July 3, 1926 — Aug. 8, 2024
John Fisher-Smith departed peacefully and gracefully, with a final soft gentle exhale, shortly before noon last Aug. 8, in the presence of his wife, Dot, his longtime friend Tony Henthorne, his faithful hospice nurse and Maple Ridge caregivers. To the very end, he was true to his life pattern of stubborn, determined, courageous persistence, then suddenly “turned on a dime” and let go.
John was born in Halifax, England, to Emerson and Ruth Ambler Fisher-Smith. He was grandson of Sir George Fisher-Smith, lord mayor of Halifax, and his American wife, Hattie Fisher, who had her name added to his after their marriage around the year 1900.
John loved telling stories of his escapades and adventures with his younger sister Pat in their grandparents’ splendid home, the Gleddings, during their early years.
In the wake of the Great Depression and in the shadow of the Nazi regime rising in Germany, his family emigrated to the United States in 1939. He graduated from the (Quaker) George School in Newtown, Pennsylvania, while working on his mother’s Victory Farm during World War II. He was drafted into the U.S. Army at 18 and proudly served in the occupation of Japan.
After returning to the U.S. he graduated from UC Berkeley with a BA in architecture in 1952. He eventually became an associate partner in the respected firm Skidmore, Owings and Merrill. During those years (1955-72) John and his first wife raised their three sons — Jordan, Jeremy and Jotham — on the flank of Mount Tamalpais, overlooking the Muir Woods near San Francisco.
After his wife’s death and his early retirement, John moved to Mendocino County, California, and lived in an esoteric teaching community with his new love, Dot, whom he married there in 1975.
Several years later, they helped found a Soto Zen Practice Center in the Santa Cruz Mountains directed by their teacher Kobun Chino-Otogawa-Roshi.
They moved to Ashland early in 1982, just in time to join the successful campaign that made Ashland one of the first Nuclear Free Zones in the U.S. by a vote of the citizens that November. John was chosen to read the proclamation at the City Council meeting.
Then Peace House was born, followed by many years of peace vigils, nonviolent nuclear protests and actions, including the Trident Peace Blockade and the Trade Organization protest in Seattle, which John helped organize.
In the late 1990s, after life-changing New Warrior training, John co-founded the Southern Oregon Mankind Project’s Elder Group, mentored younger men and co-facilitated high school restorative justice circles.
Also known as “Grandfather Raven,” John was a safe confidant and passionate supporter of youths in the numerous Boys to Men of Southern Oregon Raven Adventure and Teenage Rite of Passage weekends he staffed. Blessing and inspiring younger people was a sacred obligation John joyfully fulfilled.
During the early 2000s, he read short commentaries on JPR’s “Jefferson Daily” about place and value, called “Reflections.” He loved singing with the Peace Choir, and the group’s pilgrimage to Hiroshima, Japan, in 2006 was one of the highlights of his elderhood.
John was truly a Renaissance man of many skills, trades and talents: a writer of prose and poetry, a dancer, an artist, engineer, architect, designer and manager of projects large and small, including saunas, clay ovens, house renovations and an award-winning passive-solar home.
He was a lifelong lover of learning (OLLI), and a peace and environmental activist. From his childhood adventures on the misty Yorkshire moors and throughout his life he found solace, joy, excitement and challenge in earthly adventures, in sailing, hiking, backpacking, travel and gardening.
British to the core, loyal to his gentlemanly ancestral heritage, and also to his inherent Buddha nature, John charmed everyone he smiled upon and listened to, as well as those who listened, sometimes more than once, to his favorite family stories.
John is remembered by his many friends and neighbors, by those who heard him read his stories on JPR; by men in the Boys to Men community; by Zen practitioners who meditated together in the yurt up the hill on Sunday mornings; by the many couples John and Dot counseled and wed; by his sister Pat Welsh; by his three beloved sons and stepdaughter Brigid; by his six adult grandchildren; and by his soulmate of 52 years, Dot. May his memory be a blessing to all who knew and loved him.
A celebration of John’s life will take place at Temple Emek Shalom on April 6, welcoming all who wish to join at 1:45 p.m. The ceremony and program will begin promptly at 2 p.m.
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