In the 1970s, Dublin wasn’t what it is today. The Dublin City School District didn’t yet have the prestige it does now, cityhood was still a decade away and fewer than 4,000 people lived in the village.
Still, the natural beauty and potential for growth led Warren Fishman; his wife, Bea; and their two children, Aaron and Rebecca, to move to Dublin.
Fishman, who worked in publishing at the time, had been living in Columbus in the 1970s. He was, and still is, an avid cyclist, and one day came upon Muirfield Village during a bicycle ride with a friend. Though he and Bea had been searching for a home in Upper Arlington, it seemed Dublin had all the things they were looking for.
“I rode around and said, ‘Wow, this is fabulous,’” says Fishman. “I stopped at a phone booth and called Bea, and I said, ‘Why don’t you arrange a visitation to the schools? ... I think this would be a good place to move.’”
Just a day after Bea, a longtime teacher, met with and approved of Dublin schools, the Fishmans found a home in Muirfield, and Fishman recalls walking through the home at 1 a.m. with a searchlight after putting down an offer. The Fishmans would become just the 29th family to move into Muirfield on April 24, 1977, and remain in that same house 40 years later.
“I don’t think anybody does anything themselves in Dublin that they can take credit for. It all has to do with the amount of people that are working to make Dublin a better place.” - Warren Fishman
The Fishmans, who value community involvement, became immediately integrated in Dublin. A month after move-in, Fishman found himself on the Board of Zoning Appeals and Bea formed a volleyball team with other Muirfield residents. Bea had taken time off of work to be a full-time homemaker, but soon found herself as president of then-Dublin Middle School’s PTO. Wanting to get back to the classroom, she became certified in English as a second language, and began rotating among the schools in Dublin. She worked in Dublin schools for more than 20 years, and still keeps in touch with many of her former students.
“Bea deserves a lot of credit for what we did together,” Fishman says. “She was a really great teacher, (a) fabulous teacher. People still, to this day, say, ‘Aren’t you Bea’s husband?’”
Fishman eventually became a part of the Muirfield Association Board of Directors and was appointed chairman of Dublin’s Planning and Zoning Commission. The Fishmans quickly fell in love with Dublin, and wanted to help the community retain its natural beauty.
“Dublin is a really special place. The volunteerism in Dublin is unbelievable compared to any place I’ve ever been, and the people are just giving people,” says Fishman. “I don’t think anybody does anything themselves in Dublin that they can take credit for. It all has to do with the amount of people that are working to make Dublin a better place.”
The 73-year-old Dayton native now runs Fishman Property Management, but he is still heavily involved in many of the inner workings of Dublin, including the Bridge Street Corridor. Though Dublin has changed quite a bit since his family’s move here in 1977, Fishman believes Dublin has preserved all the things that originally attracted him, and he’s excited about the changes that Bridge Park will bring.
“I think the growth has been wonderful,” says Fishman. “I think a lot of people were naysayers about the Bridge Street Corridor, and now those same people are enjoying all the restaurants and the hotel and the apartments.”
Though his children are now adults, Fishman says he can’t think of a better community in which to have raised Aaron, who now lives in Cleveland, and Rebecca, now in Miamisburg. Through Dublin and central Ohio, the Fishmans instilled in their children the importance of giving back to the community, and Fishman says the two are now involved in their own communities. And when he and Bea are able to get out of Dublin, they enjoy visiting their two children and seven combined grandchildren as well.
Fishman and Bea try to get out of Ohio – and, often, the country – as much as they can. They recently traveled to Panama, Costa Rica and Grand Cayman, and already have planned a family trip to Alaska to celebrate their anniversary. The pair also loves cycling on Dublin’s miles of bike paths. Fishman says his wife is easy to spot during Mass at St. Brigid of Kildare Church, as she typically cycles from Muirfield and has her bicycle helmet nearby. Even while suffering from a case of wanderlust, Fishman and Bea can’t imagine moving out of Dublin, or even out of their home in Muirfield.
“We have no desire to leave Dublin,” says Fishman. “We have lots of friends in Dublin, we enjoy Dublin and we enjoy the people.”
Amanda DePerro is an assistant editor. Feedback welcome at gbishop@cityscenemediagroup.com.
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