Deborah Christine 'Debbie' Fleming's debut on April 2, 1962 was a bravura performance! Janet's prolonged labor and subsequent Cesarean were merely the first instance of Debbie's lifelong ability to make her presence simultaneously acknowledged, celebrated and impossible to ignore. Whether a toddler arguing to tie her shoes herself, or a seventeen-year-old insisting that her Memphis high school display Homecoming Court photographs irrespective of skin color (only a decade post-integration), Debbie was determined, independent and capable. When Debbie had arrived at a position on an issue, she was often quite passionate and forceful in her response.
Debbie was a lifelong Christian. At eight, in response to her mother's questioning of Debbie's choice of slacks for Church, Debbie said, "Mom, don't you think the Lord cares more what you think on the inside than what you are wearing on the outside?" At 11, she professed her faith, requesting her father baptize her. Park Village Christian Church had never before had a layman baptize a congregant, but Debbie insisted. While at West Point, Debbie's faith endured. She regularly attended chapel, sang in the Protestant Chapel Choir and attended several Teens Encounter Christ retreats, trying to persuade roommates and teammates to attend. Despite mixed success, she kept her sunny disposition, smiled and invited them again the next time.
Debbie had a powerful will with a spectacularly singular focus when she decided what she wanted to do. As Janet remembers, "Debbie was a very stubborn child." Debbie had hoped to visit the Space Center in Huntsville, AL for several years. One summer, her parents yielded the decision on their summer vacation plans to the winner of a family contest to paint their carport. As Margaret remembers: "Debbie was stubborn as a mule. She spent days on that post, making it perfect, ensuring there were no chance drops of paint, while the rest of us just painted with a few strokes for an hour or two. It was a column being painted black, yet she obsessed over every detail." The family went to Huntsville that summer.
Debbie was a terrific athlete. Joseph, currently the Deputy Chief of College Sports at USA Today, describes his sister as his "first sports hero," remembering that he was less accomplished at playing baseball than she was and how that focused his own sports development. At Kingsbury High, Debbie ran cross-country, played guard on the basketball team and played second base, shortstop and third base in Church League Softball. At West Point, Debbie played lacrosse for four years. Due to her athletic skill and leadership ability, Debbie was selected as Women's Lacrosse Co-Captain firstie year. Her fitness and athleticism also enabled her to complete Airborne School as a cadet (thus earning the opportunity to complete Cadet Troop Leadership Training in Germany) and Air Assault School as a newly assigned signal lieutenant with the 101st Infantry Division (Air Assault) at Fort Campbell, KY. Debbie continued her athletic pursuits after the Army as a player captaining her team of aspiring MBAs to the Women's Basketball Intramural Championship at the University of Chicago.
Debbie was also a leader and trendsetter. She was the first woman selected for West Point from the Memphis area. Following Debbie's path, her sister Margaret applied for and received appointments to the Air Force Academy and West Point as Debbie had. As a West Point junior, her relationship with Margaret had evolved from contemptuous older sister to trusted confidant and friend, so she frankly described the differences between a West Point education and Margaret's other options. Margaret chose her path, a four year Air Force ROTC Scholarship at Boston University and subsequent 22-year Air Force career, initiated and nurtured by Debbie's example and insightful mentoring.
Debbie could elicit strong emotions from everyone around her. As Margaret said of their father Richard, "Dad is a calm, deliberate man, but Debbie could push his buttons like no one I have ever seen." Her grandmother kept Debbie's letters in her purse, re-reading them until they became faded and illegible. Debbie's University of Chicago accounting professor remembered "goading Deb to make statements (about the proper way to allocate costs)…which the class then attempted to refute for several weeks. We'd refer to these statements as 'remember when Deb said…'" Deb knew, of course, that she had been set up, and took the ensuing ribbing graciously. Other professors remembered her "as a delight," "always ready to probe and…accepted nothing uncritically." Debbie left an indelible impression on everyone who met her.
One lasting memory many of us share is of Debbie walking on the Plain in her West Point Tartan lacrosse skirt with her stick across her shoulder.
Debbie's ashes were buried beneath two trees (now called Debbie's trees) in Michigan and Tennessee. One inscription reads:
Warm summer sun, shine kindly here.
