Louise M. Fischer

Louise M. Fischer, 79, of Waco, went to be with the Lord, Thursday, October 7, 2004. Services will be held at 10:00 am Monday, October 11 at First United Methodist Church with the Rev. Stephen Ramsdell officiating. Graveside services will be at 3:30pm at Danville Cemetery in Kilgore, Texas on Monday, October 11. Louise was born in Foreman, Arkansas on October 17, 1924 to John Slim L. Mitchell and Flossie Mae Mitchell. She grew up in Kilgore, Texas and graduated from Kilgore High School. Louise received her nursing certificate at Seton Hospital in Austin, Texas. Then she was awarded a BS in Nursing Education from Incarnate Word in San Antonio, Texas. She was a member of First United Methodist Church of Waco and a member of the Odell Dudley class. Louise was also a regular member of the Protestant service at Providence Village where she ushered. Her active life took her in many directions. She worked and was licensed by Western Union in the forties. Louise was a member of the Army Corps of Nurses which started her on the way to 43 years of nursing. She graduated Seton Hospital and worked along with her sister-in-law, Helen Seals, on occasions with the family Lyndon Johnson. After her graduation as an RN she worked as a private company nurse. Within a few years, Louise went back to school and received her BS and later taught nursing at Robert B. Green Hospital in San Antonio. After a successful teaching stint, she was asked to become a member of the United States Public Health Department and later in her career worked and retired from the Texas Public Health Department. In her position as Director of Nursing for Region X, she was named the Most Outstanding Healthcare Worker for the State of Texas and awarded the Peavy Award for Top Public Health Official in the State of Texas. As Director, she traveled extensively in South Texas and Mexico, where she received an honorary Mexican citizenship for her work on TB and working with women and children in Mexico. Upon her retirement, Louise was nominated for the first class of the Outstanding Women of Texas. A life long member of Zonta International, she held many offices at the local, District, and National Level. She was also affiliated with numerous nursing and volunteer organizations, such as the Pink Ladies Gift Shop at Kenedy County Hospital and Providence Health Center Auxiliary, Waco. Upon her death she was a volunteer greeter for new residents at The Village at Providence Park. Louise was preceded in death by her husband, Robert Bob C. Fischer. They enjoyed hunting and fishing together and spent time together on their small ranch in Kenedy, Texas. She is survived by her son, Leland Lee Fischer and his wife Brenda Wayland Fischer of Waco, Texas. Sisters, Mabel Foster, and her husband, Forrest of Kilgore, Texas and Jimmie Mason, and her husband, Norman of Lake Jackson. Sister- In-Laws, include her life long fiends, Helen Seals, of Cedar Park and Betty Fischer, of Arlington, Texas, and Brother-In- Law Donovan Fischer, and his wife, Mary of Arlington, Virginia. Her pride and joy were her grandchildren, Steven Kyle Fischer, of Plano, Texas, Meredith Ann Fischer, a student at North Texas University and Kristen Folley, Houston. She had one great-grandchild, Kai Crawford of Houston, Texas.