KAY FISCHER
JULY 10, 2016
Kay's family first arrived at the CSA on July 1st, 1957, coming from their new home in Iowa City, and were instant converts to the Assembly. This was true even though the cottage they rented that first summer had squirrels scampering around the kitchen at night knocking pans off the shelves.
After two years of renting they bought a lot from the Assembly and built their beloved log cottage, "Red Chimney". Kay fondly remembers walking home in the dark as her husband Harry led them in singing the old hymn "Let the Lower Lights be Burning" while they felt their way along the edge of the pavement until the faint glow of the porch light finally showed them the path to the Red Chimney.
In those years, the Assembly was very much matriarchal - fewer women worked outside the home so mothers and children would spend the summers here while the fathers were home. Kay spent the summers watching their four children on the beach during lessons, urging them on during tennis tournaments, and helping with operettas and dances.
She quickly became actively involved in the volunteer life that is the heartbeat of the CSA, serving as a Trustee, as a member of the Women's Association Board and Committee and was part of the Citation Committee during its early years.
But committees and board memberships come and go. If you want to know the essence of Kay Fischer, you are encouraged to go to the lounge in the Assembly Building and study the Centennial quilt, put together in 2001, hanging on the wall. The large central block, the focal point of the piece, is the visual representation of the Assembly's "then" and "now". There in front of the Meeting House are the transparent ghostly figures of the Assembly's past coexisting with the brightly dressed figures of "now" accompanied by the words "They led the way - we follow still." This was the creation of Kay Fischer - the design for it grew out of her great love and appreciation for the Assembly; the beauty of it grew out of her willingness to share her talent.