Warm southern wind, blow gently here.
Green sod above, lie light, lie light.
Good night, dear Heart.
Good night, good night.
— Mark Twain
We miss you Debbie. Be Thou at Peace. Well done.
— Janet, Margaret, Joseph and Richard Fleming, family, and Irina Clements, classmate
Debbie was a lifelong Christian. At eight, in response to her mother's questioning of Debbie's choice of slacks for Church, Debbie said, "Mom, don't you think the Lord cares more what you think on the inside than what you are wearing on the outside?" At 11, she professed her faith, requesting her father baptize her. Park Village Christian Church had never before had a layman baptize a congregant, but Debbie insisted. While at West Point, Debbie's faith endured. She regularly attended chapel, sang in the Protestant Chapel Choir and attended several Teens Encounter Christ retreats, trying to persuade roommates and teammates to attend. Despite mixed success, she kept her sunny disposition, smiled and invited them again the next time.
Debbie had a powerful will with a spectacularly singular focus when she decided what she wanted to do. As Janet remembers, "Debbie was a very stubborn child." Debbie had hoped to visit the Space Center in Huntsville, AL for several years. One summer, her parents yielded the decision on their summer vacation plans to the winner of a family contest to paint their carport. As Margaret remembers: "Debbie was stubborn as a mule. She spent days on that post, making it perfect, ensuring there were no chance drops of paint, while the rest of us just painted with a few strokes for an hour or two. It was a column being painted black, yet she obsessed over every detail." The family went to Huntsville that summer.
Debbie was a terrific athlete. Joseph, currently the Deputy Chief of College Sports at USA Today, describes his sister as his "first sports hero," remembering that he was less accomplished at playing baseball than she was and how that focused his own sports development. At Kingsbury High, Debbie ran cross-country, played guard on the basketball team and played second base, shortstop and third base in Church League Softball. At West Point, Debbie played lacrosse for four years. Due to her athletic skill and leadership ability, Debbie was selected as Women's Lacrosse Co-Captain firstie year. Her fitness and athleticism also enabled her to complete Airborne School as a cadet (thus earning the opportunity to complete Cadet Troop Leadership Training in Germany) and Air Assault School as a newly assigned signal lieutenant with the 101st Infantry Division (Air Assault) at Fort Campbell, KY. Debbie continued her athletic pursuits after the Army as a player captaining her team of aspiring MBAs to the Women's Basketball Intramural Championship at the University of Chicago.
Debbie was also a leader and trendsetter. She was the first woman selected for West Point from the Memphis area. Following Debbie's path, her sister Margaret applied for and received appointments to the Air Force Academy and West Point as Debbie had. As a West Point junior, her relationship with Margaret had evolved from contemptuous older sister to trusted confidant and friend, so she frankly described the differences between a West Point education and Margaret's other options. Margaret chose her path, a four year Air Force ROTC Scholarship at Boston University and subsequent 22-year Air Force career, initiated and nurtured by Debbie's example and insightful mentoring.
Debbie could elicit strong emotions from everyone around her. As Margaret said of their father Richard, "Dad is a calm, deliberate man, but Debbie could push his buttons like no one I have ever seen." Her grandmother kept Debbie's letters in her purse, re-reading them until they became faded and illegible. Debbie's University of Chicago accounting professor remembered "goading Deb to make statements (about the proper way to allocate costs)…which the class then attempted to refute for several weeks. We'd refer to these statements as 'remember when Deb said…'" Deb knew, of course, that she had been set up, and took the ensuing ribbing graciously. Other professors remembered her "as a delight," "always ready to probe and…accepted nothing uncritically." Debbie left an indelible impression on everyone who met her.
One lasting memory many of us share is of Debbie walking on the Plain in her West Point Tartan lacrosse skirt with her stick across her shoulder.
Debbie's ashes were buried beneath two trees (now called Debbie's trees) in Michigan and Tennessee. One inscription reads:
Warm summer sun, shine kindly here.
Warm southern wind, blow gently here.
Green sod above, lie light, lie light.
Good night, dear Heart.
Good night, good night.
— Mark Twain
We miss you Debbie. Be Thou at Peace. Well done.
