- Date Of Birth: August 7, 1923
- Date Of Death: May 11, 2012
- State: Texas
Dr. Fisher went home to be with his Lord on Friday, May 11, 2012, surrounded by loving family members in Belton, Texas. Flake was born on August 7, 1923, in Abbot, New Mexico, to the late Flake and Marie Smith Fisher. Dr. Fisher met his wife of 55 years on a blind date when he was stationed at Ardmore Air Force Base, Ardmore, Oklahoma, in the spring of 1945. Barjorie Ham and Flake married on July 22, 1945, in Denton, Texas, in the Little Chapel-in-the-Woods at Texas State College for Women.
Dr. Fisher joined the Army Air Corps in the summer of 1942 as a flight cadet; by the fall of 1944, he was promoted to First Lieutenant and served as a navigator on B-17’s and B-29’s. After his military service, he graduated from New Mexico College of Agriculture and Mechanic Arts. In 1947 he moved to College Station, Texas, where he earned his Master’s and Doctorate degrees in agronomy from Agricultural and Mechanical College of Texas. He was part of the faculty at Texas A&M, starting as a graduate instructor and then achieving the rank of associate professor. His research focused on soil and crop science, specializing in chemical fertilizers.
He joined Best Fertilizer/Occidental Chemical Corporation in 1964, as chief agronomist, and continued his research efforts which led to the invention of ZIPP fertilizer, a time release fertilizer with micronutrients. In 1971 he returned to the A&M system as Director of the Texas Feed and Fertilizer Control Service. He retired from the A&M system to join Chemical Enterprises in Houston where he stayed until he retired a second time. Flake and Barjorie Fisher were faithful members of First Baptist Church of College Station, where Dr. Fisher served as Sunday school teacher and deacon for 35 years. When they moved to Houston in 1979, they joined Tallowood Baptist Church where he again served as a Sunday school teacher. In 1988, Flake and Barjorie moved to Temple, Texas, and joined the First Baptist Church of Belton. They were active members of the Senior Adult Sunday School Department. After Barjorie’s death, Flake married Ethel Marie Black of Knoxville, Tennessee.
They were married for 11 years. A humble man of unfaltering Christian faith, “Dada” to some and “Grandaddy” to others, he left a legacy of faith that each surviving family member followed. He is survived by wife, Marie Black of Temple and children: Kenneth Lee Fisher and wife Edna Mae of Coralville, Iowa; Kay Fisher Goldsmith and husband Edward Alan of Belton, Texas; Kerry Ann Stallings Butler (preceded in death by first husband John Russell Stallings) and husband Dusty David of Fort Worth, Texas; grandchildren: Marnie Leigh Fisher-Ingram and husband Daniel of Bessemer, Alabama; Katie Joanne Thompson and husband Eric of Cincinnati, Ohio; Lisa Paige Snyder and husband Wayne of McKinney, Texas; Sara Kay Cederberg and husband Chad of McKinney, Texas; Timothy Andrew Stallings and fiance Kelly Robertson of Plano, Texas; Sarah Kathryn Stallings Creveling and husband Brian of Plano, Texas; and great-grandchildren: Truitt Alan and Meredith Elle Snyder, Mollie Claire Ingram, Parker Alan Cederberg, Rachel Alev Parr, Linus Leroy and Harvey Jo Thompson. Also surviving are sisters Ruby Jane Blackmon of Harrison, Arkansas and Nitha Ernestine (Fisher) Horn of Winnemucca, New Mexico. He was preceded in death by his brother Dale Dean Fisher of Tulare, California. Surviving step-children include, Doyle Black, Teresa Black Dicus and Keith Black.
