The Mexia News: When the conductor of the Starlight Symphony Orchestra in Wimberley gives the downbeat at the annual holiday concerts Dec. 1-2, Jackie Fisher, Wimberley violinist and Mexia High School 1957 graduate, will be fulfilling one of his bucket list wishes – to play in a concert performance with his 16-year-old granddaughter, Emma Armer. 

Fisher, who has been with the orchestra since 2006, played cornet in the Mexia High School band under the direction of Joe Tom Haney. He became interested in violins when a great aunt gave him a violin made by his great uncle, who led a Western swing band, “The Musical Buddies,” in the 1930s and ‘40s. After a few attempts at playing the instrument, Fisher decided to learn to play when he retired from NASA. Initially, he taught himself.