Ruth M. Fisher

Ruth M. Fisher, 101, of Urbana, passed away at 11:01 p.m. on Sunday, March 26, 2023 at Clark Lindsey Village,Urbana, Illinois. Ruth Paroni Meads was born in Berkeley CA to Dr. Albert Meads and Dr. Romilda Paroni Meads. She attended John Muir Elementary School which she revisited in 2015, glad to see that the live oaks and the stream were still there. In 1942 she married Dr. Ralph Talcott Fisher, Jr. of Oakland. During WWII, while Ralph was in China with the Army, she completed her BA at UC Berkeley and then got a Masters degree in social work at Columbia. After raising three children, and leading a Girl Scout troop for 12 years, Ruth worked as social worker for the Champaign school system, winning a state award. She initiated the popular peer-counseling program that became today’s Operation Snowball. Passionate about human rights throughout her life, Ruth supported immigrants through UCC, welcoming families and helping them adapt to life in C-U. She regularly hosted faculty newcomers in their home on Burlison Drive, and she and Ralph often took friends to the opera. She was active in the League of Women Voters. Nature and poetry were other lifelong passions. She loved music, from opera to the cowboy songs her husband sang. Ruth loved the annual family trip to Echo Lake in the Sierras, where she hiked with her family. She enjoyed regular walks on the prairie trails in Meadowbrook Park. She could name many of the plants and wildflowers she loved. Her family remembers her as an inspiration: loving, always supportive, resilient, funny, gracious and grateful. She was blessed with a sunny disposition, always able to appreciate the positive aspects of any situation. Her grandchildren will remember her for her deep listening, her observant, inquisitive spirit, and her colorful imagination. It is with great love and deep admiration that her family lays her to rest after a lucky life of 101 years. She is predeceased by husband Ralph in 2015 and son Tad in 2021. She is survived by her daughter-in-law Yeshodara Menon Fisher, daughter Meg Fisher-Krugman & Arn Krugman, and her son Dr. Albert Meads Fisher & Dr. Marina Talet Fisher, and by five grandchildren: Joshua & Galen Krugman; Anjali & Mira Fisher; and Owen Fisher. The family would like to thank the staff at Clark Lindsey Village, especially at the East Green House for their loving care. A Celebration of Life service will be held in the Activities Center at Clark Lindsey Village on April 4th from 3-4pm. Anyone wishing to make a donation in Ruth’s name might select: Planned Parenthood, Human Rights Watch, Southern Poverty Law Center, Urbana Park District, UCC in Champaign, ACLU.

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