Jane P. Votta-Fisher, former town clerk of Oak Bluffs for more than two decades, died March 10 in Naples, Fla. She was 81.

Born in Providence on April 30, 1930 to James F. and Mary C. Cavanaugh Porter. She graduated from Tolman High School in Pawtucket and Salve Regina College in Newport.

In 1953 she married Louis G. Votta, who predeceased her in 1991. They moved permanently to the Vineyard during the sixties, at which time Jane was office manager at the “Old Martha’s Vineyard Hospital.” She and Louis bought DeBettencourt’s Taxi and U-Drive business, which they operated together.

In 1971 Ms. Votta-Fisher was elected town clerk of Oak Bluffs, a position she held for more than 23 years. In 1975 she became a certified municipal clerk, at that time only the tenth clerk of the 351 Massachusetts clerks—and the first on the Cape and Islands—to have attained that distinguished honor. She was a member of the Massachusetts Town Clerks’ Association and served that association as president­—the first from the Cape or Islands.

Soon thereafter she was awarded the degree of “AAE” from the International Institute of Municipal Clerks—at that time she was also the first clerk from the Cape or the Islands to have attained the degree. She served the international association on their international committee, representing the United States in Great Britain, France and the Netherlands.

Ms. Votta-Fisher served the town of Oak Bluffs in various positions: clerk to the finance committee, clerk to the zoning board of appeals and office manager for the Oak Bluffs water department, the 1980 centennial committee and the by-law research committee. She also served as an Oak Bluffs selectman, a director of the Dukes County Regional Housing Authority and a member of the Martha’s Vineyard Transit Authority. She was a member of the NAACP and the Friends of the Oak Bluffs Council on Aging and served as secretary to that organization.

She was devoted to her church and served as secretary and president of the Women’s Guild. She also served as a member of the church council, and was a lector, greeter and member of its finance committee; she taught religious education in the “Old Columbus Hall.” Jane became a Eucharistic Minister during 1998, and in the fall of that year Bishop Sean O’Malley bestowed upon her the Marian Medal.

She served as secretary and president of the Triad Club of Oak Bluffs and was a member of Zonta International and served that organization as secretary.

She was a Massachusetts notary public and a justice of the peace.

In 1993 Jane married Charles B. Fisher 3rd of Washington, D.C. and Oak Bluffs. Charles died in 1994.

In recent years Jane spent her winters in Naples, Fla.

She leaves several nieces and nephews.

Oak Bluffs flew its flags at half mast this week in her honor. At the Oak Bluffs selectmen meeting Tuesday, the board commemorated her. Selectman Gail Barmakian said Ms. Votta-Fisher was “a significant member of our community.”

Selectman chairman Kathy Burton said that Ms. Votta-Fisher loved the St. Patrick’s Day parade in Naples, Fla., where she would get a group of people organized for the parade, setting up chairs along the route. This year, “I know they’re going to make a chair in her honor,” Ms. Burton said. “She’ll be missed for sure.”

Selectman Greg Coogan recalled that when he first thought about running for office, Ms. Votta-Fisher “couldn’t have been more helpful to someone she didn’t know from Adam.”

There was a Mass of Christian Burial at Our Lady Star of the Sea Church on Massasoit avenue in Oak Bluffs on Tuesday, March 13. Interment followed in Sacred Heart Cemetery in the Votta family plot.

Please omit flowers and make donations to the Good Shepherd Parish, P.O. Box 1058, Vineyard Haven, MA 02568.

Please visit ccgfuneralhome.com for online guest book and information.