City mourns Franklin Fischer, 71
Olney residents mourned the loss of Franklin Fischer, a longtime community leader who lent his engineering skills and advice to a multitude of City projects, often at no charge.
Mr. Fischer died on March 1 at age 71. He worked as a consulting structural engineer for the Bundy Young Sims & Potter architectural firm in Wichita Falls starting in 1989, and with other firms, and as a farmer as well.
He served on the Olney Industrial Development Corporation and its successor, the Olney Economic Development Corporation and was an integral economic advisor to both, board members said.
“He was such a knowledgeable person,” OEDC board member Ron Rogers said. “He gave so much advice for free to the community. He would help you with engineering answers. He was a wealth of knowledge.” Mr. Fischer consulted with Air Tractor on the construction of several of the buildings, Dick Bundy, CEO and founding partner of Bundy Young Sims & Potter said.
He helped design big projects such as the North Texas Rehabilitation Center and the $19-million Dillard Business School at Midwestern State University in Wichita Falls. He was integral to the construction of the off-grid Dalquest Research Station in the Northern Chihuahuan Desert near Big Bend, Mr. Bundy said. He designed Grace Church, including its “incredible” chapel and the Christ Academy school, and two other elementary schools in Wichita Falls, as well as the Graham City Hall and Visitors Center, converted from an American Legion Hall, Mr. Bundy said.
“I have been an architect since 1974 and I’ve worked with … big name architects and he was the best of them,” Mr. Bundy said. “His fingerprints are throughout our entire inventory of drawings for the last 35 years.”
Mr. Fischer will be long remembered for the many structures he helped build in Olney, including the Children’s Room at the Olney Community Library & Arts Center, as well as designs for a new safety room and restroom, for which the Library is currently raising money. Mr. Fischer also had a hand in the building of the bridge on the walking trail at Tom Griffin Park.
“I thought I could just buy a bridge,” said Kelly Mahler, OEDC board member and member of Keep Olney Beautiful. “With the state, you had to figure out the water load coming down in a 100-year flood and Franklin did all those calculations and wouldn’t let the grant from [the state] expire.”
Mr. Fischer advised the City not to condemn and tear down the derelict Olney Savings building. Instead, the City took possession of the building last year and now is eyeing plans to turn it into municipal offices, housing and retail.
“He said, ‘You’ve got a million dollars worth of assets you could just strip it down to the beams … So why would we tear it down?” Mr. Rogers said.
About 30 years ago, Mr. Fischer helped OEDC board president Johnny Moore and City Attorney Bill Myers negotiate a 15-year lease of the Old City Hall building on Grand Avenue to Young County, vouching for the building’s structural integrity, Mr. Moore said.
One of the last things Mr. Fischer contributed to the City was a “napkin drawing” for a new water system that OEDC executive director Tom Parker used to apply for a state grant for a new water infrastructure system. “He did preliminary design work on the water recharge project we have been kicking around … that could actually save us,” Mr. Parker said. “He touched a lot of lives.”
Mr. Fischer was born Oct. 1, 1952 in Temple, Texas to the late Gilbert Herbert Fischer and La-Vern (Tschoertner) Fischer, according to the obituary posted on the Lunn Funeral Home website. He graduated from Bartlett High School and received a master’s degree in civil engineering from the University of Texas at Austin in 1976.
He married Donna Terry on May 31, 1975 in Olney. He is survived by his wife, Donna, daughter and son-in-law, Amanda and James Rose of Allen, Texas; and son Andrew Fischer of Plano; two grandchildren: Alexander Rose and Tabitha Rose; sister and brother-inlaw, Marjorie and Mike Peters of Seguin, Texas; his mother-in-law, Luella Terry of Olney, Texas; and numerous nieces and nephews.