Virgil Poindexter Fiser was born February 20, 1930, in Warren, Bradley County, Arkansas. He grew up in Fairbanks, Louisiana, before moving to Little Rock with his family when he was thirteen years old.
Fiser went into military service after high school. After his service he attended Little Rock Junior College and graduated in 1956. Fiser worked for the Carnation Company in Tennessee for the next twenty-six years overseeing regional marketing and sales. When he retired from Carnation, Fiser went into real estate. In 1985 he became the mayor of Elaine, Arkansas, a position he held until 2007.
Fiser has sponsored agricultural and environmental science scholarships at the University of Arkansas. He and his wife were instrumental in building the Phillips County Port Authority's slackwater harbor in Helena. Poindexter Fiser City Park in Elaine is named for him.
#1: Still frame from Pryor Center video interview with V. Poindexter Fiser; Bentonville, Arkansas, 2019
© Pryor Center for Arkansas Oral and Visual History, University of Arkansas
#2: Brigadier General John C. Fiser, Confederate States of America
© Pryor Center for Arkansas Oral and Visual History, University of Arkansas
#3: Image of people hauling bales of cotton near the train station in downtown Elaine, Arkansas, ca. 1900s; Photo courtesy of Mary Elizabeth Crow.
© Pryor Center for Arkansas Oral and Visual History, University of Arkansas
#4: V. Poindexter Fiser's father, Headly Poindexter Fiser, 6 months old, Ada, Indian Territory, Oklahoma, 1904
© Pryor Center for Arkansas Oral and Visual History, University of Arkansas
#5: (Far left) Harry E. Kelley, developer of Elaine, ca. 1913. Photo courtesy of John T. Moore.
Mr. John D. Crow of Elaine, Arkansas, ca. 1912. Photo courtesy of Mrs. Jeff Crow.
© Pryor Center for Arkansas Oral and Visual History, University of Arkansas
#6: MIssouri-Pacific train, Elaine, Arkansas, ca.1900
© Pryor Center for Arkansas Oral and Visual History, University of Arkansas
#7: Elaine, Arkansas, train depot, ca. 1915
© Pryor Center for Arkansas Oral and Visual History, University of Arkansas
#8: Pappy "P. I." Fiser standing by behind car by buggy; Headley Fiser on Pappy's left; March 19, 1918
© Pryor Center for Arkansas Oral and Visual History, University of Arkansas
#9: Fiser Mercantile Company, Broadway Street, Morrilton, Arkansas, 1919
© Pryor Center for Arkansas Oral and Visual History, University of Arkansas
#10: V. Poindexter Fiser's father, Headly Poindexter Fiser (bottom row, left), with the Morrilton baseball team owned by Robert Headly Fiser; Morrilton, Arkansas, 1920
© Pryor Center for Arkansas Oral and Visual History, University of Arkansas
#11: P. I. Fiser Jr. 50th Wedding Anniversary, Morrilton Arkansas. Front row: Stanley Watson, Helen Fiser, Katherine Fiser, Harold Fiser, Jamie Fiser, Alfred Fiser, Lee Wilson Fiser, Lloyd Fiser, Vicky Fiser, Wells girl, Milred Fiser, Melissa Fiser, Wilson girl. Second row: Mary Watson, Sam Watson, Brown Wells, Ewing Claude Mary Claude, P. I. Fiser, Melissa Wilson Fiser, Dub Watson, wife of Bill Wilson, Bill Wilson. Third row: Paul Fiser, Edith Mae Fiser, Maud White, wife of Sam Watson, Wells girl, Allie Merle Fiser, Irene Fiser, Tom Fiser, Ollie Fiser, Pollie Fiser, Edith McMillen Fiser, Robert Howard Fiser, Poindexter Fiser. Fourth row: Reiff White, Walter Claude, Wells girl, Ruth Wilson Thompson, Edwin Wells, April 5, 1926
© Pryor Center for Arkansas Oral and Visual History, University of Arkansas
#12: William Demoret and his father, Oliver, inside of O. Demoret & Son Store, Elaine, Arkansas, ca. 1926. Photo courtesy of M. L. Demoret Fiser.
© Pryor Center for Arkansas Oral and Visual History, University of Arkansas
#13: Robert Headly Fiser and Maude Poindexter Fiser with their children, Headly, Paul, and Maud
© Pryor Center for Arkansas Oral and Visual History, University of Arkansas
#14: Paul Fiser, (front row, 4th from left); Headly Fiser (2nd row, far right); and Maud Fiser, (3rd row, 2nd from left)
© Pryor Center for Arkansas Oral and Visual History, University of Arkansas
#15: Left to right: William Herbert Fiser; Thomas Alfred Fiser; Ollie Knight Fiser holding Alfred; Pleasant Idell Fiser, Jr; standing behind him is Malissa Ann Wilson Fiser; Lee Hunt Fiser; Thomas Brooks Fiser is seated and his wife, Mary Kate Brown Fiser is standing behind; Headley Poindexter Fiser; Robert Headly Fiser is holding Paul Idell Fiser, Maud Fiser is standing next to her father; Maud Poindexter Fiser is standing behind her husband
© Pryor Center for Arkansas Oral and Visual History, University of Arkansas
#16: Robert Headly Fiser, Ada, Indian Territory, Oklahoma
© Pryor Center for Arkansas Oral and Visual History, University of Arkansas
#17: V. Poindexter Fiser (back row, right) in a family photo, Little Rock, Arkansas, Christmas 1943
© Pryor Center for Arkansas Oral and Visual History, University of Arkansas
#18: V. Poindexter Fiser
© Pryor Center for Arkansas Oral and Visual History, University of Arkansas
#19: V. Poindexter Fiser (right) with his wife, Mary Louise, and President Bill Clinton
© Pryor Center for Arkansas Oral and Visual History, University of Arkansas
#20: V. Poindexter Fiser in Scimitar hat
© Pryor Center for Arkansas Oral and Visual History, University of Arkansas
#21: V. Poindexter Fiser with his granddaughter
© Pryor Center for Arkansas Oral and Visual History, University of Arkansas
#22: Image of Confederate leaders
© Pryor Center for Arkansas Oral and Visual History, University of Arkansas
#23: Confederate twenty-dollar bill
© Pryor Center for Arkansas Oral and Visual History, University of Arkansas
#24: Collection of Confederate money
© Pryor Center for Arkansas Oral and Visual History, University of Arkansas
#25: Still frame from Pryor Center video interview with V. Poindexter Fiser; Bentonville, Arkansas, 2019
© Pryor Center for Arkansas Oral and Visual History, University of Arkansas
#26: Still frame from Pryor Center video interview with V. Poindexter Fiser; Bentonville, Arkansas, 2019
© Pryor Center for Arkansas Oral and Visual History, University of Arkansas