— Janet, Margaret, Joseph and Richard Fleming, family, and Irina Clements, classmate
Deborah Christine 'Debbie' Fleming's debut on April 2, 1962 was a bravura performance! Janet's prolonged labor and subsequent Cesarean were merely the first instance of Debbie's lifelong ability to make her presence simultaneously acknowledged, celebrated and impossible to ignore. Whether a toddler arguing to tie her shoes herself, or a seventeen-year-old insisting that her Memphis high school display Homecoming Court photographs irrespective of skin color (only a decade post-integration), Debbie was determined, independent and capable. When Debbie had arrived at a position on an issue, she was often quite passionate and forceful in her response.
Debbie was a lifelong Christian. At eight, in response to her mother's questioning of Debbie's choice of slacks for Church, Debbie said, "Mom, don't you think the Lord cares more what you think on the inside than what you are wearing on the outside?" At 11, she professed her faith, requesting her father baptize her. Park Village Christian Church had never before had a layman baptize a congregant, but Debbie insisted. While at West Point, Debbie's faith endured. She regularly attended chapel, sang in the Protestant Chapel Choir and attended several Teens Encounter Christ retreats, trying to persuade roommates and teammates to attend. Despite mixed success, she kept her sunny disposition, smiled and invited them again the next time.
Debbie had a powerful will with a spectacularly singular focus when she decided what she wanted to do. As Janet remembers, "Debbie was a very stubborn child." Debbie had hoped to visit the Space Center in Huntsville, AL for several years. One summer, her parents yielded the decision on their summer vacation plans to the winner of a family contest to paint their carport. As Margaret remembers: "Debbie was stubborn as a mule. She spent days on that post, making it perfect, ensuring there were no chance drops of paint, while the rest of us just painted with a few strokes for an hour or two. It was a column being painted black, yet she obsessed over every detail." The family went to Huntsville that summer.
Debbie was a terrific athlete. Joseph, currently the Deputy Chief of College Sports at USA Today, describes his sister as his "first sports hero," remembering that he was less accomplished at playing baseball than she was and how that focused his own sports development. At Kingsbury High, Debbie ran cross-country, played guard on the basketball team and played second base, shortstop and third base in Church League Softball. At West Point, Debbie played lacrosse for four years. Due to her athletic skill and leadership ability, Debbie was selected as Women's Lacrosse Co-Captain firstie year. Her fitness and athleticism also enabled her to complete Airborne School as a cadet (thus earning the opportunity to complete Cadet Troop Leadership Training in Germany) and Air Assault School as a newly assigned signal lieutenant with the 101st Infantry Division (Air Assault) at Fort Campbell, KY. Debbie continued her athletic pursuits after the Army as a player captaining her team of aspiring MBAs to the Women's Basketball Intramural Championship at the University of Chicago.
Debbie was also a leader and trendsetter. She was the first woman selected for West Point from the Memphis area. Following Debbie's path, her sister Margaret applied for and received appointments to the Air Force Academy and West Point as Debbie had. As a West Point junior, her relationship with Margaret had evolved from contemptuous older sister to trusted confidant and friend, so she frankly described the differences between a West Point education and Margaret's other options. Margaret chose her path, a four year Air Force ROTC Scholarship at Boston University and subsequent 22-year Air Force career, initiated and nurtured by Debbie's example and insightful mentoring.
Debbie could elicit strong emotions from everyone around her. As Margaret said of their father Richard, "Dad is a calm, deliberate man, but Debbie could push his buttons like no one I have ever seen." Her grandmother kept Debbie's letters in her purse, re-reading them until they became faded and illegible. Debbie's University of Chicago accounting professor remembered "goading Deb to make statements (about the proper way to allocate costs)…which the class then attempted to refute for several weeks. We'd refer to these statements as 'remember when Deb said…'" Deb knew, of course, that she had been set up, and took the ensuing ribbing graciously. Other professors remembered her "as a delight," "always ready to probe and…accepted nothing uncritically." Debbie left an indelible impression on everyone who met her.
One lasting memory many of us share is of Debbie walking on the Plain in her West Point Tartan lacrosse skirt with her stick across her shoulder.
Debbie's ashes were buried beneath two trees (now called Debbie's trees) in Michigan and Tennessee. One inscription reads:
Warm summer sun, shine kindly here.
