Stephen Samuel Peisher

Stephen Samuel Peisher, lately of Warner Robins by way of Athens, Georgia, but originally from Clifton Springs, New York, the man who taught his children to pray “Amen, eat,” went to meet Jesus on Saturday, April 30, 2022. A Roman Catholic Yankee who found himself a stranger in this strange Southern land, surrounded by Baptists, casseroles, and dry counties, Steve found all sorts of creative ways to subvert cultures and mores wherever he found himself.

Early in his military career, the army decided that as an intellectual, Steve could do less damage tucked away doing intel with NATO troops in Europe than with an actual rifle in Vietnam. He distinguished himself in France by firing his sidearm directly at the ground to maintain his mandatory annual qualification, and on one particularly notable occasion by pulling that same sidearm on a superior officer because he was not to let anyone in the room when sensitive documents were out. Chances are, if you’ve met him, you have heard this story a time or three. Today’s tribute will omit his tales of bartending for a mob boss in Buffalo, New York, and teaching the children of Dixie Mafia leaders while at Winder-Barrow Middle School, as you’ve likely heard those, too.

Steve met his bride, Ann Vaughan, while in graduate school at Georgia Southern. The two married on November 30, 1968, and their careers eventually led them to Athens, where they settled and raised their family. As a historian and natural teacher, Steve always enjoyed being tapped to teach the “little old ladies” at Milledge Avenue Baptist Church about Old Testament judgment because he figured they could use a little excitement. The longest running non-member in church history, Steve periodically had to remind ecclesiastical leadership that he was still, in fact, Catholic and therefore ineligible for deaconship. One could only hope that if he had gotten the vote, he might have successfully convinced the church to offer communion with the historically-accurate fermented grape juice instead of Welch’s.

Steve did his best to make sure that his three children, Christopher, Catherine, and Michael, knew the important things in life. Notable lessons included how to cheat at Monopoly, how to pass time during long sermons (poking your neighbor and taking apart ballpoint pens), how to successfully deliver wet willies during the blessing, and how to drive a manual transmission. In Catherine’s case, the last may be his one true failure. Having competed on the track team and multiple team sports in high school, he was always willing to teach his kids to shoot baskets and dribble, throw a softball, and be an official timer at the swim team meets. He also stepped up to wrangle 12- and 13-year-old softball players until more official coaches could be found. While not known as ‘handy’ in the strictest sense of the word, Steve also led his son’s cub scout troop and taught him how to build a pinewood derby car. The world remains mystified at how exactly Steve Peisher’s particular brand of “handiness” created forts out of shipping pallets, a life-size dollhouse, and a treehouse shaped like a spaceship, but his results speak for themselves.

As a local business owner, what Steve loved best was seeing the same people every week, hearing their stories, and sharing a few of his own. As he was an intellectual to the very core, this would absolutely, certainly, under no circumstances be considered gossip. Having dealt with the town’s dirty laundry in the absolute most literal sense, he would frequently come home with interesting stories. (Feel free to ask about the lacy undies found in the business suit jacket that certainly would not have fit the suit owner’s wife!) Despite his appearance as a dedicated businessman, Steve wouldn’t hesitate to close the shop (regularly, truth be told) to bring his forgetful daughter the math book she left at home.

A longtime resident of Cedar Creek on the Eastside of Athens, Steve brought his refined palate to the local gourmet club. While he did enjoy exquisite wine and food pairings, one wonders if his foodie friends really knew that he made sandwiches made entirely of condiments every afternoon. Rumors of several intoxicated gentlemen gourmands breaking into the neighborhood swimming pool for a skinny dip in the early 80s remain an unconfirmed local legend.

Nearly two decades of hauling his whining and fighting kids across the country in a minivan with no distractions other than John Denver and “Down by the Creek Bank” prepared him for his adventures with his wife in semi-retirement, where they packed an enormous vehicle and drove, and drove, and drove. Amazingly, six weeks in a car did not lead to divorce, but instead to ideas and plans for the next year’s trip. If that doesn’t sum up their 50+ year marriage, nothing does. Ann was definitely the motor and rudder of the relationship, but Steve was the navigator, both in practice and at heart. Even with the advent of GPS, his favorite publication outside of the New York Times Crossword puzzle books was the Rand McNalley road atlas. His favorite pastime besides channel surfing was to sit at the patio table with his yellow legal notepad and road maps, planning trips, some of which he actually took.

Recent decades brought Steve to the third, and best, phase of his professional life. Teaching college history classes was where he truly shone, and being a “professor” finally gave him an excuse to keep 500 books and countless notepads in the car. These decades also brought him six grandchildren, and in a fashion that would surprise exactly no one, Steve, relieved of pesky parental obligations like discipline, wasted no time in revisiting his earlier behavioral lessons, corrupting the kids in church and maintaining long-running pranks like hiding can’t-sleep-without stuffed animals.

Steve is predeceased by his parents, Joseph and Lillian (Madden) Peisher, who reportedly managed to raise an even more troublesome and witty set of siblings than Steve did, his brothers, Michael and Joseph, and sister, Ruth Morehouse. He is survived by his wife, Ann, of Warner Robins, Georgia; sons Christopher (Sara) Peisher of Warner Robins, Georgia; Michael (Teresa) Peisher of Greenville, South Carolina; daughter, Catherine (Bryan) Knight of Crystal Lake, Illinois; and grandchildren Emma (14), Christopher, Jr. (13), Camden (10), and Lilly (9) Peisher of Warner Robins, Georgia; and Lorelei (8) and Adelind (5) Knight of Crystal Lake, Illinois, all of whom miss him terribly.

A memorial gathering will take place on Thursday, May 5, 2022, from 2:00 p.m. until 3:00 p.m. at McCullough Funeral Home. A memorial service will immediately follow at 3:00 p.m. in the chapel of McCullough Funeral Home with Rev. Jacob Green and Rev. Nathan Byrd officiating.

In lieu of flowers donations can be made to:
Milledge Avenue Baptist Church, Athens, GA http://www.milledge.org/
Shirley Hills Baptist Church, Warner Robins, Georgia https://lifeatthehills.com/
The Alzheimer’s Association, https://curealz.org/giving/donate/
The Glenlivet Distillery of Ballindalloch, United Kingdom yourlocalliquorstore.com

Learn about the measures McCullough Funeral Home is taking to ensure the health and safety of our guests at mcculloughfh.com. There you can also sign an Online Registry for the family. McCullough Funeral Home and Crematory has the privilege of being entrusted with these arrangements.