to help her brother Jerry run the farm, Mom “borrowed” Grandpa’s car and headed for the bus station to catch a bus to her brother Jim’s in northern Indiana. While there, she gave up her scholarship and took a job as an office assistant at Borg Warner. The HR Director at Borg Warner introduced her to his only son, and the two married. She had me in 1963; her only child. In 1964, the three of us relocated from Muncie, Indiana to Springfield, Virginia where her then-husband helped design and then maintain the Springfield Golf and Country Club. Finding herself in a less than ideal marriage and in need of her own money, she took a job as a cashier at Fischer Hardware in 1965. By 1967 the owner, David had recognized the business sense her scholarship was based on and she became his trusted advisor.

Two years later, she was running David’s restaurant. When it sold in 1976, she returned to the hardware store as his “second-in-command”. She ran the overall office functions, did the hiring and firing, counseled and dealt with the store’s 75+ employees, and was his executive secretary. They wed in 1980. And many years later when he began to slow down, she expertly and quietly took on everything he needed to let go. Together they ensured the landmark of their adopted hometown succeeded for more than 53 years.

A couple for more than 55 years, my parents proved through their successful business and personal ventures they were meant to be together. A perfect match for Pops’ adventurous spirit, Mom became an accomplished circuit snowmobile racer, a fearless speedboat captain and later an expert sailor of even their 52-foot sailboat, despite being unable to swim. She loved to fish, a skill she shared with many of the grandchildren. She taught herself how to crab off the dock of their property in Dowell, Maryland, and she would single-handedly bait and then empty the crab pots and masterfully prepare a delicious crab feast for friends and family.

More than anything else, though, Mom loved spending time with my Pops. When I was young, they would often go dancing at the Springfield Hilton. And as a testament to just how charismatic they were, as a pre-teen and teen, I would usually voluntarily go with them. Every time, people would watch them dance and then come by the table to comment to me what great dancers my parents were and what a beautiful couple they made. The stuff of teen nightmares. But my parents didn’t dance for peoples’ notice (or to embarrass me). One night, I returned home from an evening out thinking the house would be empty. But their car was in the driveway. I went into a house blaring with music - only to find them dancing in each other’s arms all around our huge backyard deck - oblivious to my return. Oblivious to anyone but each other.

Learning from the chef at the French restaurant she managed for Pops, Mom became a gourmet cook. She was a talented seamstress, gardener, and interior decorator and, despite her shyness, the consummate hostess. She could and would effortlessly host 40 people for delicious meals she prepared in her beautiful home, looking like a model while doing so.

Mom loved to travel and spent long stretches with Pops in Siesta Key, Florida and St John USVI. They went to Hawaii, Italy, and all over the continental US, visiting me and also my Pops’ children as we moved with the military or for jobs. When the hardware store sold in 2009, they moved permanently to the Sarasota area, staying in Ohio across from me in a house they owned during most summers - until COVID and their dementia forced them to move there permanently – it was from that house they both departed this earth.

My mom was beautiful and brilliant and classy and charming, kind, but also tough as nails. She happily served as the “enforcer” to counter Pops’ hands off approach to just about everything in life. She was a great HR manager, a great secretary, a great corporate president, and a force to be reckoned with in all she did. Like my Pops, she was never comfortable in the spotlight. I don’t think she ever realized or accepted how impressive and really smart she was. She had to know she was beautiful, but I was a typical daughter and took her intelligence, resourcefulness, and resilience for granted. I regret not telling her more often how amazing she was.

A product of her generation, upbringing, and unique personality, my mom was more than anything else a devoted wife and mother. She and her beloved David shared everything: homes, hobbies, travels, commutes, work – even the disease that ultimately took both of them. There is a lot here about him, because that’s what she would want. He completed her. And while the world is a much dimmer place without them, I know now that dementia has finally released its hold on them, they are once holding each other close while they dance across the room, a beautiful couple who only have eyes for each other.



Scripture: “A woman of noble character who can find? She is worth far more than rubies” – Proverbs 31:10