Rogina Fifer Isaacs

Loving (and loved) mother, sister, grandmother, great-grandmother, aunt, cousin, sister-in-law, mother-in-law and friend, Rogina Fifer Isaacs passed away just before 1:00 am Monday, February 3, 2025, following a brief illness. 

The first born of Jesse Showalter and Mary Fries Fifer on October 9, 1937, Rogina (named after her maternal grandfather, Roger Ringgold) grew up in Ridgley, Maryland and then in Buckeystown, Maryland. 

Married for sixty-four years to her beloved late husband, Ray, they spent their first ten years of marriage starting a family in Kingsport, Tennessee before moving to what has remained the family home on Fulton Avenue in Walkersville, Maryland.

 While rearing their five children, Rogina also worked seasonal or part-times jobs over the years before eventually starting full-time work as a school secretary, first at Linganore High School and then at Walkersville Middle School. She poured herself into this work and especially adored interacting with the students—while at the same time somehow managing to make sure her family always had a home cooked meal for dinner and baked goods in the house.

Rogina had strong ties to the community serving as a Girl Scout leader, church youth group leader, church camp counselor and director as well as serving on local and district committees for the Church of the Brethren. Many times the family home hosted traveling Brethren Volunteer Service missionaries. Rogina volunteered at the International Gift Shop in New Windsor and at the Frederick Soup Kitchen and had a heart for outreach to those, especially the elderly, who were not able to get out. This outreach included stopping by for visits, always with a meal or baked good in hand, and sending out innumerable cards with heartfelt notes of encouragement, which continued almost to her last days. 

As an enthusiast of music and the arts, Rogina enjoyed attending concerts and plays through the years. She also had a fondness for traveling and was an avid reader. She was a wealth of knowledge of family history and embraced her family ties to the Eastern Shore—an area she held dear and visited often. And she was a spirited Orioles Baseball fan, watching and following the team—and inviting others to join her in this pastime. 

 Rogina especially loved people—her family and friends (both special long-time friends and special friendships more newly formed). She is survived by her five children, four grandchildren, five great-grandchildren (“the Greats”), a sister, three sisters-in-law, one brother-in-law, two sons-in-law, a daughter-in-law, and many caring nieces, nephews and cousins.

 Besides her husband, parents and parents-in-law, she was preceded in death by two sisters and a brother, a son-in-law, two nieces, a number of sisters-in-law and brothers-in law and cousins. 

Rogina was a member of the Church of the Brethren, attending both Glade Valley in Walkersville and the Frederick church. She loved her Savior, the Lord Jesus, and is fully in His presence now. 

Plans for a private celebration of life gathering will be determined by the family at a later time. In lieu of flowers, donations would be appreciated to either the Church of the Brethren Emergency Disaster Fund (at Brethren Diaster Ministries, 601 Main St., P.O. Box 188, New Windsor, MD 21766-0188) or to the Frederick Rescue Mission (at 419 W. South St., Frederick, MD 21701).