HAMPTON — Paul Aretus Fleming, 84, died Thursday, Dec. 10, 2020, after several years of failing health.
He retired under the Virginia Retirement System after 31 years of service in the public school system. He had been a classroom teacher and assistant principal at Waterman Elementary School in Harrisonburg in the early 1960s and relocated to Hampton in 1965 to become principal of the former Fort Monroe Elementary School. When that school closed in 1979, he was transferred to be principal of Robert E. Lee Elementary School, where he worked until retirement in 1991.
Paul was born and grew up in Paddleton County, West Virginia, and was the son of the late Marvin A. Fleming and Willia Gladys Rexrode Fleming. He graduated from Shepherd College (now Shepherd University) at Shepherdstown, West Virginia, in 1956 and received a master’s degree at Madison College (now JMU) in 1963.
As a part-time student, he later did postgraduate work and earned academic credit at Longwood College, the College of William & Mary and Old Dominion University. In his younger years, he had worked at the Chevrolet-Fisher Body Factory and Sparrow’s Point Shipyard, both in Baltimore. He was honorably discharged from the U.S. Army in April 1960. He spent most of a two-year tour of duty in the Third Infantry Honor Guard at Fort Meyer, where he served as a cordon soldier and records clerk.
He was a former member of the Hampton Moose Lodge and life member of the Hampton Elks Lodge No. 366.
In addition to his parents, he was preceded in rest by his sister, Clara Fleming Kline, and her husband, Waldo Eugene.
Surviving family members include his daughter, Cynthia Ann Fleming of Newport News; son, William A. Fleming of Hampton; two grandsons, Bryan Robert Fleming and Daniel Scott Fleming; and many extended family members, including dozens of cousins.
In accordance with Paul’s last wishes, there will be no public funeral services.
Share online condolences with the family at Parklawn-Wood Funeral Home.
