The John J. and Pauline Clemens Fisher Maple Scholars Endowment

John J. and Pauline Clemens Fisher rooted their long and interesting lives at Goshen College.  Influenced by the education they received as undergraduates and their subsequent experiences as part of Goshen’s faculty community, John (1926-2014) and Pauline (1926-2018) embraced the college motto “Culture for Service.”

Married shortly after graduation with the Class of 1948, John and Pauline returned to campus upon John’s 1953 appointment to the GC English faculty.  Known over his 40-year tenure for considerable but lightly worn erudition and quick wit in the classroom, John led students to create memorable educational happenings, on one occasion converting the floors of the Administration Building into a replica of Dante’s Divine Comedy.  Pauline taught high school English and foreign language over a long career, greeted affectionately by former students as a favorite instructor to the end of her life.  The Fishers raised two daughters in Goshen, Susan Fisher Miller (Lee) and Margaret Aeschliman (Jeff), also GC alums.

John and Pauline were especially effective ambassadors for Goshen College abroad.  In the late 1960s, they led early versions of GC summer courses at the Stratford Shakespeare Festival in Canada and, in 1987, directed a Study Service Term in the city of Jena, then still part of communist East Germany.  Most notably over 30 years, John, often assisted by Pauline, led literature and peace study tours in Ireland.  Those classes’ lectures, work-study placements, and bicycling adventures exposed Goshen College students and colleagues to an assortment of Irish farmers, clergy, scholars, and poets, all personal friends of the Fishers.

Upon retirement, John and Pauline became active in Seniors for Peace and worked to establish a peace center in their congregation, College Mennonite Church.  Their Goshen College ties were then warmly reinforced from 2005 on, as they attended the musical performances and soccer contests of their grandsons.  Advocates for students, embodiments of lifelong learning and service, and unwavering champions of Goshen College, John and Pauline created a bequest to benefit the college following their death.  These endowment funds that provide scholarships and research opportunities to Goshen College students reflect, and extend, their priorities.