Phyllis Arlene Fisher

December 26, 1924 - December 8, 2018

Phyllis Arlene Fisher, 93, longtime resident of Alva, Oklahoma, passed away Saturday, December 8, 2018, in Alva, Oklahoma, at Beadles Nursing Home surrounded by family members and friends. Memorial services will be 1:00 p.m. Saturday, December 22, 2018, at the First Presbyterian Church in Alva with Rev. Dr. Carol Cook Moore officiating. Phyllis, daughter of George Merrill and Ruby (Vermillion) Rubendall, was born December 26, 1924, on the farm north of Oberlin, in Decatur County, Kansas. After the death of her grandmother, the Vermillion family moved to the Vermillion farm southeast of Coldwater, Kansas, to help her grandfather. Phyllis graduated the 8th grade from Nauvoo Rural School in 1938 and Coldwater High School in 1942. She attended Wichita Business College where she pledged the Alpha Iota Honor Society. On July 6, 1941, Phyllis married Wilbur Lytle at Pratt, Kansas. To this marriage one daughter, Dr. Kaye Tatro, was born. Later, Phyllis married Gilbert Fisher on December 24, 1951. They made their home in Alva. To this marriage, Gilbert brought three children, Jane, Dean, and Harry. Phyllis was the bookkeeper for Gilbert’s Painting Contractor Business. She is an honorary lifetime member of the First Presbyterian Church of Alva where she formerly served as Sunday School Teacher, Treasurer, and longtime member of the Evening Circle. Phyllis was an election precinct worker for about 20 years and a board member at the Cherokee Strip Museum in Alva where she served as vice chair and chairman. Due to failing eyesight, she had to resign those positions. She was a member of the Cherokee Outlet Museum Chapter, Daughters of the American Revolution, and the Alva Chapter Red Hat Society. Besides her parents, she was preceded in death by her husband, Gilbert Fisher; her daughter, Dr. Kaye Tatro; her son, Harry Fisher; one great-grandson, Nolan Hurst; one great great granddaughter, Lilly Aunna McAlpin; and one brother, Harold Rubendall. Phyllis is survived by two children, Jane Gaskill of McKinney, Texas, and Dean Fisher and wife, Louise, of Woodward, Oklahoma; one brother, Donald Rubendall of Richmond, Indiana; 11 grandchildren; 25 great-grandchildren; and 5 great-great-grandchildren. Memorial contributions may be made through the funeral home to the First Presbyterian Church, Alva Senior Citizens Center, or the Cherokee Strip Museum.