Paul Byron Fleming

Paul Byron Fleming died on Tuesday, July 1, 2008, in Baton Rouge. He was born in New Orleans on March 16, 1938, the son of James Edward Fleming, who was of Castle Grove, Iowa, and Miriam Katherine Troupe, who was of Keedyville, Md., and Oelwein, Iowa, who along with his older brother, William James Fleming, predeceased him in Danville, Ill. He was a resident of Baton Rouge since 2005, and previously resided in Evergreen Park, Ill.; Dayton, Ohio; Albuquerque, N.M.; Edmonds and Olympia, Wash.; and Springfield, Alexandria and Kenbridge, Va. He is survived by his beloved wife, Sylvia Ann Evans Fleming, of the home in Baton Rouge (a native of Woodville, Miss.); son and daughter-in-law, James Alden Fleming and Carla Charles Fleming, of Hagerstown, Md.; son, Capt. Michael Paul Fleming, U.S. Merchant Marines, of Anchorage, Alaska, and Seattle; sister-in-law, Josephine Karkut Fleming, and niece, Cynthia Marie Fleming, both of Champagne, Ill. Other close family survivors include a niece, Mary K. Fleming Shaffer, of Danville, Ill., nephew, William "Billy" Fleming, of Chicago, and cousins, Joseph Fleming, of Marion, Iowa, David Fleming, of Minneapolis, Margaret Mary Fleming Falconer, of Frankfurt, Ky., Suzanne Fleming Johnson, of Alexandria, Minn., Mary Ann Sullivan Sanders, of New Albany, Ind., and their spouses; and Jeannette Sullivan Bohnenkamp, of Ames, Iowa. Mr. Fleming attended St. Rita and St. Aloysius grade schools in New Orleans and graduated from St. Rita High School in Chicago in 1955. He obtained a bachelor's degree in chemical engineering from the University of Dayton in 1960, and a master's degree in nuclear engineering from the Air Force Institute of Technology in 1965. He was commissioned as a reserve officer in the U.S. Air Force after attending the Air Force Officers Training School and augmented into the regular Air Force in 1963 while in graduate school. He resigned his commission after 10 years of service to pursue continuing civilian research opportunities with the federal government initially at the Naval Research Laboratory, and subsequently at the Defense Atomic Support Agency (a legacy agency of today's Defense Threat Reduction Agency) in Washington, D.C., from which he retired in 1996. Mr. Fleming spent his career investigating technology to ensure the survivability of military weapon systems and communications systems in a nuclear weapons wartime environment. His research efforts included planning, executing and directing theoretical and test programs simulating the weapons environment and evaluating these effects; these included the conduct of underground nuclear weapons tests, rocket-borne geophysical chemical measurements and involved many systems, including defense communication networks and the U.S. Army Anti-Missile Defense System; he conceived and implemented a test facility in use to evaluate effects of nuclear detonations on commercial power transmission systems. He served on numerous Department of Defense advisory committees and U.S., U.K. and NATO working groups. In addition to his close family, Mr. Fleming will be sadly missed by numerous friends and colleagues in Washington, D.C., and in Kenbridge, Va., where he spent his initial retirement years renovating a 100-year-old Victorian home. Services will be under the supervision of Rabenhorst Funeral Home, with a funeral Mass celebrated at St. George Catholic Church on Monday, July 7, at 10 a.m. Graveside service with military honors will be held at Port Hudson National Cemetery, Zachary, on Monday at 2 p.m. In lieu of flowers, please consider memorial contributions to either the American Cancer Society or to Mary Bird Perkins Cancer Center 4950 Essen Lane, Baton Rouge, LA 70809.