Former Wilmore Davis Elementary School teacher Ron Fischer impacted thousands of lives throughout his 35-year career as an educator.

Aside from teaching over 3,500 students, Fischer was known for interacting with even more students each day during recess as he frequently participated in pick-up schoolyard games. 

On Saturday, around two dozen of Fischer’s former students gathered outside his Arvada home to share memories, celebrate and give thanks to the beloved educator. 

“He had a tremendous impact on all of us whether it was in the classroom, or joining us kids to play a game of softball or baseball at recess,” said Mike Hesse, an organizer and Fischer’s student in 1977.

“We wanted to make sure that he knew what a tremendous impact he had on all of us and just wanted to say thank you, you know, so many times people forget to do that, but we wanted to make sure he knew.”

Hesse and several other former students of the Jefferson County elementary school in Wheat Ridge began organizing the event through Facebook in January. 

Since the idea began, students from Fischer’s entire teaching career from 1963 to 1998 at Wilmore Davis joined the group and shared their fondest memories of him.

The group also was able to coordinate having a Colorado flag flown at the State Capitol in Denver in his honor, which was presented to him while he was alongside his wife, Joy, and daughter, Lynn, on Saturday.

“Everyone reintroduced themselves and told him their favorite memory, and then we presented him the flag and gave him the memory board we made,” Hesse said.

And for Fischer’s former students, Saturday was not only an opportunity to reconnect with their teacher, but a chance to truly show and explain the impact he had on their lives.

“All of us in attendance had wanted to say thank you for many, many, years, but never had the format to do that until recently, so we wanted to make sure we did that,” Hesse said.

“We just wanted to give him the recognition and pay the respect he gave all of us, so many years ago, and we were able to do that.”