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Tillie and Rolly Fischer have lived in the valley
more years than almost anyone in the 100 Club. They are not only active
in our club’s activities (hiking, skiing etc.), but, they also devote a
great deal of energy and time to the success of the club’s social
activities. Tillie is responsible for scheduling and planning all the
presentations at our monthly dinner meetings. And, she is responsible
for the two annual Pot Luck dinners we enjoy at the Community Center.
Rolly and Tillie are both dedicated to fighting MS, the disease that has
affected four family members, including their son. In addition to being
one of the annual sponsors of the Glenwood MS Walk, they work on the
organizational committee for the walk and personally raise thousands of
dollars to help end the devastating effects of this disease. This has
been a thirteen year fight for them and will continue as long as they
can walk. Somehow they also have time to develop a beautiful garden full
of flowers and tomatoes. Rolly gets full credit for giving Tillie the
support she needs to accomplish all of these feats year after year.
Tillie and Rolly met while they were both attending the Ohio State
University and later were married in Youngstown, Ohio. Rolly’s education
and background is in engineering, geology, and water conservation, and
it was this background that brought them, in 1955, to Grand Valley (now
known as Parachute). Rolly, in those days, worked for a west coast oil
company in oil shale. This work, which held so much promise for Western
Colorado, turned out not to be feasible. Rolly then ran his own
consulting firm in natural gas drilling and water development until he
was hired away, in 1968, by one of his clients, the Colorado River Water
Conservation District in Glenwood Springs. This was a dream come true as
Tillie and Rolly both loved Glenwood Springs ever since coming to
Colorado. For the next 28 years Rolly was Manager Secretary-Engineer of
this organization which had been formed to preserve and develop water in
Western Colorado. On Rolly’s watch the only water storage projects in
the history of the water district were built.
While Rolly was involved in the politics of developing water resources,
Tillie was busy starting one of her two businesses. The first was called
Office Service Unlimited which found permanent and temporary employees
for the developing offices here in the valley. She had the distinction
of having, in 1981, the first Fax Machine, and in 1987 the first Laser
Color Copier in the valley. Tillie had another first: she was denied a
Rifle library card. Seems that people connected with the oil shale and
construction business in these parts were considered transients and not
to be trusted. Either Tillie’s character has improved since then or the
library was a bad judge of character. In 1989 Tillie started her second
business, providing help for construction and industrial firms. Both
businesses were successfully sold in 1998. Tillie, back in 1971 also had
time to help found the Barracudas (a local Swim Team), and she worked
with the local 4H club and coordinated activities of the local Girl
Scout troops.
Tillie and Rolly continue their active life style with visits by and to
their son and daughter and their two grandchildren. And they are active
travelers: this summer they visited Germany and Switzerland, and this
interview was conducted just two days after their return from their most
fascinating trip, this time to the orient.
……a more fulfilled life would be hard to find.
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