Irene Uhl Fleming

Irene Uhl Fleming passed away peacefully at the age of 106 on December 9, 2012. Irene was born September 3, 1906, to Charles and Emma Uhl in Wheatland, Texas, now part of Dallas. Her grandparents, Samuel Uhl and Eleanor Branson, were early settlers of the area who helped establish the community, school, and church, which still stands as the Wheatland United Methodist Church and its adjoining cemetery. Eighty years after her birth, Irene strove successfully to save this same church by establishing an endowment fund to support the church. Irene attended Wheatland School and graduated from Oak Cliff High School in 1923. She attended Texas Christian University and the University of Texas, graduating with a degree in Home Economics. Irene was able to attend and obtain her degree from the University of Texas through the funding of the Smith Hughes Act which guaranteed her a job during the Great Depression. She taught at Calvert, Olney and Garland, Texas from 1931 to 1935. In the midst of this, she experienced the great thrill of traveling by train for the first time all the way to the Chicago World's Fair, in which she had entered sewing projects. After Chicago she traveled to New York and returned to Texas by way of a cruise ship to Galveston. It was quite a trip for a woman, traveling alone, for those times! In 1936 she married Everett B. Fleming who was a fiddler in a dance band while taking dance lessons. As a married woman, Irene was not permitted to continue teaching as Texas at the time did not allow female teachers to be married. Irene and Everett settled in the Dallas area and in 1940 welcomed their daughter, Laura Jean. In 1954, Irene began working for Atlantic Richfield Company where she was an accounts payable clerk, processing checks for countless projects including the project that was to become the Alaska Pipeline. She took great pride in the fact that for several years she served as a director of the company's Junior Achievement Project. After retiring from Atlantic Richfield, which by that time had become ARCO, and through the rest of her life, Irene remained active in the ARCO Retirees. In 1981, Irene moved to Mercer Island, Washington to be near her daughter, son-in-law John Strasburger and granddaughters, Carol, Sue, Beth, and Jennifer. In retirement Irene threw herself into the subject of her teaching career - sewing, quilting, crocheting and knitting. In addition to countless knitted hats, scarves and sweaters, crocheted afghans, and tailored outfits for her granddaughters, Irene completed numerous quilts, with every single stitch lovingly added by hand. Many have been awarded ribbons in quilting fairs, and she was recognized for her lifetime achievement as a quilter, with 16 of her quilts displayed to honor her at the Washington State Fair. Many of these quilts were made for specific family members and every granddaughter and great grandchild can boast of their "Mammaw quilt." Mammaw being her affectionate name. She was a faithful and active member of the Mercer Island Methodist Church and made many wonderful friends who regularly visited her, including weekly bible study session when she was not able to attend church on a regular basis. Irene is survived by her sister Laura Lee Bently, daughter Laura Jean Strasburger, granddaughters Carol McMullen (Bonney Lake, WA), Sue Matuska (Carson City, NV), Beth Wagstaff (Portland, OR), and Jennifer Strasburger (Brookline, MA), and great-grandchildren, Byron McMullen (Seattle, WA), Paul McMullen (Portland, OR), Zachary McMullen (Albany, NY), Kathryn Matuska (Carson City, NV), Emily Matuska (Carson City, NV), and Rowan Wagstaff (Portland, OR), A funeral service will be held at Wheatland United Methodist Church, 8000 South Hampton Road, Dallas, on Monday, December 17, at 2:00 p.m. Interment will follow at Weatland Cemetery.