Lori Fisher, the founder of the popular Vineyard Facebook group Islanders Talk, died Saturday. She was 63.
Ms. Fisher, a stay-at-home grandma who lived in Edgartown, started the group in 2012. At the onset, there were about 20 close friends in the group. It has since become an online Island institution and boasts more than 21,000 members.
In a 2014 interview with the Gazette, Ms. Fisher said she started it so there would be a new forum for people to talk about Island happenings. People in the group post about ferry schedules, share random acts of kindness, comment on news items and vent about life seven miles out to sea.
At the start, Ms. Fisher would monitor the page twice daily. But as it grew, she went on to check it hourly, giving it constant attention to make sure members were following the group’s rules.
“Be nice, no name calling and no politics,” she said in the 2014 interview.
Leanna Fisher-Evans, Ms. Fisher’s daughter and fellow administrator on Islanders Talk, posted the news of Ms. Fisher’s death on Saturday, and Chapman Funerals and Cremations sent the Gazette a death notice.
“I am terribly sad to inform the IT community that Lori Fisher, the infamous creator of this page, has crossed over the bridge into peace and no more pain land,” Ms. Fisher-Evans wrote.
The post was met with an outpouring of condolences. More than 600 people commented on the post Saturday, with many thanking Ms. Fisher for her lasting contribution to the Vineyard community.
“Lori was an Island visionary who found a new way to bring our community together,” one commenter wrote. “The Vineyard owes her a debt of gratitude for creating and running Islanders Talk. She governed this page with a fair and steady hand.”
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