In Memorial
At the Warren Heritage Center, our mission to preserve and share the rich history of our community has been shaped by the dedication and leadership of extraordinary individuals. This memorial page honors the former board members whose vision, stewardship, and commitment strengthened our organization and ensured that local stories would be preserved for generations to come.
Through their guidance, the Center grew in purpose and impact- expanding programs, safeguarding collections, and deepening connections within the community. They gave generously of their time, expertise, and passion for history, helping to build a lasting foundation for the work we continue today.
We remember them with gratitude and respect. Their leadership not only preserved the past- it helped shape the future of the Warren Heritage Cent er and the community it serves.
Wendell Franklin Lauth, age 94, of Bristolville passed away peacefully at his home on January 13, 2026. Wendell was born August 11, 1931, in Southington, Ohio, to the late Harold and Edna (Mobley) Lauth. A lifelong educator, historian, and public servant, he devoted his life to learning, teaching, and preserving the history of his community and state.
In June of 1953, Wendell graduated from Case University with a Bachelor of Science degree in Chemistry. After finishing two years of active duty in the Army, he attended summer classes at Kent State to prepare for a career teaching mathematics and chemistry. His dedication to education led him into administrative leadership, serving as Superintendent of Bristolville Schools from 1961 to 1966, and later as Superintendent of Girard Schools from 1970 to 1976.
Wendell was deeply involved in civic and historical organizations throughout Ohio. He was very active in the Ohio State Grange and was widely known for sharing his passion for history through innovative multimedia and slide presentations beginning in the 1970s. These presentations were given in schools, women’s groups, and community settings, making history accessible and engaging to audiences of all ages.
For 25 years, Wendell accompanied the Packard Band during the Packard Music Hall Christmas concerts, enhancing the performances with his carefully prepared multimedia slide presentations.
Wendell was a founding trustee of the National Packard Museum and later served as its president. He also served as a trustee of the Ohio Historical Society in Columbus. Locally, he was president of the Bristol Historical Society, hosting their popular bus tours to dozens of national historic sites. His expertise was also sought as a consultant to the architect during the restoration of the Trumbull County Courthouse.
A gifted lecturer and storyteller, Wendell participated in cemetery walks beginning at the McKinley Memorial Library in Niles, where he spoke about past residents who lost their lives in pivotal wars, ensuring their sacrifices were remembered.
He is survived by his niece and nephews, Deborah (Tom) Daugherty, David (Jane) Downs, Tim (Sue) Downs; great nieces and nephews, Cristina (Dennis), Casey (Marie), Carey (Andy), Tom (Teryn), and Bill (Jordan); great-great-nieces and nephews, Cadence, Abby, Felicity, Anna, Eli, Amelia, and Augustus; along with several, cousins, and extended family members.
In June of 1953, Wendell graduated from Case University with a Bachelor of Science degree in Chemistry. After finishing two years of active duty in the Army, he attended summer classes at Kent State to prepare for a career teaching mathematics and chemistry. His dedication to education led him into administrative leadership, serving as Superintendent of Bristolville Schools from 1961 to 1966, and later as Superintendent of Girard Schools from 1970 to 1976.
Wendell was deeply involved in civic and historical organizations throughout Ohio. He was very active in the Ohio State Grange and was widely known for sharing his passion for history through innovative multimedia and slide presentations beginning in the 1970s. These presentations were given in schools, women’s groups, and community settings, making history accessible and engaging to audiences of all ages.
For 25 years, Wendell accompanied the Packard Band during the Packard Music Hall Christmas concerts, enhancing the performances with his carefully prepared multimedia slide presentations.
Wendell was a founding trustee of the National Packard Museum and later served as its president. He also served as a trustee of the Ohio Historical Society in Columbus. Locally, he was president of the Bristol Historical Society, hosting their popular bus tours to dozens of national historic sites. His expertise was also sought as a consultant to the architect during the restoration of the Trumbull County Courthouse.
A gifted lecturer and storyteller, Wendell participated in cemetery walks beginning at the McKinley Memorial Library in Niles, where he spoke about past residents who lost their lives in pivotal wars, ensuring their sacrifices were remembered.
He is survived by his niece and nephews, Deborah (Tom) Daugherty, David (Jane) Downs, Tim (Sue) Downs; great nieces and nephews, Cristina (Dennis), Casey (Marie), Carey (Andy), Tom (Teryn), and Bill (Jordan); great-great-nieces and nephews, Cadence, Abby, Felicity, Anna, Eli, Amelia, and Augustus; along with several, cousins, and extended family members.
