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Oscar Newton Fleming
The
following obituary was read by Eld. Hobart Peterson at the funeral
services held at Mt. Zion, near Buncombe, on Tuesday, April 19. It was
intended for the church service only, but is published this week in
response to numerous requests.
The
obituary:
“To
everything there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the
Heaven . . . a time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn and a
time to dance.” Youth is a time of laughter, of joy, of emergence into
the sunshine of life’s fullness, a springtime—a new freedom. There is
joy in the present, joy in the hope of a harvest of the years. No words
can express the poignancy of sad regret when youth loses its sunshine
and there comes its time to weep and to die. Today there is much of
death to be taken into account by young men and women—death on the
battlefields, death in the air, death on the highways. Helpless before
God, we pray for an awakened consciousness to our perils.
Oscar Newton Fleming was born near Buncombe on November 22, 1916; met
sudden death in the night of Sunday, April 17, 1938, at the age of 21
years, 4 months and 26 days.
He
was the only child born to his parents, Oscar N. and Ruby (Stout)
Fleming. The father met accidental death in July 1916, previous to the
birth of his son. The mother was taken away in the influenza epidemic
of 1918, when Oscar was only two years of age. He was reared in the
home of his grandparents, Mr. and Mrs. “Ted” Stout. In the lapse of
only about fifteen months, grandmother, grandfather, and grandson—the
entire household—have departed one by one.
He
leaves surviving his paternal grandmother, Mrs. Parthenia Fleming of
Vienna, an aunt, Mrs. Lora Hale of Bloomfield, and an uncle, Earl
Fleming of Chicago. The nearest maternal relatives are an uncle and an
aunt, George D. Stout of Buncombe and Mrs. Ruth (Stout) Rich of Lick
Creek.
Oscar attended high school at Buncombe and at Carbondale, graduating
last year. He was possessed of initiative and an inquiring mind,
devoting much of his time to the acquiring of special knowledge outside
the school curriculum. With the death of his grandfather he came to
make his home with George D. Stout, his uncle, and family at Mt. Zion.
Having reached the age of 21 years, he had begun to plan his career and
intended to go to Washington, D.C., in the near future to study law. He
was a bright boy, popular with his many young friends, markedly studious
and had a genius for oratory.
“Remember now thy Creator in the days of thy youth, while the evil days
come not . . . while the sun, or the light, or the moon, or the stars,
be not darkened, nor the clouds return after the rain. . . . or ever the
silver cord be loosened, or the golden bowl be broken, or the pitcher be
broken at the fountain, or the wheel broken at the cistern. Then shall
the dust return to the earth as it was: and the spirit shall return
unto God who gave it.”
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