Warm southern wind, blow gently here.
Green sod above, lie light, lie light.
Good night, dear Heart.
Good night, good night.
— Mark Twain
We miss you Debbie. Be Thou at Peace. Well done.
— Janet, Margaret, Joseph and Richard Fleming, family, and Irina Clements, classmate
Debbie was a lifelong Christian. At eight, in response to her mother's questioning of Debbie's choice of slacks for Church, Debbie said, "Mom, don't you think the Lord cares more what you think on the inside than what you are wearing on the outside?" At 11, she professed her faith, requesting her father baptize her. Park Village Christian Church had never before had a layman baptize a congregant, but Debbie insisted. While at West Point, Debbie's faith endured. She regularly attended chapel, sang in the Protestant Chapel Choir and attended several Teens Encounter Christ retreats, trying to persuade roommates and teammates to attend. Despite mixed success, she kept her sunny disposition, smiled and invited them again the next time.
Debbie had a powerful will with a spectacularly singular focus when she decided what she wanted to do. As Janet remembers, "Debbie was a very stubborn child." Debbie had hoped to visit the Space Center in Huntsville, AL for several years. One summer, her parents yielded the decision on their summer vacation plans to the winner of a family contest to paint their carport. As Margaret remembers: "Debbie was stubborn as a mule. She spent days on that post, making it perfect, ensuring there were no chance drops of paint, while the rest of us just painted with a few strokes for an hour or two. It was a column being painted black, yet she obsessed over every detail." The family went to Huntsville that summer.
Debbie was a terrific athlete. Joseph, currently the Deputy Chief of College Sports at USA Today, describes his sister as his "first sports hero," remembering that he was less accomplished at playing baseball than she was and how that focused his own sports development. At Kingsbury High, Debbie ran cross-country, played guard on the basketball team and played second base, shortstop and third base in Church League Softball. At West Point, Debbie played lacrosse for four years. Due to her athletic skill and leadership ability, Debbie was selected as Women's Lacrosse Co-Captain firstie year. Her fitness and athleticism also enabled her to complete Airborne School as a cadet (thus earning the opportunity to complete Cadet Troop Leadership Training in Germany) and Air Assault School as a newly assigned signal lieutenant with the 101st Infantry Division (Air Assault) at Fort Campbell, KY. Debbie continued her athletic pursuits after the Army as a player captaining her team of aspiring MBAs to the Women's Basketball Intramural Championship at the University of Chicago.
Debbie was also a leader and trendsetter. She was the first woman selected for West Point from the Memphis area. Following Debbie's path, her sister Margaret applied for and received appointments to the Air Force Academy and West Point as Debbie had. As a West Point junior, her relationship with Margaret had evolved from contemptuous older sister to trusted confidant and friend, so she frankly described the differences between a West Point education and Margaret's other options. Margaret chose her path, a four year Air Force ROTC Scholarship at Boston University and subsequent 22-year Air Force career, initiated and nurtured by Debbie's example and insightful mentoring.
Debbie could elicit strong emotions from everyone around her. As Margaret said of their father Richard, "Dad is a calm, deliberate man, but Debbie could push his buttons like no one I have ever seen." Her grandmother kept Debbie's letters in her purse, re-reading them until they became faded and illegible. Debbie's University of Chicago accounting professor remembered "goading Deb to make statements (about the proper way to allocate costs)…which the class then attempted to refute for several weeks. We'd refer to these statements as 'remember when Deb said…'" Deb knew, of course, that she had been set up, and took the ensuing ribbing graciously. Other professors remembered her "as a delight," "always ready to probe and…accepted nothing uncritically." Debbie left an indelible impression on everyone who met her.
One lasting memory many of us share is of Debbie walking on the Plain in her West Point Tartan lacrosse skirt with her stick across her shoulder.
Debbie's ashes were buried beneath two trees (now called Debbie's trees) in Michigan and Tennessee. One inscription reads:
Warm summer sun, shine kindly here.
Warm southern wind, blow gently here.
Green sod above, lie light, lie light.
Good night, dear Heart.
Good night, good night.
— Mark Twain
We miss you Debbie. Be Thou at Peace. Well done.
— Janet, Margaret, Joseph and Richard Fleming, family, and Irina Clements, classmate
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