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Newspaper Association Foundation Board and the APA board. She served concurrent terms as APA President and ANF President in 2014-15.

Her industry colleagues issued statements in memory of her legacy.

“The Fisher family has been a staple in Arkansas journalism for as long as I can remember,” said APA Executive Director Ashley Kemp Wimberley. “Few people have such a commitment to community service and community journalism as Mary Fisher. The value of her work on both the Arkansas Newspaper Foundation and Arkansas Press Association boards cannot be downplayed. We laughed for many years about her not knowing how to say ‘no’ when asked to serve on a board or committee...but she wouldn’t have had it any other way. She was a mentor to me and a valuable friend.”

“I first met Mary while serving as president of the Arkansas Newspaper Foundation board of directors,” said Karen Brown. “She quickly became an important part of my life. More than anything, Mary will be remembered for the impact she had on others. She had the ability to bring the best out of everyone, and her kindness and generosity, along with her infectious spirit touched the lives of so many.”

“I was honored to work with Mary on the Arkansas Newspaper Foundation board and alongside her as a journalist,” said Byron Tate, editor of the Pine Bluff Commercial and APA Past President. “Her spirit ran deep, as did her sense of humor. I will deeply miss her.”

“I have been friends with Mary and her husband David for many years, and I will miss her so very much,” said Rusty Fraser, publisher of the Stone County Leader in Mountain View and current Arkansas Newspaper Foundation Board President. “She was a valuable Arkansas Foundation Director and a past APA president and a credit to the newspaper industry.”

The Fishers, a fourth-generation newspaper family, purchased the Post-Dispatch in January 2014. It had previously been owned by David’s parents, R. L. “Bob” and Jean Fisher, but was sold in the 1960s. The newspaper, published continuously since 1853, is the oldest weekly in Arkansas and one of the oldest west of the Mississippi River, and each week Fisher combed the archives for interesting historical items to include in her reader-favorite “Years Ago” columns.

Fisher had a deep commitment to the communities she covered. Upon becoming managing editor of the Post-Dispatch, Fisher devoted herself to the Dardanelle Rotary Club and the Dardanelle Chamber of Commerce, while never leaving behind her commitments to Danville, Belleville and the southern side of the county.

In addition to her newspaper work, she had a great love for Scouting. Being “volunteered” to become a Cub Scout Leader by her son in the early 1980s began more than 40 of service to the Boy Scouts of America. She assisted David Fisher for more than 15 years in the Danville Boy Scouts, during which they had 10 boys become an Eagle Scout, the highest rank a Boy Scout can achieve.

She was the first woman Scoutmaster in Westark Area Council of the extended training of adult leaders called Wood Badge, and served as Southern Region Wood Badge Chair since 2013. Fisher was Scoutmaster of the National Junior Leadership Training and served as Council Vice President of the Boy Scouts of America for the Westark Area Council for more than 15 years. She went on to become the training chairman of the 14-state Southern Region of Boy Scouts and was invited on multiple occasions to teach in the training center at Philmont Scout Ranch in New Mexico. She received the second-highest award, the Silver Antelope, given by the National Boy Scouts for her work in training Scout Leaders and Boy Scouts and received the Vigil Honor, the highest honor that the Order of the Arrow, BSA’s honor society, can bestow upon its members for service to lodge, council, and Scouting.

According to her family, her greatest joy in Scouting was

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