21st Century Teetotaler

Saturday, January 6, 2024

In Memoriam: Kelly Ann Fleming

I was already planning on making a series of memorial posts with the 25th anniversary of Columbine coming up this year and since it happened again, this time a mere 45 minute drive from where I live, the memorial seemed more pertinent.

From aColumbineSite:

Born January 6, 1983

16 years old

Kelly Fleming and her family moved to Littleton from Phoenix, Arizona 18 months before the shooting. Her father Don said they scoured the area looking for a good neighborhood where their daughters would be safe.

Kelly was a shy and creative girl who loved Halloween and was an aspiring songwriter and author who wrote many poems and short stories based on her life experiences. She had been writing an auto-biography on her home computer: She started it with the moment her mother's water broke and had gotten as far as her fifth year. She regularly went to Columbine's library to write. Her stories often had happy endings.

Kelly was learning to drive and wanted to get a job at a day care center, and save enough money to buy a Mustang or a Corvette. She longed to be able to drive so she could return to Phoenix for a visit or go on road trips. She loved to read, especially books about vampires. One day she hoped to be a published author. She entered many writing contests.

Her mother, Dee, remembered Kelly coming home from school two months before the shooting, saying: "I'm not shy any more."

When the shooters entered the library, Kelly was hiding beside a table with other girls who she had been sitting with: Lisa Kreutz, Jeanna Park, Diwata Perez, Valeen Schnurr, and Lauren Townsend. At one point Dylan Klebold fired under the table, injuring Val and Lisa. He fired his gun again, killing Lauren. Both gunmen reloaded their weapons and taunted Val, asking her if she believed in God. The shooters then moved away from Kelly's table, moving to another table where they shot Nicole Nowlen and killed John Tomlin before moving back to the girls's table.

Kelly was crouched down out in the open as there was nowhere else to hide. Eric Harris shot her in the back with his sawed-off shotgun.

Her body was found on the floor near that of Lauren Townsend. Kelly's father said: "Here's one of the real leaders of the school, and our Kelly was next to someone like that. I'm sure Lauren took care of Kelly. She wasn't alone." He also said he prayed for the parents of the shooters. "They'll have a tougher time getting over this than we will."

Kelly's funeral was held at the same time as Daniel Mauser's at the St. Frances Cabrini Catholic Church. She was buried with two teddy bears in her arms. Her grave is located at Mount Olivet Cemetery in Wheat Ridge, Colorado.

She would be 41 today.