THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, October 27, 1994 TAG: 9410270376
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B11 EDITION: FINAL
DATELINE: PORT ST. LUCIE, FLA. LENGTH: Short : 35 lines
Fannie Baker Wiser, 65, after an extended battle with cancer. An eight year resident of Port St. Lucie, she was born in Elizabeth City, N.C., in June 1929 and moved to Norfolk, VA, with her family at age seven. A woman of grace and charm, she practiced moderation in all things save affairs of the heart. For her, devotion and tenderness to family and friends knew no boundaries. In some ways a product of the old south, she retained the finest virtues of southern womanhood - a loving, nurturing disposition tempered by a well-disciplined inner strength and vision. She eschewed all forms of bigotry and vice. Although raised and educated in a conservative environment she readily embraced a world of growing opportunities for women to mold and contribute to society. This was amply demonstrated by the relish with which she undertook a challenging and successful career of political and civic activism spanning two decades. It was through her efforts that the school board of the city of Norfolk belatedly established programs for the mentally handicapped. Her endeavors set the pattern for modernizing other aspects of that city's educational system. At times she seemed to be the very invocation of Frederick Douglass' call to ``Agitate, agitate, agitate.'' She was a woman of great courage and noble spirit, and her passing will leave an unfillable void in the lives of her family and friends. She is survived by her husband, Edward, of 47 years, her mother, Fannie Ruth, children, Edward, of Ft. Lauderdale, David and Kim, of Sarasota, Heidi, of Port St. Lucie, and grandsons Morgan and Michael, also of Sarasota. In lieu of flowers, expressions of sympathy are welcome in the form of donations to Hospice of Martin County.
KEYWORDS: DEATH OBITUARY by CNB