WARREN — Kay Wagner Fisher would like everyone to know that her work here is done, as on Saturday, August 8, 2020, at age 94, she went to join her Lord and her loved ones gone before. Kay had a long and fruitful life that began in Bellaire, where she was born October 17, 1925, to Henry "Heine" C. Wagner and Geraldine Kaye Wagner; she was to be their only child. Kay had an active childhood as a self-described "tomboy" growing up in Warren, where she was the only girl among seven boys of similar age in her Edgewood Avenue neighborhood. Kay remained buddies with her neighbor "brothers" throughout her school years and kept in contact with them by voluminous letter correspondence over the course of World War II, buoying their spirits. Thus began Kay's habit of collecting forever friends that endured over distance of miles and years. Kay attended McKinley Elementary and East Junior High School. She spent many summers at her Wagner grandparents' farm down in the hills along the Ohio River, immersed in country chores and pastimes. She was especially close to her grandmother, Maggie Wagner, from whom Kay often said she inherited her own optimistic and dauntless spirit. Kay's life of achievement, leadership and service began in earnest in her teen years at Warren G. Harding High School, where she was active in many clubs (Boosters, Girl Reserves, the yearbook Echoes, the student newspaper High Life, etc.). She was student council president her senior year, spearheading the war effort scrap drive, and graduated valedictorian of her class of 1943. Kay retained numerous high school friends who became compatriots in future public interest endeavors a half century later. Kay went on to college at Flora Stone Mather College in Cleveland, where she forged what was to be a lifelong friendship with her college roommate, and from which she graduated in 1947. After the war ended, while still attending college, Kay met returning Army Air Corps veteran Gordon P. Fisher of Champion, who was to become her "best buddy" and forever love. Kay and Gordon married in 1948 and took off on a six-week wedding trip on a shoestring, driving and tent camping throughout the West. Gordon broke his leg a few days out and was casted and on crutches for the rest of the trip. At the end of their honeymoon, they had to sell their car in southern California to get train fare home. Kay went to work to support the young couple while Gordon attended dental school, putting aside her personal aspiration to go to medical school and become a physician. During dental school, Kay and Gordon took a job as house parents of a cottage at Beech Brook Orphanage for 3 1/2 years, caring for 15 boys ages 11 to 17. From this experience, they gained parenting insights and compassion for the less fortunate while honing their motivational and organizational skills, all of which Kay put to good use in later life. After Gordon completed dental school, the couple returned to Warren to build their life together. Kay partnered with Gordon in his dental practice by being his sole dental assistant in the early years and office manager for the whole duration of his 30-year dental career. While successfully advancing Warren's dental health, Gordon and Kay developed steadfast friendships with employees, patients and colleagues that went far beyond dentistry. Kay and Gordon were joined by daughters Holly in 1953 and Heidi in 1955, and Kay became a loving, stimulating and guiding mother, as well as an enthusiastic participant in all the activities the Fisher family enjoyed together — including snow skiing, water skiing, biking and hiking, canoe camping, white water rafting… all of it. While Holly and Heidi were growing up, Kay and Gordon were inspirational, generous and capable mentors for many youth, both formally and informally. Kay and Gordon were good at invigorating people of every age to be their best selves and young people gravitated to their open and accepting encouragement. Even in later life, high school friends of Holly and Heidi would drop Kay a line or pay her a visit from time to time, expressing appreciation for influencing their lives in a positive direction. Kay was an outstanding high school Sunday school teacher at two different churches for a combined total of 15 years, and many of her students became adult friends. Kay was instrumental in Christian Dental Society missionary trips to remote areas of Puerto Rico and Guatemala, where she aided Gordon in providing dental care and treatment to people to whom it was not otherwise accessible. Holly and Heidi also participated on the Puerto Rico mission trip, as Kay and Gordon believed strongly in teaching their daughters early about sharing one's blessings. Kay made it possible for more of such mission trips by others to occur by raising funds through giving numerous slide show presentations about the family's mission experiences. Kay's life of love, adventure and contribution with Gordon ended in 1982, when he passed away after a long battle with cancer, which she fought alongside him. Kay would spend the next 38 years of her life continuing their joint legacy and building her very own. After Gordon's death, Kay launched herself full energy into a life of volunteer service to her beloved Warren community. When it comes to the abundance of causes and organizations to which Kay devoted her time and energy and the awards and accolades she received