08/23/2026
Remembering John Fidler: A Life of Love, Service & Generosity
For more than two decades, Christmas at the Boys & Girls Club of Goshen has meant something very special: the annual Fidler family Christmas party.
For 22 years, John and Lois Fidler made sure more than 80 first and second grade cadets each year experienced the joy and magic of Christmas—complete with a meal, gifts, hats, gloves, SANTA, the Crimsonaires and the unmistakable feeling that someone in their community cared deeply about them.
It became one of our most treasured traditions at the Club and an annual highlight for our kids and staff. But for John, it was never simply about one day at Christmas, it was about teaching his family the importance of doing good for others. Year after year. For kids. For his community. For people he loved.
On August 17, we lost an extraordinary friend and champion of the Boys & Girls Club when John passed away at the age of 87.
He served on various Club boards and was a mentor for many. We were incredibly fortunate that the Boys & Girls Club was one of the places John chose to love.
His impact lives in the memories of thousands of children who attended those Christmas parties and those that have simply walked through our Club doors. It lives in the staff who watched the Fidler family return year after year. And it lives in the example John set for all of us about what it means to truly invest in your community.
John Fidler didn't just support the Boys & Girls Club. He became part of our story.
We will miss his friendship, his leadership, his generosity and his enormous heart. And each Christmas, when our Cadets gather for a tradition that John and Lois helped make so special, we will be reminded of two people who believed deeply that every child deserved to feel loved, celebrated and remembered.
Our hearts are with the entire Fidler family.
Thank you, John, for more than 22 years of believing in our kids—and for a lifetime of showing all of us what it looks like to love a community well.
Your legacy will live on in the lives you touched and the great futures you helped make possible.
Tami
