Exodus 33:7 “Moses took his tent and pitched it
outside the camp, far from the camp, and called it the tabernacle of meeting.
And it came to pass that everyone who sought the LORD went out to the
tabernacle of meeting which was outside the camp. 8 So it was, whenever
Moses went out to the tabernacle, that all the people rose, and each man stood
at his tent door and watched Moses until he had gone into the tabernacle. 9 And
it came to pass, when Moses entered the tabernacle, that the pillar of cloud
descended and stood at the door of the tabernacle, and the LORD talked with
Moses. 10 All the people saw the pillar of cloud standing at the tabernacle
door, and all the people rose and worshiped, each man in his tent door.
11 So the LORD spoke to Moses face to face, as a man speaks to his
friend. And he would return to the camp, but his servant Joshua the son of Nun,
a young man, did not depart from the tabernacle.”
Alice and Wilfred Fisher were my friends and
neighbors at Kentucky Mountain Bible College. They are two of the godliest
people I have ever known in my life. When I was about 9 years old their son
Stephen was killed in a bulldozer accident. Stephen grew up at KMBC, loving
adventure and machines. He married a girl from Lee County, Phyllis Davis. They
moved to Harlan County, Kentucky where Steve was planting a church. To make
ends meet, Steve bought a bulldozer, and did contract work. One day, he was
clearing a pad to create a mobile home site on a steep mountainside in Harlan. The
dozer got caught in a precarious position, could not regain its traction, and flipped,
pinning Steve beneath. His young bride, Phyllis, watched in horror as the life
was crushed out of her husband.
When Alice received the tragic news, her heart
reached out to God in her grief. “I wonder what God will teach me through
this!” was her famous query.
Over the years, Alice Fisher became a confidant
for many. Her neighbor, groping through the pain of a son who turned to
homosexuality, sought counsel from Alice. Students, colleagues, neighbors,
and friends knew her to be a woman who knew God. Her intimacy with her
heavenly father was fashioned into diamond-like beauty amidst the afflictions
and agony of life.
Alice loved to work. She and Wilfred went to Kentucky
Mountain Bible College in December, 1939, fresh out of Asbury College. They
intended to stay for the remainder of the school year. That temporary
arrangement extended to Alice’s death in November, 2010 at 97. She worked
full-time at KMBC into her 70's and slowed down to a part-time position as
secretary to President Philip Speas until she was 95 years old. A
temporary arrangement turned into a 71 year calling.
As a young vice president at KMBC, I confided
hurt, sorrow, pain, and joy in Mrs. Fisher. She always supported and
encouraged me. She supported President Speas, protected him, and even
nudged him graciously and gently. She supported my father, J. Eldon
Neihof, as president of KMBC and later as president of the Kentucky Mountain Holiness
Association.
This woman of God was one of my favorite chapel
speakers, Bible teachers, prayer warriors, confidants, neighbors, and friends. My
neighbors for many years, Alice’s living room lights were always lit before
mine. She was up early, saturating her soul in the Word and prevailing in
prayer. Whenever the weather was nice, she walked the tennis court near her
house and mine. She was walking, holding 3x5 note cards, reading, quoting, and
memorizing Scripture, until she was 96 years old.
Alice Fisher was like Joshua in that she “did
not depart from the tabernacle.”
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