Carollee Fisher: Taken from the World Too Soon

It is with the heaviest of hearts that I must tell you that one of the true lights of the world has gone out.  On Monday, May 24th, my dear friend, Carollee, was struck by a careless driver while crossing the street only a block from home.  For two days she fought, but on Wednesday the 26th she took her final breaths with her beloved husband, John, by her side.

Just 26 years old, Carollee dreamed of being a mother and raising a family with John.   But being a type 1 diabetic that would not come easy.  With the endless help, love and support of John she was able to bring her A1C done into the normal range making it safe for them to start a family.  They got this amazing news exactly one month before their 3rd anniversary.  No one could have imagined that just 5 days later she would be gone.

Despite this tragedy, Carollee touched and changed so many lives.  To hear John tell it, she saved him from despair and gave him a reason to live.  But more importantly she made him want to be a better person, and a better Christian.  For my part,  when I came out, she was one of my staunchest allies.  She would jump to my defense whether I was there or not.  She may have been a small thing, but if you attacked someone she loved, God help you. 

But the best story of Carollee's love and generosity is the one about her sandwich man.  As a cashier at Walmart, Carollee saw thousands of customers each week, many of them rude and abusive.  No one would have blamed her if she had become callus to the strife of others.  But she never let that happen.  There was a man who was obviously down on his luck that would come into the store just trying to buy the makings of a simple sandwich.  Carollee would see him counting  his change to see if he could afford to eat that day.  Carollee never hesitated to pay the difference from her own pocket when he got up to her register.  And when covid hit, security wouldn't even let him in the store because he didn't have a mask to wear.  Carollee wouldn't let that stand.  She bought him not one but several masks so he could keep coming into the store to get what he needed to make a sandwich.

But with the tragic loss of Carollee, John is left with not only his pain and grief, but also the ever mounting expenses of Carollee's funeral and memorial expenses, the massive hospital bills, and the cost of picking up the pieces of a shattered life and trying to build a new life for himself.  All donations will first go to pay for Carollee's final expenses and medical bills.  Anything over and above that will go towards helping John grieve and giving him the time he needs to figure out how to move forward.

Any and all donations you make are extremely appreciated.  And whether you can make a financial donation or not, please share this far and wide.  Thank you.