COLUMBIA - A funeral service for Helen Lawrence Fleshman, 98, will be held at 11:00 a.m. Friday, June 25, 2021, at Kilbourne Park Baptist Church, with burial in Greenlawn Memorial Gardens Mausoleum. The family will receive friends from 10:00 to 11:00 a.m. Friday at the church prior to the service. Dunbar Funeral Home, Devine Street Chapel is assisting the family with arrangements.
Mrs. Fleshman died Friday, June 18, 2021. She was born January 23, 1923, in Stotesbury, W.Va., the daughter of the late Hatten Lawrence and Laodus Cannaday Lawrence. She was married to the late James Gara Fleshman. She was a member of Kilbourne Park Baptist Church.
Described by many as “cute as a button,” she exemplified the saying, “The best gifts come in small packages.” For decades, as part of her church’s Love in Action sewing ministry, she helped provide sleeping bags for a truck-stop ministry; and pillows, dolls and other sewn articles for local hospitals and nursing homes. She sang alto (pitch perfectly) in the church choir and counted money after church services. On Fun Fridays, she and her favorite Rook partner pretty consistently skunked their opponents. She generously gifted her handmade quilts to family members and friends. Her grandchildren treasured her gift of time as she tirelessly turned the jump rope, taught them to walk on stilts, baited their fish hooks with live worms, pulled out the bread and led them to the pond to feed the ducks, and scheduled individual shopping trips at Christmas time. No matter what she did, she remained a quiet “constant” in the lives of those who knew her.
Surviving are her son, James Ashley Fleshman (Ann) of Columbia; daughter-in-law, Jackie Fleshman Hardison; grandchildren, James Gara Fleshman II (Christy) of Columbia, Lawren Fleshman Loudermilk (Barry) of Elgin, Shelly Fleshman Davis (Richard) of Indian Rocks Beach, Fla., Whitney Fleshman Hines (Troy) of Columbia; and great-grandchildren, Jake, Clair (Weber), Mason, Mitchell, Marett, Kearsley and DJ. She was predeceased by her parents; husband; and son, Gary Fleshman.
The family wishes to thank Louise Nazery for her exceptional care.
Memorials may be made to Kilbourne Park Baptist Church, 4205 Kilbourne Road, Columbia, SC 29206, or to Lutheran Hospice, 102 Fortress Drive, Chapin, SC 29036.
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