You may know her as the smiling lady at the opening of local
businesses or as a dedicated volunteer at the San Juan Bautista
Chamber of Commerce or
– if you are among her many friends – an extraordinary hostess.
But whatever part she is cast in, Cilly Fisher makes a lasting
impression.
You may know her as the smiling lady at the opening of local businesses or as a dedicated volunteer at the San Juan Bautista Chamber of Commerce or – if you are among her many friends – an extraordinary hostess. But whatever part she is cast in, Cilly Fisher makes a lasting impression.
Priscilla Woodward was born on March 21, 1927, as the second child of Frank and Helen Woodward of Waltham, Mass. Her brother, Leigh, is now a retired architect in Framingham, Mass.
Frank Woodward owned a real estate and insurance business until World War II, when he enlisted in the Army Air Corps and reached the rank of lieutenant colonel. When her children were in their teens, Helen Woodward entered the banking business and was a professional singer.
After graduating from Waltham High School in 1944, Cilly Woodward enrolled in the New England School of Professional Artists in Boston, and worked for awhile illustrating greeting cards.
She met Richard Blanchard, a veteran of the U.S. Navy’s Seabees, and they were married in 1948. They became the parents of three children. Gary Blanchard is manager of marketing/engineering of Thermal Dynamics in West Lebanon, N. H. Bonnie McKeller is the director of the Hospital-Owned Primary Care Physician Practices, in Manchester, N.H. Chris Blanchard is president and chief executive officer of Santa Cruz Woodworks. Kathy Hardin, “very much a part of the family,” is a foster daughter who lives in Los Gatos.
The family moved to Palo Alto in 1960, and the marriage ended soon after. In 1966, Cilly became a program-planning specialist for Lockheed Missiles and Space Company. Her duties included acting as a staff person to an engineering manager in the missile program. She was sent to Spain to view a fully-loaded submarine and to inspect the new Trident submarines.
Although she enjoyed her career, she declined to resettle in Cape Canaveral with her department when it moved there in 1992.
She had met Jud Fisher in 1970 and they were married in June 1972. During those years, she took up oil painting and sold many of her canvases.
The Fishers bought a home in Ridgemark in 1991, and established many friendships throughout the community.
They followed their bent of traveling, and visited many places in the United States as well as abroad, including spending their 20th anniversary in Ireland as part of a nine-week tour through Great Britain and the Continent.
In January 1993, Jud Fisher died after a long illness. Following his death, she volunteered to help with the San Benito County Hospice Association. She kept volunteer listings and schedules and put out the monthly newsletter.
“I also painted the hall and bathroom,” she said.
Fisher said she was taken aback when she returned from a tour of Greece and went to the hospice’s Fifth Street office to find it closed because it had merged with the Hospice of the Central Coast, headquartered in Monterey.
But that did not deter Fisher’s determination to work for her community.
She began helping at the county Chamber of Commerce, and also joined the Hispanic and San Juan Bautista chambers, and serves on the latter’s board.
Fisher was a charter member of the Ambassadors, a group that encourages local business.
She received its first Volunteer of the Month Award, and was named Volunteer of the Year for the San Juan Chamber in 2002.
She also serves on the county Tourism Council, and is active in Hollister Downtown Association and in Hollister Independence Rally Committee functions.
Until her retirement as its president in February, she was a member of the Ridgemark Homeowners Association, and still helps out when needed.
Among her favorite activities is a wine club that she and two friends started in 1993.
It has also become somewhat of a gourmet club. Members meet monthly at different homes, wineries, parks and elsewhere.
Also that same year, she and a friend started a Christmas progressive dinner that has grown each December during the past decade. She often entertains 10 to 15 dinner guests at her home and occasionally as many as 100.
Fisher’s greatest joy is her family and friends.
Her sons, daughters and five grandchildren visit her or she visits them. Just home from a trip to Oregon, she plans a tour of New England again in the fall.
Cilly Fisher’s philosophy is simple but all embracing: “The only really important things in my life are the people I love, and the people who love me.”