over the years, those who knew her or of her are already aware of the many and diverse contributions she made to Warren and of the tributes she received for her achievements in community service. To list them all would be encyclopedic and to reference some risks others feeling slighted. The family begs forgiveness for any omissions and encourages instead that the focus be on the essential elements of Kay that all of her volunteer efforts reveal and reflect: She was a woman who was both an effective leader and tireless servant of her community. Kay led effectively from the front, the middle and the rear. Up front, she was a creative problem-solver who was not afraid to step out and take risks; she was adept at identifying projects and then finding, organizing and directing the resources (people, materials and funds) to get the job done. Her vitality and enthusiasm were infectious. Kay was a fundraiser extraordinaire and convincing instigator. Without her influence, persuasion, persistence and fearless knocking on doors, many undertakings would have failed to get off the ground, or finish, or endure and flourish. In the middle, Kay was outspoken and opinionated, but also a collaborator who recognized that most things worth doing can't be accomplished alone and require the cooperative gifts, talents, time and energy of many people, who need to be respected, inspired, nourished and partnered with to become a force greater than one. Kay had many comrades-in-arms whom she dearly loved and knew were essential to the success of many missions. At the rear, Kay was always willing to invest her own sweat in doing the "grunt" work alongside those she enlisted in any effort –pushing wheelbarrows, moving bricks, climbing ladders, cleaning floors and getting real dirty — providing an example that great things only happen when everyone puts their back into it. Kay was always on the lookout for the "next thing that needed attention" to preserve Warren's exceptional history. When it comes to the long battle for historic downtown Warren, Kay demonstrated these qualities of leadership for decades — as a founding member, officer and / or director and / or member of The Upton Association, the Historic Perkins Homestead Neighborhood Association and the Warren Heritage Center (volunteer organizations responsible for the salvation, preservation, restoration and ongoing operations and outreach of the Harriet Taylor Upton House, the Kinsman House, the Perkins Pagoda, the Woods House, creation of the Trumbull County Women's Park and more). Kay's devotion to the betterment of Warren wasn't limited to preservation of its history. She was also dedicated to improving Warren as a positive place for people to live in the present. To this end, she served for many years on numerous civic boards and committees and in countless drives and organizations, including PTO, Y-Teens, Easter Seals, United Way, Trumbull 100, Trumbull Town Hall, Wean Neighborhood Success Grants, YWCA, Warren City Council Community Development (HUD) Block Grants and more. Kay was active in supporting the campaigns of several candidates of both parties for local public office, promoting the prospects of the best person for the job without regard to partisanship. Kay also led and served in her church families at the First Reformed Church / First United Church of Christ in downtown Warren and Living Lord Lutheran Church in Howland. She was not only a longtime Sunday school teacher at both churches as noted above, but also Worship Chair, Financial Chair and Membership Chair for the church council at Living Lord for a combined total of nine years. Kay was strong and confident in her faith and her daily life was a testament to her values. In her final months in Warren, Kay and family returned to the welcoming fold of the little downtown gold-domed church whose founding pastor was Gordon's grandfather, Gideon Peter Fisher. In all things, Kay was never just a member; she always stepped up and pitched in to meet whatever challenges presented themselves. She had seemingly unlimited energy, commitment and perseverance. Kay's efforts on behalf of the Warren area were acknowledged in 2005 when she was profiled as one of Trumbull County's Top 25 Women of Influence and inducted into the Warren City Schools Distinguished Alumni Hall of Fame; in 2006, by selection as a recipient of the Mahoning Valley Legacy Award; by being named a Trumbull County Community Star in 2014; and by being given Keys to the City of Warren in 2019. Kay greatly appreciated these awards, but saw each one primarily as perhaps giving her a bit more clout to carry into the next challenge. Although Warren was always Kay's home and centerpiece of her universe, she had insatiable curiosity about places and people around the world. She and Gordon travelled extensively throughout the U.S. and Canada, Mexico, Tahiti, South America and Caribbean, but their travels were time limited during their working years. Kay really extended her reach after Gordon's death, starting with all the destinations they had listed together as places they wanted to visit. From there, she moved on to new horizons of her own imagining. Over the course of her many years alone, she visited every continent, except Africa, and missed out on this one only due to health issues in her later years. Kay's explorations included Alaska, Antarctica, Argentina, Australia, Chile, China, Easter