By Amy Waldman Of the New-Herald
Busier than ever is how the Rev. Anthony W. Fischer and his housekeeper Laura Schmitz describe their lives.
Marshfield native Fischer, also known as Father Tony, will mark this 65th anniversary as a priest Feb. 6 during a special Mass at the Church of St. Anne in Wausau, where he served for 36 years.
Family photographs, farmed newspaper articles featuring Fischer and Schmitz, letters and testimonials from colleagues and admirers line the walls of the cozy den in the Marshfield home Fischer purchased three years after his retirement from St. Anne’s in 1973.
Fischer, who will be 90 in August, said he owes his long life “to surgery.”
And he read from a draft of the speech he’ll deliver at the reception, at which the current and former bishops of the diocese will be present.
“I do not deserve all the attention that the parish has given me, but I have arthritis, and I don’t deserve that either.”
Retirement is a misnomer when applied to Fischer. He hasn’t presided over a parish for more than 20 years, but his life is full to the point of nonstop. In between reading and entertaining a steady stream of visitors, he visits patients at St. Joseph’s Hospital on a regular basis. His two annual Masses for deer hunters in Tomahawk have become as much an institution as his penchant for collecting and telling humorous stories. And he still fills in for vacationing colleagues.
“We helped out at Hatley when it was so darned cold last week,” said Fischer. “Father Abe (Rev. Thomas Abraham) was on vacation and I took his place.”
Fischer has spent most of his life in central Wisconsin. He moved to Marshfield from Manitowoc when he was 6, and graduated from St. John’s School.
“Six boys from my class at St. John’s went to seminary. Three finished, and I’m the sole survivor.”
Fischer graduated from St. Francis Seminary at St. Francis, Wis., and read his first Solemn Holy Mass at St. John’s Catholic Church in Marshfield Feb. 10, 1929.
He’s seen a lot in 65 years as a priest.
“A real change for all of us were the changes made by Vatican II during our priesthood. One of the best fruits of it was ecumenism, because it makes living together with our non-Catholic friends so much easier for us and for them, it makes life more enjoyable because there’s so much we can do together.”
Before Vatican II, Fischer said the atmosphere between Catholics and those who practiced order religions was “very cold. Protestants were afraid they were going to catch something and Catholics were afraid too, that they (Protestants) might have something contagious. Ecumenism killed all the germs.”
Fischer served in Athens, Owen, Withee and Abbotsford before being assigned his first parish, St. Boniface in Waumaundee, where he served from 1933-45. From Waumanundee, he went to St. Joseph’s in Stratford, where he served until 1952, when he moved to St. Anne’s.
It was in Waumaundee that Schmitz went to work for him.
She and a cousin had traveled by train from their home in Harlan, Iowa to visit a friend in Alma who was keeping house for a friends of Fischer’s. Fischer was also a visitor at the house.
“Father Tony’s parents were living with him and he needed help, so he asked me if I’d be interested (in working for him) and I said no,” recalled Schmitz.
But Fischer wasn’t hearing it. “He offered to drive us back to Iowa. He said that would give me a chance to get my clothes,” said Schmitz, “and I thought it would be a dirty trick to let him come back along after driving us all the way there.”
It was the first time Schmitz had ever left home, and her family was convinced she wouldn’t last for homesickness. That was 53 years ago.
“She was very good to the priests and they were good to her. The assistants always liked Laura. They always said she made a home for them,” said Fischer, adding that Abraham held a 50th anniversary celebration for her at his parish in June of 1992.
“That’s the first time in the history of the church that a former associate did that for the housekeeper,” said Fischer.
Fischer’s former associate the Rev. Robert McKillop of St. Anne’s is planning the Wausau celebration, which more than 500 former parishioners, colleagues and family members are expected to attend.
“My life has been a very happy life,” said Fischer, “because the people that I served were all good people. We not only liked each other but we loved each other. And it’s often said that there are great parishes. That’s not true. There are no great parishes, there are only great people.”
The Eucharist of Thanksgiving and reception honoring Fischer is at 3 p.m. Feb. 6 at The Church of St. Anne on the corner of 6th Avenue and Bridge Street in Wausau. In attendance will be The Most Rev. John J. Paul, BD, Bishop, of the La Crosse Diocese, and The Most Rev. Frederick W. Freking, BD, Bishop Emeritus of the La Crosse Diocese.
