Gary Clay Fisher

Gary Clay Fisher, 75, of Oak Harbor passed away on the 10th of February, 2014, of cardiac arrest. He was born in Santa Rosa, California on 1 July 1938 to Clay and Beatrice Fisher. He grew up during WWII while his father was aboard ship with the U.S. Navy in the Pacific. He worked for his Grandfather and Uncle on their farms and had a Farm Driver’s License at age 14. He went to Santa Rosa High School and majored in Future Farmers of America hoping one day to be a veterinarian. He received an appointment to the Naval Academy but due to his defective color vision he was not accepted. Rather than give up, he joined the U.S. Navy at age 17 and for 8 years was a Naval Weatherman at Kodiak, Alaska, Alameda, California and Holy Lock, Scotland after schooling at NAS Lakehurst, New Jersey. As the first weatherman on a Submarine Tender at Holy Loch, he was notified he was accepted for Officer Candidate School at Newport, Rhode Island, then to Supply Corps School at Athens, Georgia where he became a Supply Corps Officer. Assignments afloat, ashore and overseas include Supply Officer of a Fleet Oiler and on two Aircraft Carriers. He was Aide to three of the Senior Admirals in the U.S. Navy and was selected as Captain, U.S. Navy while as Executive Officer at Subic Bay in the Philippines. He retired from Philadelphia, PA after 32 years of active duty.

He earned a BS in Business Administration and an MS in Material Management at the Naval University in Monterey, CA with Doctoral Studies at the University of Tennessee. After retirement, he was Professor of business subjects at several colleges and universities for 15 years retiring in 2003. He was recognized as Instructor of the Year in 1993 and received the Director’s Award in 2002. He received many awards including the Outstanding Young Man of America in 1973, President of the United States Award for Life Saving in 1984 and 4-H Co-leader of the Year in 2000 with his wife Lois. They were leaders of the 4-H club Colonial Critters receiving a record number of awards at the Island County Fair. He started the 4-H club Weather or Not in 2010 to teach youth about world weather.

During retirement, he was a volunteer firefighter, Fireman of the Year in 1992 and President of the Fire Association for 3 years. Other volunteer activities included Co-president of the Whidbey Playhouse, Boy Scouts of America Woodbadge Award and BSA District Commissioner, Ducks Unlimited District Chairman, President of Whidbey Sportsman’s Clubs, American Red Cross Board and ARC Disaster Team, Conservation Futures Fund Board member, Chairman Island County Fair Board and trained on the Community Emergency Response Team (CERT) for Island County.

He was a judge at the Miss America Pageant in Atlantic City in 1985. He was a Life Member of NRA, North American Hunting and Fishing Clubs, American Sheep Industry Association and American Livestock Breeds Conservatory.

Gary loved farming and with his wife, Lois, developed a state-of-the-art farm, Camelot Downs. They raised Colonial livestock being one of the few in the U.S. to do so. Camelot Downs was declared the Merit Farm of Whidbey Island for conservation of natural resources, wetlands and creating wildlife habitat plus animal husbandry. In 2010 Camelot Downs granted a Conservation Easement to Farmland Trust. He loved his pets and critters.

A good story-teller, he enjoyed sitting at a campfire at the family retreat, Rocky Top, in Ellensburg, WA with his family.

He enjoyed hunting all his life and was a conservationist and preservationist to the end.

He is survived by his wife of 54 years. They were married in Santa Rosa, CA in 1959. They were united after attending Santa Rosa High School together, graduating in 1958. They had 3 children, Geoffrey Clay, Marsha Rae (Deiter) and Glenn Merritt plus six grandchildren, Jake and Jared Deiter, Courteney, Tyler, Gabrielle, and Emily Fisher and four great grandsons, Ethan and Ean Deiter, Jayden Funnell and Jack Ogren. He is also survived by his sister, Doralynn Wicklund, and nephew and nieces, Douglas, Dawn and Dorann Wicklund.