About

My name is John Tischer, I grew up in a small town in Iowa called Fonda. My fondest memories are of growing up in this community and the people who lived there.

I moved to Fonda in 1963, John Kennedy was President. The town had approximately a thousand people who lived there. It had two car dealerships, an implement dealer, two grocery stores and every building was occupied. Fonda to me was like growing up in Mayberry, USA. All the values of a small town and the characters to go with it. We had our Otis the town drunk, we had Floyd the Barber, the town band, two schools and four churches. For the most part everyone cared about each other and was there to help you. We had no crime and the bad kids were the ones who had the cigarettes rolled up in the sleeve of their t-shirt and might go out and drink. There were no drugs and we lived in carefree and simple times. Today Fonda is all but gone, only a memory of what once was. No different than most of small town Iowa, yet painful to see.

We played alot of baseball in Fonda and had alot of good teams, with the two schools it was hard to be very good in basketball, football or other sports as the numbers of kids in our class did not support having as they say a deep bench. I graduated in a class of 19. When we played baseball though in the summer there was not the seperation of the kids and success followed.

I graduated in 1968 at the height of the Viet Nam war. It seems all of my belief values were challenged and torn apart during the conflict. Many a young man went and served and gave his life for our country to come home to be spit on and accused of being a baby killer. So much anger, there was no middle ground. Unlike today where we at least support the troops, then there were those who would do anything to damage the effort of our soldiers and leaders.

These pages include my memories of being part of the Fonda Flyers and stories about our small town.  I loved that community and the people in it,  and I miss those times.