Lucile K. Fisher

Lucile Kathryn Fisher, age 92, passed away in Gering, NE on Saturday, December 9, 2023. A Rosary Service will be held at 10:00 A.M. on Thursday, December 14, 2023 at St. Patrick's Catholic Church in Sidney, NE. A Mass of Christian Burial will be at 10:30 A.M. Thursday, December 14, 2023 with Father C.P. Varghese officiating. Burial will follow at Greenwood Cemetery in Sidney. Services will be livestreamed on the Gehrig-Stitt Chapel Facebook page and recorded for later viewing on our website.

Friends may stop at the Gehrig-Stitt Chapel on Wednesday from 1-6:00 P.M. to leave condolences for the family. The family has requested memorials to St. Patrick's Church in Sidney, Christ the King Catholic Church in Gering, NE or donor's choice.

You may view Lucile's Book of Memories, leave condolences, photos and stories at http://www.gehrigstittchapel.com. Gehrig-Stitt Chapel & Cremation Service, LLC is in charge of Lucile's care and funeral arrangements.

Lucile - or Grizz, as she is affectionately known to her family - was born in Dalton, NE on May 11, 1931 to farmers Fred Dye Rathman and Antonia Bertha Warnemunde. She grew up with older siblings Fred, Anita, Arthur, and Lynn, Jeanne and younger sister Berna. A music lover, she perfected the art of scaring the chickens with her trombone.  She also served as Dalton High School's Band Majorette before her graduation in 1948. 

  First Presbyterian Church in Dalton was the site of both Lucile's baptism on April 4, 1948 and her wedding to Loren Fisher on September 11, 1949. The pair settled in Sidney, where they lived, worked and raised three daughters. Lucile spent her fifty-year career serving Sidney Public Schools, first as a cook and then as a paraeducator at South Elementary.  She delighted in taking tickets at school sporting events until her retirement in 2011. In 1982, she made St Patrick's Parish her church home and soon began volunteering at the St Patrick's Rummage House, where she found many a great bargain.

In 2020, she moved in with her daughter Carolyn and son-in-law Reed who cared for her with gratitude and dedication. Grizz enjoyed crossword puzzles, Game Show Network, her basset hound Gracey, and rousing card and board games with her great grandchildren. Dear to her heart was her family, which she insisted is the best medicine there is.

  Lucile is preceded in death by her husband Loren Fisher, her son-in-law Robert Ziegler, and her parents and siblings.

  Lucile is survived by her daughter Connie Bonahoom and son-in-law Phil of Beatrice, NE; daughter Susie Ziegler of Omaha, NE; and daughter Carolyn Happold and son-in-law Reed of Gering, NE. She is survived by her grandchildren Nick Bonahoom of Beatrice and Phillip Bonahoom of Lincoln; Kelly Varguez and her husband Ricardo of Omaha; Jessie Kaffai and her husband Jay of San Diego, CA; Jody Gagnon and her husband Keith of Castle Rock, CO; Alyson Darst and her husband Matt Palmer of Englewood, CO; and Kacey Ross and her husband Jared of Gering. She is survived by her great grandchildren Ashleigh Smith, Andrea Kaffai, Eli and Jade Varguez, Natalie and Madison Gagnon, and Ethan, Loren, and Hudson Ross. She will be sorely missed.