In Memory of Becky Fisher


When I first started coming to Pinecraft during the winter months of 2002-03, I saw Becky Fisher occasionally here and there. I was living on the north side of Bahia Vista and she was on the south side. I was shy and bashful and lived in constant culture shock the first season I was here, and so I basically stayed in my own territory. I never ventured far from my apartment. Two winters later Becky Fisher and I both were in a seminar sponsored by the Overholt Family.



Becky and I were in the same small group, along with this wonderful lady in the middle. It was then that I heard snatches of Becky’s life as a little girl. I don’t know all the details but she lost her mother at the tender age when all little girls need their mothers.  She was placed in another home and with time her father remarried and as far as Becky was concerned it never went well, which it probably didn’t go well, at least not with her.

After this seminar we met occasionally on the street and visited with each other. Basically the visit was always one-sided, about her cares and problems and what causes her cares and problems. I let her talk because she needed a listening ear. By the time I came to Pinecraft most people had crossed her off as a hopeless case or at least Becky thought they did. No, the people actually did because Becky was next to impossible to get along with. She was a feisty fighter and fought her way through everything and everyone. People just learned to leave her alone, step out of her way and move on with their lives. It is not that the people didn’t care about her, they did and tried to help her but Becky was Becky. But because of people backing off she became lonelier and more alone.

Becky and I became friends when I moved to her side of Bahia Vista and stayed in Pinecraft year round. So for the last six years we were friends. She’d buy me an ice cream cone at Big Olaf now and then and I bought her a meal at Yoder’s for her birthday. Most every day we met out on the street where we would visit. The day in 2007 when I left Pinecraft and moved in with my Dad in Ohio, she wept. She said every time she has a friend they move out of Pinecraft and then she is without friends again.   But a year later in 2008 after my Dad passed away I moved back into Pinecraft and we were friends again. And so life for the last three years were the same, we both went our own way, she doing her things and I did mine and when we met on the street we would stop and visit.

Most if not all of us expected her life to end in an accident. She had no respect for street safety. She crossed four-lane streets where ever she wanted to with her electric scooter. She even went north on southbound lanes or vise-verse, with a police car behind her blinking his lights for her to stop. She wouldn’t stop but just turned off and the police let her go. Night times she would be out on Bahia Vista jay-walking or jay-driving. Many a time people admonished her to be more careful but she always replied with, “What does it matter. Nobody cares what happens to me”. But people did care.

Around the first of August I suddenly realized that I haven’t seen Becky all week, not once. So I called her niece and was told Becky is not well. She never was out in the streets again for the last six weeks or so. Instead she was in the hospital a few times and people came and went every day to do things for her, to help her out, bring her food and, well the bottom line is the neighborhood did care about Becky. They cared for her. When she needed 24hour care one of her former friends whom she used to babysit years ago moved in with her and stayed…

I didn’t visit her often in her home after she was sick. I was there for her when she was well and lonely and needed to talk, but during her last month of life she had people in and out. She had people around her that cared for her spiritually, physically and in every way. She died in peace. It appears like all was well in the very end. 

Becky at the shuffleboard - this was taken in October of 2006. One of the few times she helped play shuffleboard.

This picture was taken less than a year ago. I don't have the exact date but was before she was on oxygen. I confess I sneaked these pictures of Becky as she never wanted her picture taken. It was not that she was against the camera. Instead her reason was always she is too ugly. That was her opinion of herself.

Last night at the visitation hours

We will miss her because a part of Pinecraft is gone.
This is my version or perspective of Becky. And if the neighbors want to agree or disagree, that is up to them.  

17 comments:

  1. Katie, I'm sorry you lost a friend who sounds like she really needed your friendship. Years ago people would come up to me in church and express surprise that I was friends with a woman who didn't seem friendly to them. Well, E. didn't appreciate people being nosy and pushy with her. But what a friend she was and when both my teen daughter and I came down with mono at the same time and had no one to bring medicine and food. I opened the door to see E. run in with grocery bags, a handkerchief pressed to her face, and run out again refusing payment for the meds. I miss her and know you'll miss your friend, too.

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  2. Barbara, you understand because of your own experience.

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  3. So sorry to hear of her passing. I understand some of her struggles. I lost my mom when I was nine and went from being well loved and cared for to often being alone with my six year old brother, raised by a mean and alcoholic father. I pray she sis come to terms with things in the end.

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  4. A touching story Katie, and you saw something and understood her better than a lot of folks may have in her life. Ive had many people pass away that i knew, and even now i still miss some of the quirky things that made them the person that they were. Richard

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  5. Becky and I shared a lot of fun times when Tasha was little, we'd go to the beach out to eat etc, Becky said she prayed for a little one to take care off, and what happened, God gave her one to keep! we then moved away for 8 years and lost track of each other, but have many memories of Tasha, Ben and Becky! I would like to visit with Tasha sometime, not sure how to get a hold of her though.

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  6. I don't know how to get a hold of Tasha, although she was around here with her husband during Becky'ssickness. They are expecting a baby in November.

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  7. Thank you so very much Katie for this glimpse of Becky's life. She was Mommy Beck to me and I only have a few personal memories of her.We would always stop for a visit when we would spend time in Pinecraft. Thank you so much for being a friend to her! It is comforting to know that someone knew her so well and showed her friendship.

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  8. well today is the first that i found this and it touched me so much ... im so glad she had a friend like you katie .... iev got a river running down my face i love the pictures it would be so nice to have a few of them i want to make an album of her here is my email xoxo4ever92@yahoo.com if you would like to email them to me that would be wonderful ..... we miss her soo soo much ... the baby is due tomarrow lets hope she comes and i jus almost cant stand that she isnt here to meet her grandaughter ... again thank you so much for being there for her <3 tasha

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  9. Tasha, I will email these pictures to you sometime this weekend. I still miss Becky.

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  10. thank u soooo much i believe we all do

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  11. Katie, we met you briefly several times in passing, but have appreciated your candid photos in and around Pinecraft. Your perspective and interesting shots help you put on paper something which is difficult to describe. But you do such a good job. As a former professional photographer, your images are a bright spot of your heritage and of Pinecraft. Keep on clicking away and writing of folks like Becky. Since there is only ONE Pinecraft it allows you the opportunity to catalog a very unique place with lots of folks from all over the country.
    Moe Gingerich

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    1. Thank you Moses. I miss Becky, especially since the winter people are gone. She would be out every evening looking for someone to talk to.

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  12. Katie, you were a friend indeed to Miss Becky and I have enjoyed reading about your friendship with her so much. I know she had a special place in her heart for you and you made her life more worth living. Every one of us needs a friend like you! I've enjoyed reading all your articles and I am going to add my e-mail address and hope I get a chance to read more articles of yours.

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  13. The lady in the middle in the top photo appears to be an Old German Baptist.

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    1. She is, she was but died some years ago from cancer.

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  14. I wonder if Becky was there in Pinecraft year round? We stayed in Pinecraft in the summer of 2004 and somehow she looks so familiar.

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    1. Yes Pink Hamster, I think she was in Pinecraft like 40 years more or less. Lived on Bimini Street. I am sure she was around when you were down here.

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