Marinda Bell Fisher

This is my grandmother Della's mother. She is the grandmother of Wilma, Jerry, Jim and Don.

They didn't get to meet her. She died of the flu in 1919... before they were born.

The snapshot I took with the digital camera was a little off and you don't really see how beautiful she was in this picture. She really was strikingly pretty.

She is buried next to her husband, John Rudolph "Rude" Fisher... known to many just as "Grandpa Fisher".

My grandmother Della went to school with her mom's sister Hattie, who was younger than Della.

Marinda was the oldest of 12 children.

Note: There is some confusion about the spelling of her first name, but "Marinda" is on her gravestone. Bell family history charts from Lois Goodson also lists her maternal grandmother's name as Marinda. Various newspaper articles, many of which are obituaries for family members, list her as "Miranda" and also as "Merinda". Her middle name is also a mystery. There is no middle name on the gravestone. Bell family history lists her middle name as "Myra". Curt's geneology lists it as Marie.

Below the picture is an item from the Albion newspaper of May 13, 1918. The first paragraph relates to Marinda and Rude:

"Mr. and Mrs. Rude Fisher were the guests one day last week of the latter's sister, Mrs. Harry Medler of Albion; (three words indecipherable)... shopping in the city."

It's interesting to note that Rude and Marinda were considered "out-of-towners" in Albion. They lived in Golden Gate. Plus, Harry and Myrtle Medler are the grandparents of Lois Goodson, my hostess in Albion on July 2008. That more recent visit is also documented in the Albion paper.... and this blog!