Mostly Clear, 56° F
(Sept. 12, 2006)
Kathleen "Kathi" Karol Fischer, 62, died of a brain aneurysm Sept. 12 at Good Samaritan Hospital in San Jose, Calif.
She was born in Cody on Feb.15, 1944, the daughter of Lloyd House and Phyllis Sweet.
From the time she was 17 months old, however, she was raised by her aunt and uncle, Verda and Leslie "Les" Billings, who became her parents in every sense of the word. Growing up, Kathi attended a number of different schools since Les traveled throughout the U.S. and Canada as an electrical superintendent for Bechtel Corporation.
Kathi herself began working for Bechtel Corporation in 1972 as a computer operator and an administrative assistant in Gaithersburg, Md. In 1977, she returned to Cody where she worked for Husky Oil Company, then moved to Irving and Dallas, Texas, and worked as an operations specialist and a production scheduler. For the last 16 years, she was employed with United Technologies in California as a technical support specialist in their financial information systems division.
When the division for which she worked dissolved, Kathi moved to Cody in December of 2005 to care for her mother, Verda. At the time of her death, she was in the process of building a dream home for herself and her mother in Powell.
She is survived by her mother; son, Kevin Bernal of Chicago; sisters-Marilyn Lockrem of Sacramento, Calif., and Shirley Schoonover of Cornelius, Ore.; special friend, Alberto Perez of Morgan Hill, Calif.; stepbrother John Skaggs and wife Julie of Powell; stepsisters—Ginger Franzen of Charleston, S.C., and Penny Craig of Boise, Idaho; half-sister Sonja Whitmore of Powell; numerous aunts, uncles, nieces, nephews, and cousins—including Carl House of Cody.
She was preceded in death by her biological parents, and her father, Les Billings. A memorial service was held in San Jose, Calif., for Kathi’s family, friends, and colleagues.
A memorial service also will take place on Saturday, Sept. 23, at 2 p.m. in the Third Ward LDS Church at 1407 Heart Mountain Street, Cody.
