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June 8, 1932-July 16, 2026
Minot
Grace Fisher, who lived most of her life in Minot, died Thursday, July 16, 2026. In recent years, she had been living at Somerset Court.
She was born June 8, 1932, in Minot, the daughter of Thomas and Grace (McKone) Murphy. Like her parents, she was one hundred percent Irish, a fact she celebrated as often as possible. That included two visits to Ireland, the first in 1976 with her husband, Tom Fisher, another in the late 1990s with her sister, Mitzi Murphy Rohen. On that trip, the sisters found the ancestral home of their mother.
She was raised in Minot and graduated from St. Leo's Catholic High School in 1950. She maintained membership at St. Leo the Great Catholic Church parish all of her life.
After high school, she was employed in secretarial work for about six years, first in Minot and later in Minneapolis, Minnesota. In 1956, she began college at the University of Minnesota. She returned to Minot later that year and entered Minot State University, graduating from there in 1958. She began working at the Minot Daily News, as a part-time reporter in 1956. It became a full-time career after finishing college, interrupted by brief stints at the University of Wyoming in Laramie, working for United Press International in Denver, Colorado, and working for Senator Quentin Burdick, D-ND, in Washington, DC, during the first year of the John F. Kennedy presidency.
She returned to Minot and to the Minot Daily News in the fall of 1961. Minot remained her home for the balance of her life.
She married Thomas A. Fisher on April 1, 1967, the April Fool's Day date that she later said mirrored the life they led. He was the owner of Thompson-Larson Funeral Home in Minot. After retiring from the Minot Daily News in the late 1980's, she worked at the funeral home for her husband. Following his death in 1996, she continued there for another ten years, eventually selling the business to new owners who had worked with Tom.
In the years since, she and her sister traveled together, both in the United States and abroad. Their trips included a number of Murphy family reunions. She wrote a small family memoir for a reunion in Minot in 1998. She did other writing: a book about her husband, a small 1986 history of St. Leo the Great Catholic Parish. Later, at the request of her then pastor, Rev. Justin Waltz, she wrote a two-volume history of the parish. Much of what she wrote included aspects of Minot history. Other writing projects came her way, and she never quit writing obituaries, including her own.
She was active in St. Leo's church as a lector and distributor of Holy Communion. Attendance at daily Mass was important to her. She was a charter member of the Serra Club of North Central North Dakota, an organization that supports those seeking religious vocations. She was a strong supporter of Bishop Ryan Catholic School. For many years, beginning in 1963, she was a member of the Minot Symphony Association.
She is survived by 27 nieces and nephews, including Paula Murphy Jeffrey of Williston, the only one who lives in North Dakota, and a number of grandnieces and grandnephews, special friends Wes Burkart, Bruce Kramer and the staff at Thompson-Larson Funeral Home.
She was preceded in death by her husband, parents, siblings and their spouses, Helen and Stan Lemke, Frank and Mary Louise Murphy, Tom and Helen Murphy, Paul and Mary Jane Murphy, Louis and Elnor Murphy, Mitzi and Robert Rohen.
A special thank you to the staff at Somerset Court, First Light Home Care, and HIA Hospice for the exceptional care, compassion, and kindness shown to Grace. Your dedication and patience are deeply appreciated.
Mass of Christian Burial: Saturday, July 25, 2026, at 10 a.m. at St. Leo the Great Catholic Church, Minot.
Interment: Rosehill Memorial Park, Minot, ND.
Visitation: Friday from 5 until 7 p.m. at Thompson-Larson Funeral Home, Minot.
Memorials: are preferred to Minot State University's Nursing Program, St. Leo the Great Catholic Church or Bishop Ryan Catholic School.
The service will be livestreamed for the public to view and can be accessed by going to the Thompson-Larson Funeral home website: www.thompsonlarson.com
Those wishing to sign the online register and share memories may access the online obituaries section at (www.thompsonlarson.com).
Published by The Minot Daily News, July 21, 2026.