2007 - 2008 Sedalia BPW Woman of the Year
Congratulations!
Linda S. Fisher
On October 14, 2007 Linda S. Fisher was recognized as Sedalia BPW woman of the year.
Linda Fisher, our choice for 2007 Woman of the Year has been a member of BPW since December of 2005. While that may not sound like a long time she has definitely developed a voice in our club. She is currently corresponding secretary. She serves on many committees and she serves our club as meticulously as she does with any organization she is a part of. She actively participates in conferences and the committees she chairs and serves on. She is a member of the Red Purse Society, which supports Economic Equity for women. From this she has used her creative mind to come up with this years fundraiser for scholarships; the Mysterious Red Purse Raffle. This is a perfect association to what we hope to help our scholarship recipients achieve.
Linda is a graduate of Stover High School. She has also attended College of the Ozarks and received an Associates Degree from State Fair Community College. She can be an inspiration to our scholarship recipients because she has received her Bachelors Degree from the adult studies program through William Woods University. She managed to accomplish this while working full time and caring for her ill husband.
Linda worked for State Fair Community College in 1977. From 1978 to 1980 she worked for Walker Publishing which published the magazine Full Cry. In December of 1980 she started working for Central Missouri Electric Coop where she is currently Office Manager. She is a member of ACRE, which is an Action Committee for Rural Electrification, and of course she stays on top of any legislative issues facing Rural Electric Coops. She serves her office well, she understands the issues that face working women who are trying to raise children and care for their families. She is an inspiration to those who work closely with her, though she may not realize this.
She has been a member of the Alzheimer's Association for approximately 10 years. She coordinated the Sedalia Memory Walk from 1999 to 2003. She managed to take the walk from a few people and few hundred dollars raised, to over 300 walkers and over $25, 000 raised and she accomplished this in just one year. She co-coordinated the Annual Night to Remember Dances for five years. She served on the Alzheimer's Mid-Missouri Chapter Board of Directors for six years. She co-facilitates the Sedalia Support Group, participates in Memory Day in Jefferson City, and is co-captain of "Jim's Team" in the Sedalia Memory Walk. She wrote three articles for the Mid-Missouri Chapter newsletter. She was nominated for the Maureen Reagan Outstanding Volunteer Award in 2006. She received a Proclamation Award on the floor of the Missouri House of Representatives in 2006 to recognize her volunteer work for the Alzheimer's Association. She is an Alzheimer's advocate who has traveled to Washington D. C. each year for the past seven years to meet with Members of Congress and participate in the Public Policy Forum.
She is well traveled and likes to vacation with her family in Estes Park, Colorado. She has lived in Stover, Versailles, Sedalia, the Hughesville area and the states of Oregon and Kansas. She was married December of 1969 in Hawaii to her husband Jim who passed away in 2005. She has seven brothers and sisters, two sons, two daughter-in-laws and four grandchildren.
She also loves to write. She won first place in the 2006 Sedalia Book and Toy Short Story Contest, an honorable mention for flash fiction in Bylines and two honorable mentions for articles in the 74th Annual Writer's Digest Contest. She has a short story in the Echoes of the Ozarks II and a short story and two essays in Well Versed 2007. She also did a guest column in the Rural Missouri and had an article printed in Full Cry magazine. In September at the 2007 Sedalia Memory walk she released her first publication Alzheimer's Anthology of Unconditional Love. She collected and edited the true 'slice of life stories' of people who have been touched by Alzheimer's disease and other similar forms of dementia.
She is also Membership Chair of the Missouri Writers' Guild and a member of the Ozarks Writer's League. She is currently working on a memoir.
As you can see our Woman of the Year is very active in the community and many organizations. She gives of her time and resources unselfishly and she is an asset to any organization she is a part of. She is very deserving of this honor.
We are very proud to present our 2007 BPW Woman of the Year Award to Linda Fisher.