Dolores Catherine Fisher
Dolores Catherine Fisher, 79, of Caldwell and Houston passed away Saturday, April 10, 2021, in Caldwell, surrounded by her family.
A Graveside Service will be held Wednesday, April 14, 2021, at 2 p.m. at the New Tabor Cemetery near Caldwell. Dolores will have a visitation for family and friends prior to her graveside from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. The burial will follower after in the New Tabor Cemetery near Caldwell.
Dolores Catherine Fisher, was born April 1, 1942, in Cameron. She spent her first years at her grandparents’ home and farm near Caldwell, while her father Emil was on the Pacific front with the Army, and while her mother and aunts were working in Houston to support of the war. When her father returned home from WWII, he recalled that she spoke only Czech.
She was raised in Cameron with her father and mother Martha. She was a student of St. Monica’s Catholic school in Cameron, and went on to graduate from Cameron Yoe High in 1960. There she was in the band, and a Twirler, and met a young tuba player named Stanley Fisher.
After her graduation, she followed her sweetheart to Baylor University, but later transferred to Sam Houston State University. She obtained her Bachelor of Science in May of 1963 from SHSU, and received her Texas Teaching Certificate that same month.
She became a lifelong primary school teacher, and dedicated herself to sowing the seeds of education, curiosity, hard work, and discipline in all children she encountered. She returned to her hometown and taught her first year at Cameron Elementary, while also caring for her ill mother. When her mother passed the following year, she married her high school beau and they eventually landed in Houston.
She began teaching for Houston ISD in September of 1965, and would do so for 33 years. Her first classes were at Franklin Elementary School on Canal Street. In October of 1974 she moved to Love Elementary in The Heights, and there would teach 3rd, 4th, or 5th, for 23 years until her retirement in May of 1997. The impact she had on lives and futures of so many children was immeasurable and was evidenced by the many students who would return in their adulthood to visit her and thank her, or who would recognize her in public and rush to hug her and share their stories with her.
She considered herself a lifelong Houstonian, however she and her husband and partner Paul built a 2nd home in Caldwell, Texas on the same property her Grandparents kept her in her early childhood years. They can literally see her grandparents’ original house from the windows, and she recalled stories of tending the chickens there, sleeping on the porch with Grandpa and her cousins, and riding in Grandpa’s horse drawn cart to town for supplies. Here she loved the blooming flora of Spring and enjoyed watching the animals like the deer, the birds, her neighbor’s horses and mules, and countless litters of cats which always seemed to be manifesting under the porch.
Her passions throughout her life beyond her career and her students were reading, painting, and the water. Her favorite leisure times were in her community pool with friends at her townhome in Houston, spending days at Galveston beaches, and soaking up the sun and cool waters of the Guadalupe River in New Braunfels. She truly loved her townhome and its community in Houston where she raised her son and remained a resident for over 40 years. Her friends and neighbors of Victorian Village and the times enjoyed around the pool were some of her most cherished moments.
Dolores was preceded in death by her parents, Emil and Martha Zalesky; her stepmother, Ann Zalesky; and a stepsister, Dolly Malone.
Surviving are her son, Jim Fisher of Austin; her partner, Paul Coop of Caldwell; three grandsons, Jaiden, Kolby and Mason Fisher; also survived by two stepbrothers, Daniel and Ben Tepera.
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