Margaret "Peg" Mary Fleshman

Margaret "Peg" Mary (Gleason) Fleshman, born March 26, 1938. Peg passed away surrounded by her family on December 25, 2020 at 11:11pm~her favorite day of the year. She is survived by her wonderful, doting and loving husband of 63 years Roy Daniel Fleshman. In addition, her two sisters Kate Crowell (John), Ginny Brauch (Charlie) , brother Denny Gleason, Sister in law Carol Fleshman (David), Brother in law John Fleshman (Dianne). Her Children, Dan Fleshman (Renee), John Fleshman (Jeni), Joan Hammontree (Kendall), Ann Thurston (Bill), Jim Fleshman (Shari), Mary Davison (Chris), Amy Velasquez (Chris). Also, her pride and joy, a multitude of grandchildren and great grandchildren, that she never missed ONE Christmas or birthday. Peggy will always be remembered by her laugh, her smile and her love for Christmas. We would like to thank Liberty Hospice for all they did for our family. The funeral is private.

Peg graduated from Berkley HS in 1956, during school she was a dancer and a loyal friend to many. After high school, she went to work for Barnes Hospital in St. Louis in the Psychiatric inpatient unit. Unbeknownst to us she was a loved employee by many. My mom talked about her time there a great deal but was never forthcoming about the written pieces. It was not until her death that we found hospital gazettes written about her. One piece stated, “best employee we had for the shortest amount of time” (because she got married to my dad). Another article and picture written about her birthday and the sweater she received from one the of physicians. Lastly, a wonderful honorable parting goodbye piece was written when she married my dad and trotted off to California to join him in the military. She had even made a scrap book about her time at the hospital, but no one, not even my dad had seen the pieces written in the gazette.

Again, we are going to use the word unbeknownst many times in this obit, because plenty of what we discovered about my mom was not found until she passed. She was private and modest about things, she did not like to be made to be the center of attention, which if you know my dad, was IMPOSSIBLE. It is guaranteed my mom is in heaven right now, with a cigarette in one hand, dancing and laughing with her family and telepathically channeling us, ‘you are telling the story all wrong’, and not because she was always right (well maybe a little) but because she does not like to be talked about or doted over. This is hard for my dad, he wanted to dote over her 24/7. All of us have a sense that she wanted us to find the THOUSANDS of pictures, letters, and keepsakes after she passed; because sharing it with us when she was alive, was not who she was. So, she saved it, ALL of it, EVERY piece of it so we could feel her love.

During the time in the military they met some wonderful people, one couple they lived next too in their “2x2” trailer, and are still friends with. Unfortunately, they do not get a chance to see them in person but gab on the phone and exchange Christmas cards. From what my dad describes, it is like a day has never passed whenever they converse—that is a true friend. Then there is the infamous Joe Jaycox, my dad’s rival basketball military, Marine, Hoorah buddy, soul mate and friend. I must mention him in my mom’s obit because he loved her probably more than he loved my dad. The story’s they have from back in the day can fill our ears for hours on end. Joe loved my mom, he loved her like a sister, he loved her because she was the other half of my dad. My mom held some jobs while she was with my dad, I am sure to make ends meet and too keep her busy. This was until my brother Danny came along. Then she became a wife and mother. Shortly after Danny was born, I mean shortly, really shortly, she got pregnant with my brother Johnny. My parents ended up moving back to St. Louis and the story begins.

To write about her entire life from when she met my dad to her death would be a novel, so we want to share certain things about our mom, wife. She was the ruler of the roost. Her word was gospel, you may not have agreed with it back in the day, but it came TRUE years later. In the neighborhood in St. Louis, she was known for her “shower shoe,” John Wayne had nothing on her. She could be cooking, answering the phone, doing the bills and if someone needed the SHOE, she could have it off her foot, slap you where it hurts and back on her foot before you knew what happened.

Our mom was frugal with our money, and she had to be, she was feeding nine people. Dad always says, I don’t know how she made the little money I made work. We would not say we were destitute growing up, but we were borderline poor. None of us ever felt this way, she made, holidays and birthdays always work. For every day of the week she would write down what we were having for dinner so she could grocery shop for the two weeks until they got paid again. So, it was eaten what was on the calendar or eat cereal if you didn’t like the meal.

This could go on and on, but the one thing we want you to know about our mom, is she would have given you the shirt off her back, she did not have a lot of friends but the ones she did were thick as thieves and she was loyal to them. Her job with us kids was to make sure we were safe, had a roof over our head, heat in the house and food on the table. The last letter she wrote all of us the week before she passed stated ‘I hope this COVID settles down, but we all need to be thankful for the heat in our homes, the food, on our tables, the roof over our head and our family’. She loved all of us and especially my dad. We all agree she left these treasures to allow us to finally dote over her without her saying, STOP doting over me (she is secretly loving this up in heaven)!