Introducing: The Lee and Rosemary Fisher Papers Collection

Posted on April 20, 2015 by

I would like to introduce a new collection to the Walter Havighurst Special Collection at Miami University: The Lee and Rosemary Fisher Papers. The collection was donated by Lee and Rosemary on August 22, 2014. Both Lee (’68) and Rosemary (’69) are Miami graduates and a Miami Merger in 1970.

After graduating from Miami Lee served in the military. He was stationed in Vietnam from 1969 to 1970 with the Army’s 101st Airborne Division. The bulk of the collection are letters during this time written to, and from, Rosemary. Rosemary worked as a teacher.

After serving in the Army and prior to retiring in 2002, Lee held a number of managerial positions in corporate accounting and finance for a large transportation concern. Prior to his retirement, he also held a Series 7 NASD designation and worked as a Personal Financial Analyst for Citigroup, an international financial services provider.

Lee retired to central West Virginia (Braxton County) where he and his wife, Rosemary, a retired educator, had a small farm since the mid-seventies. Lee and his wife served on Boards of a number of Braxton County non-profit organizations. This included Lee’s serving as the President of the Braxton County Rotary. As a Vietnam veteran, Lee also served in a number of veteran service organizations in West Virginia. He and his wife, Rosemary, were also school volunteers at Little Birch Elementary School in Little Birch, WV for a number of years.

At the state level, Lee served on the West Virginia Board of Accountancy (2006-2013, President 2011-12), and the West Virginia Broadband Deployment Council (2005-2013, Grant Committee Chair 2011-13). Lee also served as Treasurer of the Board and Executive Committee of TechConnectWV, a 501 (C3) organization that is dedicated to promoting technology based economic development in West Virginia.

In 2008, Lee was nominated and selected to receive the prestigious West Virginia Governor’s Service Award for his commitment to bringing broadband coverage to the communities throughout central West Virginia through his leadership in the Gilmer/Braxton Research Institute.

Lee and his wife relocated to their native state of Ohio in 2013. They reside at the Knolls of Oxford, a continuing care retirement community, in Oxford, Ohio. They are active members of the Oxford Rotary Club and of the Oxford Presbyterian Church.

This collection is mainly comprised of letters written between Lee and Rosemary Fisher (née Holoviak) between 1969 and 1970, while Lee was serving in Vietnam with the 101^st Airborne Division. Early 1968 correspondence between Lee and Rosemary originates from a European trip Lee took to visit a former Miami friend, Frank Castle, who was in the US Army and stationed in Berlin, West Germany at the time. Correspondence between Lee and Rosemary then shifts for the remainder of 1968 to a period when Lee was a Management Trainee on the Penn Central Railroad’s Management Training Program. There are also a few items from after Lee’s return from Vietnam. Included in the letters are also newspaper clippings, poetry, greeting cards and photographs. During his time in Vietnam, there are also letters written to and from Lee’s friends and family. The collection also includes writing by Lee as well as miscellaneous items such as magazines, programs and Vietnam related audio tapes.

Here are a few items from the collection: