Deacon Martha Fisher

In the sure and certain hope of the resurrection,

we write to inform you of

the death of Deacon Martha Fisher

who died Sunday, February 8, 2026.

She was 91 years old.

Please keep Martha's family in your thoughts and prayers.

Funeral Services

March 28, 2026

11:00 am

Visitation begins at 10:00 am

Trinity Lutheran Church

19 S. Fifth St., Perkasie

March 30, 2026

2:00 pm

Visitation begins at 1:00 pm

Telford Lutheran Community

12 Lutheran Home Dr, Telford

Obituary for Martha Catharine (Breisch) Fisher

Born September 18, 1934, in Reading, Pennsylvania, Martha Fisher, 91, joined her heavenly choir on February 8, 2026. Her death came at 7:20 am on a Sunday morning, when she would normally be getting ready for church, having been a church organist and choir director for over 70 years. She died peacefully in her sleep.

Martha grew up in row-house Reading, Pennsylvania, with her younger brother John and parents Theodore and Catharine (Bond) Breisch. Living at the Keystone Corner Grocery Store on Madison Avenue, Martha loved music and learning, and experienced the concerns of the Great Depression and the WWII years. Bond and Breisch extended family were a constant presence in her early life, and she received her violin from her uncle, George Kurtz. She was a fast study on piano and by the time she was 16, she was playing organ for a Reading church. In high school, she was encouraged to consider a career in church music by the music director at Holy Spirit Lutheran Church, Grace Starr. Ms. Starr encouraged her to consider a small, Lutheran liberal arts college on the prairies of Minnesota. After graduating from Reading High in 1952, she rode the train for three days to begin her church organ career at St. Olaf College in Northfield, Minnesota. She found life-long friends at St. Olaf and a life-long love for all things Minnesota.

During her years at college, she reconnected with fellow row-house Reading acquaintance, David Fisher. David had been serving in the Army on the border between East and West Germany. His GI Bill attendance at the University of Minnesota brought their worlds together, and they were married June 3, 1956, the same day she graduated from St. Olaf with a Bachelor of Music in Church Organ. After a year in Minnesota, they welcomed their first child, Rebecca, and reluctantly moved back to Pennsylvania for family support. They settled in Quakertown, Pennsylvania, where David began a teaching career in Russian Language studies. Martha also began her Director of Music career at Trinity Lutheran Church in Perkasie, PA. She was a life- long member of the AGO, American Guild of Organists.

At Trinity, Martha began to creatively develop a children and youth choir school program. She wrote church school curriculum for Fortress Press, and later, the Alleluia curriculum for Augsburg Fortress Press. In the 1960’s, Martha could be seen in a blue and white VW bus, leading children’s choirs and bell choirs around Perkasie, Sellersville, Souderton and Telford nursing homes and community festivals. She was a little like Julie Andrews in her own “Sound of Music” program. Martha and David welcomed more children into the family, Nicholas, Heidi, Mary Ruth and Benjamin. When one child was born with a dairy allergy, Martha chose to raise dairy goats to supply her child with goat’s milk. For years, she was the upper Bucks goat lady! She secretly, deeply admired a Great Aunt who lived in a cabin on a mountain outside of Reading, who raised chickens, ducks, geese, goats, sheep and pigs, and Martha did all those things. She was a whirlwind of activity, raising kids, goat-kids, and all while pursuing a career as a woman, when many women were still homemakers.

Because of her creative success in children’s music programming at Trinity, the Quakertown Superintendent of schools, Richard Strayer, asked her to consider a career change and become certified as an elementary school music teacher. Beginning in 1970, she made that transition and taught school for over 30 years at Pfaff, Tohickon Valley, Trumbauersville, and Richland schools. She continued to create fun and interesting programs, inspiring many children toward a love of music. Many students who started by tooting on recorders, became professional musicians. She was a Pied Piper for the love of music, and she shaped multiple generations of students in the Quakertown community.

