With only members of his family and a few close business associates and employees In attendance, private funeral services were held on Monday afternoon for Leonard C. Fisher, 71, owner of the Neponset Valley Farm, who died suddenly at his home last Thursday night.
The funeral was held from his residence, 387 Neponset Street, at 1:30 p.m. with the Rev. Allan Keedy, minister of the First Congregational Church of Norwood, officiating. Burial was in Highland Cemetery.
Mr. Fisher was one of the best-known businessmen in Norwood. The Neponset Valley Farms was started by his grandfather and his father and has been in the Fisher family for over 150 years.
He was a life-long resident of Norwood and was active in community affairs. He was a member of the Norwood Chamber of Commerce, the Norwood Rotary Club, the Odd Fellows and the Masonic Lodge.
He was a past director of the Massachusetts and Norfolk County Selective Breeding Association; a member of the Farm Bureau; a director of the Massachusetts Dairy Herd Improvement Association; secretary and treasurer of the Norfolk County Dairy Improvement Association; a life-member of the Holstein Freisian Association of America, and a member of the Milk Producers Association.
It was back in 1917 that the Neponset Valley Farm started its retail milk route in Norwood and in 1920 Leonard Fisher purchased part of the farm from his father. In 1928, a new milk plant was built and in 1930 the ice cream business was started. When Route 1 was put through adjacent to the farm property in 1935, the ice cream stand was moved to its present location along the highway. In 1938, the firm started its own ice cream plant and its success from the start enabled the firm to build an addition to the plant a few years later. In 1947, the farm was swept by a fire that leveled the original barn and a new one erected. A herd of 75 purebred Holstein cows is maintained at the farm.
In 1960, Mr. Fisher incorporated the firm,’ taking other members of his family into the firm’s management.
He leaves his wife, Mrs. Blanche D. (Draper) Fisher; a sister, Mrs. Emily Skolfield of Brookline; four nieces, Mrs. Joan F. Grossmith of Foxboro, Mrs. Maryanne F. Collins of Norwood, Mrs. Martha McIsaac of Woburn and Mrs. Leona Vaugh of Newton; and three nephews, Kenneth Fisher of Texas, Charles Skolfield of New York and Fred Skolfield of Florida.
(All articles originally published in the Norwood Messenger)