Betty Fischer

1924 – 2018

Betty Fischer (better known as “Betsy”) passed away on February 19, 2018, at Mankato Mayo Hospital. She had lived at Ecumen Pathstone for the last five years after moving down from Menahga, Minnesota. A memorial service will be held in May at the United Methodist church in Menahga.

Betsy was born on July 6, 1924, to Gene and Millie Nastanksy. She grew up and graduated from high school in Deer Creek. She was known in high school as outgoing, bubbly and musically talented. She played the piano, clarinet and sang in the choir. Her father started the first community band in Deer Creek, so several instruments were always found in the home. In the summer Betty, her sister, mother and father would march parades around the area.

Betsy worked for Northwest airlines in Minneapolis, where she was trained in the Morse Code. She would sit behind the pilots in the cock pit and interpret flight messages. At the age of 93 she could still recite the Morse code to you!

Several years later she married W.W. Fischer of Glenwood. They moved to Appleton, where she was very active in the community especially the track team. Betsy and several ladies made the first team uniforms. It wasn’t unusual to see her running along side of the team members cheering them on during a race. The family later moved to Alexandria.

Betty enjoyed cooking, bridge, sewing and most of all her music. Her favorite was the piano, which she started at the age of eight. She would always add her renditions to the music pieces, as most of them she knew by heart. She played piano for the United Methodist Church in Menahga. She kept her piano until 2012, when she give it to a young group at a church in Menahga. She moved back to Menahga in her later years and retired. She enjoyed her Bible studies and had a strong faith in the Lord. Heaven was her goal.

Betsy is survived by her four children: Tona Gillispie (Mike) of Mankato, Mary Kay Fischer of Alexandria, Scott Fischer of Alexandria, and Nathania Fischer of Mankato; 16 grandchildren and four great-grandchildren.

Betsy is preceded in death by her parents Eugene and Millie Nastanksy, her two sisters and two brothers-in-law, Mary Lou and Wayne Bracker of Anoka and Ardie and Moose Chase of Marcel.
Arrangements were entrusted to North Mankato Mortuary, Mankato.