Island, England, Ecuador, Finland, France, Galapagos Islands, Holland, Hong Kong, Israel, Nepal, New Zealand, Peru, Russia (when it was still the Soviet Union), Sweden, Tasmania and Tibet. Kay was a daring spirit and her trips were frequently long and arduous; they were "outside the box" — no bus tours to the usual tourist sites for her. Kay was a lifelong learner and her trips were adventurous and educational, with considerable time devoted to immersion in the history, culture and natural environment of whatever place she went. Kay lived fully and gave wholly to her family, friends and community. While being a huge asset to her community and a globetrotter, she was also a dedicated parent and grandparent. Although Holly and Heidi couldn't wrest Kay from the grip of Warren to move West, Kay was a frequent visitor to their homes in Montana and Idaho at the holidays and other times when she joined them to Christmas carol, attend birthdays, school programs, graduations and weddings, snow ski, water ski, backpack or help with a campaign for public office. In their adulthood, Kay was a friend more than a mother to her daughters and she was a buddy to her sons-in-law, Dell Fuller and Jeff Child, with whom she could give and take good humor and enjoy good food, especially anything from the grill. She had strong, long-distance bonds with her grandchildren, Drew and Hillary, in whom she took intense interest and to whom she gave strong and continual encouragement and support. Kay maintained the Fisher family love affair with Tygart Lake State Park, W.Va., which started in the early 1960s and continued into Kay's late 1980s. Kay taught Drew and Hillary to water ski there and last slalom skied there herself in 2006 at age 81. Kay will be remembered not only by family and community, but also by friends and strangers alike. In fact, it could be said that Kay never met a stranger who didn't become a friend. Kay was a true "people person." She was genuinely interested in people, an attentive, authentic and empathetic listener and offered a depth of insight, wisdom and experience to anyone inclined to benefit. This love of people was shared widely in Warren, but also around the country and the world — to gas dock attendants at Tygart Lake, seatmates in airplanes, Sherpas on treks and anyone anywhere she could engage in conversation. What was Kay's greatest gift? That could be answered in many ways. But one would be to say that she could always make anyone feel that they were part of something important and worth doing "full tilt" — whether that be a cause or a project, an experience or adventure, family or relationship, organization, neighborhood, community or country, or especially, their own life. Kay's life of "derring-do" ended in August 2018 with a severe health crisis that meant she could no longer live on her own in her beloved home on Perkins Circle in Warren. In the humbling circumstances of loss of independence that followed this event, people continued to be drawn to Kay; her health care providers and home caregivers in Warren became friends and admirers. After months of recuperation in Warren, Kay was moved West into the embrace of family, relocating to Bozeman, Mont., where she could be looked after by Holly, whose devotion and nursing background ensured Kay's best wellbeing to the finish line. Holly and Heidi were both present at Kay's death and shepherded her through her final hours. Kay's generous spirit, sharp mind, gracious gratitude and warm heart endeared her to staff and fellow residents at Highgate Senior Living in Bozeman, where she spent the last 18 months of her life. Kay's passing was a profound loss, even to those who met and knew her for this short time, entirely removed from her hometown notoriety and prominence. Kay gave light to others to the very end of her days. Kay left this life on August 8, Gordon's birthday, saying "farewell" to all of us here who enjoyed the wealth of her company for so long and "hello" to her soulmate from whom she had been separated for far too long. Kay is also long predeceased by her parents and too many friends. Kay is survived by her daughter and son-in-law, Holly and Dell Fuller of Bozeman, Montana, and grandson, Drew Fuller, and granddaughter-in-law, Betci, by her daughter, Heidi Fisher (Child) of Coeur d'Alene, Idaho, and granddaughter, Hillary Child of Chicago, Illinois. Kay was predeceased by her dear son-in-law, Jeff Child, in 2014. Kay is also survived by her stepgrandchildren, Marcus Fuller of Bozeman, Mont., and Valdez, Alaska, Meghan Gervois (Tim) of Homer, Alaska, Alison Richardson (Kristian) of Whitehall, Mont., and Emily Fuller of Helena, Mont.; plus six stepgreat-grandchildren. A memorial service will be held in Warren, at a date and time yet to be determined. The event is deferred due to COVID-19 risks to safe travel and public congregating. Kay's cremains will be buried next to Gordon in Crown Hill Burial Park in Vienna. Those who wish to make gifts of time, energy or funds in memory of Kay, please do so to any of the organizations referenced above, to any organization not mentioned that you worked alongside Kay to support or to any other groups or individuals whose purpose you choose to nourish. In other words, in whatever way you were blessed to know Kay, pay it forward.
-Tribune Chronicle (Warren, Ohio), August 25, 2020
-Tribune Chronicle (Warren, Ohio), August 25, 2020