Baxter Fisher

Daniel “Baxter” Fisher, the longtime town maintenance supervisor, farmer and a World War II Navy veteran, died Tuesday, Dec. 8, 2009, at Lake Norman Regional Medical Center. He was 82.

A service and visitation is planned Friday afternoon. Details below.

Born May 2, 1927, in Iredell County, Mr. Fisher was the son of the late John G. Fisher and Katie McDonald Fisher.

“Baxter” was the maintenance supervisor for the Town of Davidson for 39 1/2 years, a member of Davidson College Presbyterian Church, a Mason, a World War II US Navy Veteran serving on the USS Comstock and USS Hyades, and he loved farming.

Along with brother John, he agreed to sell the family farm, off Shearer Road, to the town for a park.

Baxter and John Fisher received the town’s annual G. Jackson Burney Community Service Award in November 2006. In a ceremony, then town Commissioner (now Mayor) John Woods said: “When it came time to retire, the brothers, Baxter and John, could have sought to exploit their land. Instead they made this magnificent corner of God’s earth available for all to enjoy. Instead of turning their fine stand of timber into profit, they let it nurture wildlife and some of the rarest wild flowers. Instead of ‘do not enter’ they welcomed one that says “Fisher Farm Park.’”

Former Davidson Mayor Randy Kincaid, who was scheduled to deliver remarks at Friday’s service, said Mr. Fisher had a “life of hard work, combining a day job with farming.” As the town’s maintenance supervisor, he oversaw the most important   functions of small-town government: water and sewer, electricity distribution, refuse collection and streets, Mayor Kincaid recalled.

“The town is full of people who remember Baxter’s competence and good nature in building streets, repairing leaks in water lines, connecting new houses to the electric lines (and turning off the electricity of deadbeats),” Mayor Kincaid said in the text of his remarks.

“One citizen seized on Baxter’s legendary maintenance abilities. Said the citizen, ‘Baxter was a genius on the backhoe, and he had a dead-on mental map of Davidson’s water and sewer lines. CMUD has spent thousands with their high-tech equipment and they still don’t know what Baxter knows.’”

He is survived by his wife of 60 years, Eileen Feldman Fisher; sons, Daniel B. Fisher, Jr. and wife Cheri of Rockingham, Jackie W. Fisher and wife Barbara of Gastonia; daughter, Deborah F. Smith and husband Michael of Mooresville; brother, John Fisher of Davidson; seven grandchildren and five great grandchildren.

A funeral service is planned Friday, Dec. 11, at 2 p.m., in the Chapel of Raymer Funeral Home, Huntersville, with Rev. Julia Hill officiating. Burial will follow in Mimosa Cemetery, South Street. The family will receive friends Friday from 12:30 to 2 p.m. prior to the service at the funeral home.

Memorial contributions may be made to St. Jude Children’s Hospital, 501 St Jude Place, Memphis, TN 38105, to the Davidson Fire Dept., c/o Davidson Town Hall, Davidson, NC 28036, or Hospice of Iredell County, 2347 Simonton Road, Statesville, NC 28625.

Arrangements by Raymer Funeral Home, Huntersville.