Fanchon Fishman, 87, who for many years operated a West Rogers Park knit shop that became a favorite neighborhood gathering place, died of lung disease Wednesday, Feb. 6, in Our Lady of the Resurrection Medical Center. As a young woman, Mrs. Fishman was determined to become a seamstress, but when she sought to learn the trade at Marshall Field’s, she was told she would never have the talent to pursue that career. Not one to be rebuffed, Mrs. Fishman bought a book on knitting and set about teaching herself. Soon after, she took a job in Fannie Fishman’s knit shop on Roosevelt Road. It wasn’t long after she started at Fannie’s that Mrs. Fishman was introduced to the boss’s son, Jerry. They were married in 1938. In the early-1950s, Fannie’s Knit Shop relocated to a two-flat on North California Avenue in West Rogers Park, where it became a neighborhood institution. The Fishman family soon moved into the upstairs of the shop’s two-flat, and, after her mother-in-law’s death, Mrs. Fishman became the Fannie of Fannie’s Knit Shop. While Mrs. Fishman had to take appointments to keep up with the demand for her dresses and sweaters, women from the neighborhood would come hours before their turn and stay hours afterward to swap stories and catch up on each other’s news. When the store closed in the late-1980s, Mrs. Fishman and her husband retired to Skokie and later to Glenview. Mrs. Fishman is survived by a son, Dr. David Fishman; a daughter, Roberta Bockus; and two grandchildren. Memorial services were held.
