Obit of Fleming, Katherine - Cleveland County, Oklahoma Submitted by: Gene Phillips 2 Apr 2006 Return to Cleveland County Archives: http://www.usgwarchives.net/ok/cleveland/cleveland.html ========================================================================== USGENWEB NOTICE Copyright. All rights reserved. http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm ========================================================================== ::NOT LISTED Norman Transcript 23 Oct 2003 Katherine Fleming Katherine Fleming died Sunday, Oct. 5, after a brief illness. Services will be at 11 a.m. Monday at St. Andrews Presbyterian Church in Oklahoma City. Miss Fleming requested her body be donated to the Oklahoma Medical School. Miss Fleming was the first nursing director for Children’s Hospital of Oklahoma and Presbyterian Hospital in Oklahoma City. She was born Oct. 8, 1900, in Merit, Texas. She moved to Oklahoma Territory in a covered wagon in 1902 with her parents, C.C. "Sam" and Rose Fleming and older sister, Virginia. They settled in Manitou. She lived in a sod house in her early years and was schooled in a two-room school in Manitou. She attended the University of Oklahoma Hospital School of Nursing when her family moved from Manitou to Norman. She received a nursing diploma in 1924. She took postgraduate courses in pediatric nursing in Baltimore and Rochester, N.Y., in 1926. She returned to Oklahoma and became the first nursing director for Children’s Hospital of Oklahoma when it opened in 1928. Miss Fleming’s family said they were the best years of her nursing career. Miss Fleming came to the OU campus in 1937 and helped develop the first campus infirmary. She was named director of nursing in 1945 at Wesley Hospital, now known as Presbyterian Hospital. She served on the State Board of Nurse Examiners from 1947-1957 and as a member of the Legislative Committee of the State Nurses Association. She helped develop a four-year college undergraduate degree for nurses in 1952 for Oklahoma Baptist University and OU. That’s when the College of Nursing began. Miss Fleming’s family said her legacy is quality education for nurses, and she wanted Oklahoma nurses to be educated in colleges like other professionals. Miss Fleming retired in 1965 as director of nursing at Presbyterian Hospital in Oklahoma City, a post she held for over 20 years. After retirement, she stayed active as a volunteer, an elder in her church and caring for friends and neighbors until after her 100th birthday, at which time she entered an assisted living home. The local Chapter of Sigma Theta Tau International Nursing Society honored Miss Fleming as one of the "Distinguished Nursing Leaders of Oklahoma" in 1995. Miss Fleming was preceded in death by her parents, C.C. "Sam" and Rose Fleming; sisters, Virginia Wells, Thelma Fleming, Juanita Bartlett and Rosalie Pettit; and brother, Army Capt. Clyde Fleming, who died as a Japanese POW in 1944. Miss Fleming is survived by her cousins, Eleanor Edmondson of Chickasha, Becky McCormick of Minco, Sammie Williams of Kansas, Mr. and Mrs. AC Little of Oklahoma City, Mildred Calloway of Frederick and Mr. and Mrs. Bill Evans of Chandler; nieces and nephews, Mr. and Mrs. Don Wells, Lois McConnell, Mr. and Mrs. Theron Roberts, all of Texas, Rosalea Wells of Chattanooga, Marjorie Wells of Norman, Mr. and Mrs. Lynn Golden and Mr. and Mrs. Calvin Bartlett, Cecil Pettit, all of Kansas, and Betty Koch of Nebraska; and many great-nieces, great-nephews, special friends in the medical and nursing fields and her church family. Memorial donations may be made Miss Fleming’s honor to the Oklahoma Medical Research Foundation, 825 NE 13th St., Oklahoma City, Okla. 73104-5005, which can be reached at 271-6673.-------------------------------------------------------------------------- Return to Cleveland County Archives: http://www.usgwarchives.net/ok/cleveland/cleveland.html