Joe Fish

Joe Fish of Hot Springs, Arkansas passed away on November 14, 2012. He was born February 13, 1942 in Portland, Arkansas and he was preceded in death by his parents, John and Edith Fish. He was involved in many clubs and organizations including Rotary International, Gideon’s International, Razorback Foundation, Phi Delta Theta Alumni and was a former school board member of Lakeside School District. Joe was a leader in the Hot Springs National Park Rotary Club from his first days as a member. He joined in 1968 and was the president of the club 1985-1986, the District Governor in 1998-1999, and was the only District Administrator. As treasurer of the club for 25 years, he had the foresight to suggest the idea of a scholarship endowment so that the club would always have money to help deserving high school seniors to further their education. The club named the endowment the “Joe F. Fish Scholarship Endowment” in his honor. Joe was the most recent Rotarian of the Year. He was committed to the Imagination Library Project since he first learned about it. He traveled to all the Rotary clubs encouraging everyone to help get children registered so they could receive a book a month in order to help with literacy in Garland County. Joe’s commitment and dedication to this project was just one of the many factors in his being named 2012 Rotarian of the Year. He truly made a difference in the literacy rate for our county. Joe was Chairman of the Imagination Library joint task force comprised of HSNP Rotary, HSV Rotary and Oaklawn Rotary Clubs. In District 6170, he was a founding member of the Jeff Farris Leadership Academy and was a staunch supporter of the Zimbabwe Water Project and all district activities. He is survived by his wife of 50 years, Nancy Fish; children, Tim and Laura Winston of Hot Springs, Jody and Lynda Fish of Plano, Texas and Kati Fish of Hot Springs; his brother and sister-in-law, Jack and Liz Fish of Chattanooga, Tennessee; sister-in-law, Sally Reed of Stuttgart, Arkansas; cousin, Ann Machen of Hot Springs; grandchildren, Curtis, Jennifer, Schyler and Cameron Winston, Lexi and Jimmy Tejcek, Callie and Sarah Fish and great grandchild, Reese Winston. Visitation will be at Hot Springs Funeral Home on Friday from 5:00 to 7:00. Services will be Saturday morning at 10:00 at Lake Valley Community Church with Lamar Trieschmann officiating. Burial will follow at Crestview Memorial Park. Memorial donations are requested to be made to HSNP Rotary Scholarship Trust - Imagination Library at P.O. Box 909 - Hot Springs, AR 71902 or Lake Valley Community Church Memorial Fund - Youth at 910 Shady Grove Rd. - Hot Springs, 71901.