Dr. Robert Henry Fleming

Robert Henry Fleming, born February 9, 1931, in Elm City, NC, passed away on July 19, 2022, after a year-long battle with cancer. He was 91 years old. A long-time resident of Raleigh, NC, he was the son of John Giles Fleming, originally of Woodleaf, NC, and Bessie Dixon Fleming, originally of Elm City, NC, both of whom predeceased him, as did his brother, John Dixon “Dick” Fleming of Smithfield, NC, and sister, Rachel Fleming Edwards of Greenville, NC.

“Bobby” spent a happy childhood in Greenville, NC, with his parents and siblings. He attended Greenville High School where he was starting guard on the football team all three years and named two years in a row to the Northeastern NC All-Conference team. His nickname on the field was “Mullet.”

Bob graduated from NC State College in 1953, with a degree in chemistry. He was a member of the Pi Kappa Alpha fraternity and Alpha Zeta service fraternity; he was also on the NC State football team. Although he didn’t play much, his coaches said of him in a fall 1951 program that he “probably has more guts and determination for a man of his size than any one on the squad.”

While at NC State, Bob attended First Baptist Church in downtown Raleigh, where he became active in the youth group led by Bill Simpson. It was there that he met a Meredith College co-ed named Nancy Jo Wallis of Harrisburg, IL. They would later remember walking hand in hand, from Meredith College to First Baptist Church and back, every Sunday, three miles each way on Hillsborough Street.

On June 1, 1953, Bob and Nancy Jo were married in a wedding officiated by her father, the Rev. Russell W. Wallis. After graduating from NC State, Bob reported for duty in the US Army where he served for two years at Fort Lee, VA. One of the happiest moments in his life came in 1956 when he was accepted into Wake Forest’s Bowman Gray School of Medicine. After completing the MD, he did a two-year residency in pediatrics at the University of Virginia. In 1964, Bob and Nancy Jo returned to Raleigh, now with four children.

Bob was a pediatrician in Raleigh for 32 years, beginning a practice that later included doctors Steven Edwards, Alan Goldman, Marjorie Carr, Leigh Lehan and Thomas Sena. He loved all his partners, nurses, and staff. Above all, he loved and cared deeply for his patients. His children remember strangers coming up to tell them stories about “Doctor Bob,” his tireless attention to their children, his reassuring words and comforting manner. His gentle approach soothed crying babies and anxious mothers alike. He was especially devoted to the poor and handicapped. He was medical director of Hilltop Home for children with special needs, made service trips to Central America, and, on a memorable visit to Kenya in 1984 to see his son David, helped care for a young boy with nephritis. His practice continues today as Raleigh Children & Adolescents Medicine.

With Nancy Jo, Bob was active in First Baptist Church of Raleigh, NC, for nearly seventy years, serving as deacon and long-time member of the John Hiott Fellowship Sunday School class. His faith was an inspiration to all around him. He prepared for Sunday School class every Saturday night, reading the Bible and taking notes in the same tiny scrawl he used for prescriptions. He was active in numerous church committees, serving on the AIDS Care Team and spending nights with the homeless. He took seriously FBC’s social mission to its downtown neighborhood. His favorite Bible verse was John 15:13: “Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.”

Bob loved every part of his home state, but he had a special fondness for the Blue Ridge Mountains. With Nancy Jo and daughter Susie, he began visiting Doughton Park on the Blue Ridge Parkway in the 1950s, driving up from Winston Salem to picnic and hike near Bluffs Lodge. In the early 1970s, he and Nancy Jo purchased land in Alleghany County and in 1974 built a small cabin of his own design near Laurel Springs, NC. He often attended Laurel Fork Presbyterian church and made many friends in and around the area. He was an avid hiker: his children, grandchildren, nephews, nieces, and friends all fondly remember hiking (and often getting lost) with him.

Bob loved to work in his yard and to walk on the Raleigh Greenway, where he and Nancy Jo had many “Greenway Friends.” He was a loyal fan of ACC sports, especially NC State and Wake Forest football and basketball. He was a big reader and liked to talk about books with others. Late in life, he travelled to many parts of the world with family and friends.

To his wife, children, and grandchildren, Bob Fleming was the most generous, loving man they ever knew. He was the personification of kindness. He will be missed by all who knew him, remembered for his laugh, his goodness, and his humility.

He is survived by his wife of sixty-nine years Nancy Jo Wallis Fleming of Raleigh, NC; daughter, Susie Fleming Hutchens of Lenoir, NC; son, Robert Mark Fleming and wife Julie of Raleigh, NC; son, John David Fleming of Holyoke, MA; son, Laurace Lee Fleming of Raleigh, NC; grandchildren, Taylor Hutchens and wife Mary Margaret of Raleigh, NC; Wallis Hutchens of Denver, CO; Robert H. Fleming, II, and wife Shelley, of Raleigh, NC; Oliver Fleming of Raleigh, NC; Carmen Fleming of Weehawken, NJ, and Isabel Fleming of London, UK; great-granddaughters, Vivian and Evelyn Grace Fleming of Raleigh, NC; and numerous nephews and nieces, great-nephews and great-nieces.

A Funeral Service will be held Monday, July 25, 2022, 2:00 PM at First Baptist Church, 99 N. Salisbury Street. A reception will be held in the Fellowship Hall immediately after.

In lieu of flowers, gifts can be made to First Baptist Church, 99 N. Salisbury St., Raleigh, NC 27601, or the Endowment Fund of Springmoor Retirement Community, 1500 Sawmill Rd., Raleigh, NC 27615.

Arrangements by Brown-Wynne Funeral Home, 300 Saint Mary's St. Raleigh, NC.