A chance switching of assignments when he was in the U.S. Navy led John Fleming to Japan and a lifelong interest in all things Asian.
Fleming, who died at his Denver home March 5 at 83, was a radiologist who spent most of his medical career at St. Anthony Hospital.
When he was in the Navy at a New York base, he was assigned to Camp Lejeune Marine Corps Base in North Carolina. Another radiologist was assigned to Japan but didn’t want to go because he had a family.
They were allowed to switch, and Fleming took off after asking his fiancée, Celeste Johnston, to meet him in Japan for the wedding.
“He had to be the mother of the bride,” said his wife, noting that her soon-to-be husband had to make the arrangements.
But he had help from military wives on the Navy base at Yokosuka.
The reception was to be held at the Officers’ Club, but when the admiral’s wife found out she had to refer to it as “Officers’ Mess” she thought it sounded “dreadful,” Celeste Fleming said.
So the reception was held at the admiral’s home.
The Japan experience lasted a lifetime for the Flemings. They collected Asian art, had a Japanese garden at their home and made several trips back to Japan.
He was a founding member of Asian Performing Arts of Colorado, which sponsors cultural exchanges between Asia and America.
This summer, the organization will sponsor a world premiere of the opera “Poet Li Bai,” and the opening night performance at Central City will be dedicated to Fleming, who was a benefactor of the opera.
The Flemings gave numerous gifts to the Denver Art Museum, where a private memorial service will be held for him.
“John never did things halfway,” said a friend, Diana Lee, of Denver. “He was a passionate student of international affairs” and constantly read international journals and books.
He “was outspoken” and had definite opinions on most things, she said.
He also was determined. He insisted on a manicured lawn, but his yard sloped dramatically. To keep from being dragged down the hill by the mower, he tied one end of a rope to a tree at the top and the other end around his waist, Lee said.
John Fleming was born Feb. 18, 1924, in Oxford, N.C., and earned his medical degree at the University of Louisville in Kentucky. He studied radiotherapy at London’s Royal Marsden Hospital.
In addition to his wife, he is survived by three daughters, Anne Fleming of Denver, Suzanne Kendon of Canberra, Australia, and Alexandra Phillips of London; two grandchildren; his brother, Leonard Fleming of Silver Springs, Md.; and his sister, Jean Roosa of Paoli, Pa.
Staff writer Virginia Culver can be reached at 303-954-1223 or vculver@denverpost.com.
