Estancia mourns loss of beloved teacher

Danette Goulet

COSTA MESA -- For 33 years, Thomas Fisher shared his life and love of

science with the community.

He was known for his humor, dedication, enthusiasm, caring and strength

of character.

Tuesday afternoon, the much-loved biological science teacher from

Estancia High School died of an apparent heart attack in the very room in

which he dedicated his life to teaching.

Students, teachers and administrators remembered him Wednesday, sharing

stories and tears.

“Tom was just a good-humored guy,” said Rich Boyce, a teacher at

Estancia. “In the lunch room he would trade barbs with other teachers. We

all talked to him at 1 o’clock yesterday, at lunch. We lost a good guy.”

In his private life, Fisher was a dedicated fisherman and fanatical

Thunderbird fan. He loved to tell stories of salmon fishing in Alaska.

“He had a lot of stories -- that was a great enjoyment,” said teacher Tom

Moody. “This is just an example of the very zest he had for life. He

loved to be up in the outdoors.”

With the exception of his first three years, Fisher spent his entire

teaching career at Estancia.

He’d been there since the day it opened.

“He was a science scholar who was committed to pushing the envelope on

our curriculum here,” said Tom Antal, principal of Estancia. “He spent

several months last summer in Colorado learning the latest technology in

DNA blood and tissue analysis. He was just second to none in research

biology science.”

Fisher also was an extremely active coach at Estancia for years. He spent

15 years as the head track coach and nearly 20 as the freshman football

coach. When he gave up coaching track, he became an Orange County track

starter for the next 14 years of so, Antal said.

“He was a regular on the sidelines at all the football games, track and

cross-country,” Antal said. “He would stop by me and say things like ‘the

last team that has the ball is going to win’ and then keep going. He was

always right.”

Students and faculty shared their favorite memories with each other, as

well with phycologists and school counselors, in an effort to ease their

grief.

“Some students were visibly having a hard time time holding it together,”

said Rebecca Gogel, a school counselor who met with Fisher’s classes

Wednesday.

Students fondly remembered his skeleton in the classroom closet, which he

named Henry; how he was always at school at 7 a.m.; his favorite sayings

like “the body is a sugar lover” and how he was always willing to help

before and after school.

“One student told me that she had always hated science until she had it

with Mr. Fisher,” Gogel said. “She said he taught her to love

science.”Many students made cards and wrote tributes to him, thanking him

and expressing what he meant to them. Those cards were sent to his

family.

The family would not comment Wednesday and services have yet to be

planned.

The Estancia High School community next week will determine a fitting

memorial.