Roll Call Tribute

(Published in) The (Galveston) Daily News (on) Jun 14, 2019

Kathy Mason Fisher

In Celebration of Kathy Mason Fisher

November 15, 1952 to June 4, 2019:

Remember me on a sunny day

Smiling down from heaven above

With the wind in my hair

And the dolphins swimming along

Breathing in the salty air

Feeling the sunlight on my skin

And I am well and happy and strong!

And my lungs are filled with air!

Kathleen Denise Mason Fisher, 66, of Tiki Island, Texas passed away peacefully surrounded by her family on June 4, 2019 after a courageous battle with Idiopathic Pulmonary Fibrosis. Kathy was born on November 15, 1952 in Houston, TX to James Wilton and Helen Dorothy Mason. She had an older sister, Lynette Mason Gregg. She grew up and attended high school in Deer Park, TX where she was the feature twirler.

She attended college at Texas A&M University where she obtained her Bachelors of Science Degree in Curriculum and Instruction in 1974. Kathy had a passion for teaching and always loved children, so it was no surprise that she went on to become a teacher.

She first taught in Caldwell, Texas, then in Keller, Texas, and subsequently moved back to the Houston area and taught at Pasadena, TX and Deer Park, TX ISDs. She always had a love for teaching and helping others. After teaching in public schools and having children of her own, she opened and operated a Montessori School in Deer Park, TX, and later in life ran a tutoring service for adult women with disabilities. She loved all of her students and spoke about them often. She was also the financial manager for twenty years for her husband, Tom, with their very successful construction and real estate business in Pearland and Tiki Island, TX.

Besides teaching, above all Kathy was a proud and loving mother, grandmother, and wife. She raised four loving children, absolutely adored her nine grandchildren, and shared a remarkable love with her husband, Tom. Their love was an example to all husbands and wives and was evident to anyone who knew them. Kathy also loved anything that involved the water. She lived on Tiki Island for the last two decades of her life and found peace in looking out over the bay and watching the wildlife.

She was courageous and unwavering in her fight against IPF. Those around her never knew she was in pain and she received the greatest of care from Tom and the doctors and nurses who cared for her.

She is preceded in death by parents, James Wilton and Helen Dorothy Mason; stepfather, Felix Charles Guetzow; sister, Lynette Mason Gregg, and mother-in-law, Florence Fisher.

She is survived by her husband, Thomas (aka Tiki Tom, Big Bear, Tom) Fisher; children, Damon Spinks, and wife, Lauren Eiserman Spinks, Dustin Spinks, and wife, Brandy Bellow Spinks, Devin Spinks, and wife, Cisily Vallot Spinks, and Chelsea Fisher Burns, and husband, Nate Burns; very special niece, Vanessa Handrick Garner, and husband, Grey Garner, and their two children, Will and Hattie Grey; nine grandchildren, Ainsley, Jacksyn, Elliot, Emma, Eva, Lillian, Stella, Mason, and Easton; and many extended family members and friends.

Kathy’s Celebration of Life will be held at 11:00 a.m., Saturday, June 22 at Moody Methodist Church at 2803 53rd St, Galveston, TX. Kathy requested that her family and friends celebrate her life in “Tiki Coastal Attire.” NO TYPICAL FUNERAL ATTIRE (meaning no suits/ties, no black). Please come to her celebration comfortable and COLORFUL. Think shorts, tropical attire, and sandals. This is the way she wanted it.

In lieu of flowers, Kathy asks that donations be made to: The Pulmonary Fibrosis Foundation, 230 East Ohio St, Suite 500 Chicago, IL 60611-3270. https://www.pulmonaryfibrosis.org