E. Elizabeth Wisher's Obituary
Although she was born in Littlerock Arkansas and moved to San Diego in her early years, Elizabeth Wisher grew up and lived in Tacoma. She went to Arlington Grade School, Grey Jr High and graduated from Lincoln High in 1942. Elizabeth loved to tell stories of how her dad worked at McNeil Island and that she lived in South Tacoma. Elizabeth worked at the Bremerton Navy Ship Yard during WWII. One of her assignments was at tool shed #3 where she met the handsome sailor ( Harold Wisher) she would eventually marry February 20, 1943. After the war, Elizabeth worked at Nalley Valley (Nalley’s Fine Foods) for over 38 years. And in her retirement years, she was a demo lady for Sam’s Club in Auburn for 16 years, leaving that job when she was 84.
Elizabeth was preceded in death by her husband, Harold to whom she was married 59 years and by her son, Steven Harold Wisher. She is survived by her daughter, Patricia (Trish) Hadland-Holmes, husband, Doug; Daughter in-law Hope Wisher, four grandchildren: Mark Hadland, Caitlyn Wisher, Derek Wisher, Jacob Wisher, great grandchildren Carter Hadland, Rhone Hadland-Sullivan.
Elizabeth loved her clubs. She was a lifetime VFW member of the Women Auxiliary Post 969, Fraternal Order of Eagles, since 1955, her favorites were Club #2933 and #3 both in South Tacoma. She was a member of the Loyal Order of the Moose and served on many committees and went through the chairs in her early lodge membership 1980- 1997 developing many friendships along the way.
Elizabeth loved to travel. She was one of the first tour groups of Tacoma to travel with Tacoma Community College on several trips to China in the 1980’s. She went at least 18 times to London with her lady friends to see plays and then tour London and the English countryside. She took the Orient Express and traveled to many US Cities with her friends. She looked forward to her travels every year from 1964 until she could not travel any more. For two weeks each year she went somewhere fun and adventurous. Her grandson Mark paid for several trips with her daughter to Paris when he lived there. In 1993, she made annual trips with her daughter, first to Missouri to see family in Springfield and then each year thereafter they went somewhere until 2008 when she quit traveling. They went to Holland, Belgium, Great Britain, France, seeing many city sites with favorites being Paris, London, Stonehenge, Bath, Amsterdam. When her 2nd set of grandchildren arrived from her son’s family in the 1990’s, she made it a special point to take each one alone after they were 8 years old to some special city so that they had the benefit of a memory with grandma. Positive loving memories are what she wanted them to remember when she was gone.
Elizabeth had a lovely home which was known for its beautiful Rhododendrons and Azealias which she started collecting in 1960. People would drive up and take photos of her yard in the spring. It was like a miniature park. She loved to cook and loved her family. She was famous for her zucchini Bread and her razor clam fritters. Every Christmas Eve was held at her house for the entire family all her life from the time she and Harold made their home life after WWII to when she went to the Care home in 2016. Christmas Day she spent that with her son’s family and his wife’s extended loved ones.
A thank you to Narrows Glenn Memory Care, now called Cogir at the Narrows for the years she was cared for. A private immediate family service will be held at a future date.
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