Mariam Jean Fleming

May 14, 1927 - February 19, 2024
Mariam Jean Edgerton Fleming, third generation Kansan and, in her words, "a child of the prairie where I can see the open sky and the horizons that lead to a different world," died February 19, 2024 after a brief illness. She was 96.
The first of Oleta and Dene Edgerton's four daughters, Mariam was born May 14, 1927 in Canton, Kan., a town in McPherson County on the Rock Island line. Hers was a family of westward pioneers with roots traceable back before the state's founding. Her parents were educators who instilled in their children a devotion to teaching, learning, and a life of service.
Mariam had roots and she had wings.
Upon graduating from high school, Mariam attended Park College in Parkville, Mo. and earned a degree in Library Science from the University of Kansas. It was there she met Leslie Fleming, born not thirty miles from her in Herington; they married in June 1950. They served as house parents at the campus' first racially integrated housing at KU before starting their own family, eventually raising five children in well-grounded if often chaotic households in Roeland Park, Kan., Hillsdale, N.J., and Prairie Village, Kan. She returned to school to receive a Master's Degree in Library Science from Emporia State University in 1974.
As a librarian for the Shawnee Mission and Blue Valley school districts, Mariam developed and supported curricula with libraries and media centers that became, with her skills and persistence, the heart of each school's educational mission.
After their children left home, Mariam and Les spent summers as trail maintenance volunteers at national parks and forests across the country. Following the death of her husband in 1999 and her retirement, Mariam continued to learn, explore, and serve. She took jobs in rural Puerto Rico and Namibia, establishing functional libraries where there were previously none, displaying a courage born not of overconfidence but of openness and trust. Students, teachers, and administrators thrived in the supportive environment she created with her expertise and warm, unpretentious presence.
Later still, she learned storytelling in the African tradition, attended lectures and performances at the Chautauqua Institute in New York, and rafted the Colorado River through the Grand Canyon. She traveled to far-flung corners of the world - China, Southeast Asia, Peru, and Zimbabwe, and took her grandchildren on several trips through the Road Scholar program.
Mariam was a member of Colonial Church in Prairie Village for more than 60 years. She was integral to its social justice and community outreach efforts, helped organize a regular meal service through Kansas City's Artists Helping the Homeless, and was an active participant in reading and writing groups. She served as mission liaison on behalf of the church's partnership with the Dialogue Institute, a group dedicated to promoting cooperation among people of diverse faiths and cultures.
Mariam was preceded in death by her husband of 49 years, Leslie Fleming, her sisters Jadene, Eldora, and Lavonda; daughter Christine, and granddaughter Jennifer. She is survived by her children Neal Fleming (Marguerite), Mary Lasseter, Sarah Siegrist (Dean), and Bruce Fleming (Karyn Kubo); grandchildren Logan, Blaire, Brennan, Kathryn, and Rachel, and five great-grandchildren.
A Celebration of Life will be held Saturday, March 2 at 1:00 p.m. at Colonial Church in Prairie Village, 7039 Mission Rd, Prairie Village, Kan. 66208.
Contributions in her memory may be made to Artists Helping the Homeless ahh.org.