Unable to stay away from church life, Martha assumed the Organist and Choir Director position at Trinity Lutheran Church in Quakertown from 1974 to 1986. She ran choirs, bell choirs, trained future organists with her Organ Scholarship Program, produced “Amahl and the Night Visitors” with church youth. She had done the show two additional times at Trinity in Perkasie. In 1986, she took her music ministry to St. John’s Lutheran Church in Quakertown. There she continued her pattern of creative children’s programming, developing a summer music camp that attracted many ethnic minority children into the program. She went to laundromats, Chinese and Mexican restaurants, and wherever people gathered, and invited them to send their children, and many came. With some additional studies, Martha became a certified Deacon in the ELCA.

When her own children graduated and moved on to their own lives, Martha became a local director for an exchange student program called “Experiment in International Living.” In addition, through AYUSA, she oversaw placement and support for exchange students from the former Soviet Union. In all, Martha supported dozens of international students as they experienced an American education. In 1990, an approved exchange student almost didn’t come because his host family backed out at the last minute. From Azerbaijan and a Russian speaker, Martha decided she needed to volunteer herself. Martha and David welcomed Askar Askarov into their home, and ultimately, into their life. Because they got along so well, and Askar thrived socially and in school, Martha helped him to return to the United States and attend St. Olaf College on scholarships and pizza sales at St. John’s. In March of 2020, following the deaths of his own parents, Martha officially adopted Askar as the 6 the child of the Fisher family.

Upon retiring from teaching music, Martha volunteered on staff at the CDP, using Music Therapy to help disabled children become more school ready. She volunteered until driving became difficult, dedicating almost another 20 years to helping children, after retirement from teaching school.

With her sons residing in her beloved Minnesota, in 1995, she asked them to find a lake property because she wanted to own a piece of Minnesota. In 1996, she purchased the cabin at Loon Lake, near Nevis, Minnesota. It needed a lot of renovating and updating, but became a beacon of comfort for David before he died in 2004. In the years following, Martha gathered at the cabin with her children, grandchildren, St. Olaf friends, and Pennsylvania friends. Ann Donley and George Grasic drove her to Minnesota for many years. She was not lonely at home, as she managed to replace her grown-up children with numerous beloved chihuahua puppies.

When life at home became difficult, she moved to Telford Lutheran Community in July of 2024. In her time there, she thrived in community, doing trivia tournaments, listening to lectures and Bible studies, creating new friendships with residents and staff, and connecting with old church friends. She found joy again as she arranged music for the chime choir and played occasionally with her old ensemble, “The Impossibles.” Martha kept a busy schedule until her failing heart prevented her from going out anymore. Martha’s last days were physically hard, but she remained feisty until the end.

Martha is survived by her adult children: Rebecca (Fisher) and Richard Wilson of Bryn Mawr, PA; Nicholas and Cynthia Fisher-Broin of Wanamingo, MN; Heidi Fisher and Patrick Wright of Quakertown and Morrisville, PA; Mary Ruth Fisher of Staten Island, NY; Benjamin and Jill Fisher of Northfield, MN; Askar and Nozomi Askarov of Berwyn Heights, MD. Her surviving grandchildren include: Ned Wilson, Josiah Fisher (Rachael), Noah Fisher (Alexzandra), Jonah Fisher (Emma Christine), Emma (Angel) Rumbo, Chung Lip (Alejo Carbajal), Hannah Wright, Lucas Fisher, Liam Fisher, Annika Fisher, Peter Fisher, Martha Askarov, and Max Askarov. Her surviving great grandchildren include: Rose Fisher, Rio Benson, Rainn Fisher, Rylo Rumbo, and a great grandson expected in May 2026.

Martha was preceded in death by her husband David Fisher; her parents, Theodore and Catharine (Bond) Breisch; her brother, John Breisch; and many beloved extended family who will be receiving her to their heavenly choir.

Memorials may be made to:

Trinity Lutheran Church, Perkasie PA,

Heifer International

St. Olaf College, Northfield, MN.