DENVER, Colo. — Emma Laura “Emmy” Davis Fisher, 81, passed away Wednesday, July 7, 2021. She was born Sept. 12, 1939, at James Walker Memorial Hospital in Wilmington, the youngest of three daughters born to Emma Laura Zibelin Davis and James Knight Davis.
Emmy was 17 years younger than her oldest sister, Marjorie Graham Davis, and 15 years younger than Louise Knight Davis, meaning she always had a mother and two spares to guide her. Louise always said that Emmy’s birth so late in their parents’ lives helped keep Knight and Emma young and inquisitive. In retrospect, Emmy served that role for her sisters, too.
Soon after Emmy’s birth, Marjorie headed to college. Louise bonded with Emmy for her first four years before leaving home for art school in New York in 1943. Their father, J. Knight Davis, grew his tile contractor business into a successful entity, mostly due to his tile and marble work in homes and businesses in the Wilmington area, but also from working on the Liberty ships being built at the local docks. This growth allowed the family to move from a small home in Sunset Park to a new two-story home at the corner of 22nd and Chestnut Street. Emmy walked across the street to first grade at Chestnut Street School and made lifelong friends from that moment on.
She was the apple of her father’s eye and her mother’s companion and delight. Growing up in the 1940s and 1950s in Wilmington was a challenging and also magical time. Emmy spent countless hours on Wrightsville Beach at her grandmother’s home, and after her parents built a summer retreat at Porters Neck, Emmy captained her own boat up and down the Intracoastal Waterway and pulled her friends in Banks Channel while they skied. When she earned her driver’s license, and her white convertible, she had the freedom to explore even more of the world with her friends. She enjoyed hamburgers and hotdogs at Pappy Gay’s on Market Street even more than the full dinners at her home.
With her olive skin, brown hair and dark eyes, she was a gorgeous sister and aunt and captured the attention of gentlemen and women in awe of her beauty and sense of style. After graduating from the class of 1957 at New Hanover High School, she attended St. Mary’s Jr. College in Raleigh. She later followed in the footsteps of her sisters, Louise and Marjorie, and moved to New York City to attend the Traphagen School of Fashion, a design school in operation from 1923 to 1991 that educated more that 28,000 students in its 68 years of operation.
While living in New York, she met a dashing young man from Darien, Connecticut. Shelton Tait Fisher, known as “Chip,” fell under the spell of the southern charmer, but he was also a worthy partner. Chip serenaded Emmy with his guitar and stunning voice, and his dreams were as big as hers. They soon married in Wilmington and moved to Dover, Delaware, where Chip was stationed in the U.S. Air Force, and where their son Tait was born.
Following his departure from the Air Force as a second lieutenant, they moved to Colorado, a state that Chip loved from his days as a summer worker on a dude ranch. Chip began a successful career in real estate development in Denver and Emmy was the loving and supportive wife that helped him achieve success. Laura Ann Fisher soon joined the family in their Bear Valley home.
One day while riding in their favorite neighborhood in the hills above their home, they spied a “For Sale” sign in front of a lovely estate they had both dreamed of one day purchasing. Chip contacted the owners and wrote a love letter to the house explaining why his family should be chosen as the new owners. It worked. They bought Round Top, the Tudor house on the lake with the stables, and raised their children there. They also bought the old Palmer Lake Railroad Station in a public auction and moved it to a bare piece of property they had secured in the mountains. Good fortune followed them again when a railroad company decided to donate a caboose to the Fishers. Tait, Laura and Sarah still enjoy the mountain property and the memories.
Emmy had a special bond with all animals. She raised a baby squirrel she named Donnie, rescued after hurricane Donna, and that began a succession of animal companions from horses, dogs, cats, goldfish, and even a pet skunk.
She also loved her southern roots and the cooking it inspired. She converted many a northerner or westerner to southern barbeque and butter beans with her ability to create on-the-fly meals and gracious entertaining. Getting a recipe from Emmy meant that your next party or family gathering would be a great culinary experience.
She wrote warm and witty Christmas letters worthy of publishing, and when she decided to enter the work world, she was known for her humor and charm in dealing with difficult office situations. A bouquet of roses or wildflowers from her garden could calm the most savage temper.
Her nieces and nephews considered her their hero. When young Stanley cut his bare feet on oyster shells, she hoisted him on her back and carried him to safety. In later years she enjoyed hosting his North Carolina friends on skiing trips to Colorado.
When niece Julie was a youngster at Porters Neck and attacked by dozens of angry wasps, Emmy chewed up cigarettes and covered Julie’s face with the wads of wet tobacco to stop the stinging. (She never let her forget this act of bravery and told her never to smoke.) In the 1960s and 1970s, she introduced Julie to Peter, Paul and Mary, John Denver, Martin Guitars and fashion, and bought her a pair of Ferragamo boots when she was 18 that spoiled her for life.
Theirs was a magical love story until it wasn’t, but even after their divorce, Chip and Emmy remained friends until his passing, showing that love sustains even after difficult circumstances.
Emmy is remembered as an amazing mom and grandmother. She was a fantastic cook and hostess. Her homes were always the best place to gather for an occasion of any sort. For Laura and Tait’s friends, and visiting family members, time with Emmy was precious and there was always a new memory made.
Emmy is survived by her son, Shelton Tait Fisher Jr.; daughter, Laura Ann Fisher-Jorgenson; and granddaughter, Sarah Jorgenson. She is remembered by her sisters’ children, Levana, Rocky, and Andy Ingalls, and Stanley and Julie Rehder, as a loving and beautiful aunt. Her friends from the NHHS class of 1957 have lost a little of what made their friendship sparkle. The earth will be a little less hospitable and glamorous without Emmy Davis Fisher.
A memorial service was previously held in Denver, Colorado, and Emmy’s ashes will be inurned next to her sisters’ at 11 a.m., Monday, Aug. 2, in Oakdale Cemetery with the Pastor Mark Opgrand of St. Paul’s Lutheran Church officiating. The family hopes that Wilmington friends will attend the inurnment and join them at noon at the home of Julie Rehder for a luncheon in Emmy’s honor following the service. Directions will be given at the service.
