Sharon Dolores Fisher

Sharon D. Fisher passed away peacefully at her home in Yakima, Washington, on Friday, March 13, 2020, at the age of 80. Sharon was born in Portland, Oregon, on October 7, 1939, to Dolores A. (Redecker) and Richard Hoyt Hays.

Sharon was a pioneer in many ways. She attended Cleveland High School in Portland, where she was very involved in sports and accomplished in academics. She loved baseball and football. Later in college, she wrote a sports column for a Portland newspaper. From 1957–1959, Sharon attended Oregon State University, where she majored in wildlife biology – one of the earliest women there to major in the environmental sciences.

Sharon moved to Yakima in 1976 with her four children and first husband, R.W. “Bill” Fisher. She was proud of the years she spent traveling abroad, where all her children were born. She worked as a transcriptionist for translators before settling in Yakima, where she managed a bowling alley for 12 years and was a youth bowling coach before becoming administrative secretary for Highland School District in Cowiche. She retired in 2011. She enjoyed camping, bowling, gardening, HAM radio, knitting and stormy afternoons on the beach. But mostly she enjoyed volunteering wherever she was needed.

Sharon met her life partner Darrell Monroe in 1981, and together they dedicated their lives to service. She volunteered with many organizations before and after retirement, including Yakima County Search and Rescue, Master Gardeners, Harmon Senior Center and more. She trained as an EMT, taught classes, wrote columns and newsletters, and loved sharing all that she learned. She lived what she believed: be helpful, never stop learning and surround yourself with good people.

Sharon is survived by her life partner, Darrell Monroe; her children Scott Fisher of Tigard, Ore.; Corey Fisher of Halsey, Ore.; and Naomi Fisher of Goldendale, Wash.; as well as eight grandchildren and two great-grandchildren. She was preceded in death by her parents, her brother Ric Hays, her first husband Bill Fisher, and son Lance Fisher.

The family would like to thank all those who participated with Sharon in celebrating her 80th birthday.

A private graveside service for immediate family will take place at the end of March. Because Sharon would be very concerned about the health of family and friends due to the current pandemic, we ask that well-wishers wait until the Celebration of Life for Sharon, which will be held later in the spring or summer, time and place to be announced.

In lieu of flowers, the family asks that donations of time or money be made to the organizations that Sharon herself supported: Yakima County Master Gardeners, Yakima County Search and Rescue, or Memorial Hospital Foundation for North Star Lodge cancer care.

Memories and condolences can be added to Sharon’s page on the Keith & Keith Funeral Home website, www.dignitymemorial.com/obituaries/yakima-wa/sharon-fisher-9088531.