Marie Rienstra Fleming, 93, a native of Nederland, Texas passed away Sunday, February 20, 2011, at the Towers Nursing Home in Smithville, Texas.
Marie was born July 5, 1917, at her parents’ home in Nederland, the sixth of seven children born to Dan J. and Johanna Ballast Rienstra, two of the original settlers of Nederland. Marie attended school in Nederland, graduating high school in 1934. She completed two years at Lamar Junior College in Beaumont, and then graduated from the University of Texas in 1940 with a degree in Business Administration. During her time at Lamar, she met the love of her life, Jack Fleming. He was finishing college and traveling with his job at the time, so their courtship was intermittent, but they finally married November 9, 1941, and moved to Newark, Ohio where their two daughters were born. They moved back to Nederland in 1949, where they had their two sons, raised their family and were involved in church, school and community activities well into their 80’s.
Marie was a home room mother as many years as she had children in school, served as PTA president, and was awarded a Lifetime Membership in the Texas State PTA. She served as Museum Chairman for the Chamber of Commerce, and helped make the Dutch Windmill Museum a reality in 1969. In 1977, Jack and Marie were honored with a lifetime membership in the Chamber.
In 1972, the Texas Institute of Cultures in San Antonio started the Folk Life Festival, to which she headed a delegation. Her involvement with this festival lasted several years, and led to her serving as an Ambassador to the Institute. Her love of Nederland, family and of the written word combined in her many projects to document and preserve local and family history in publications, poetry and newspaper articles. Marie was a professional mom, not only to her children, but to anyone in need of mothering, and one honor of which she was most proud was being crowned 1998 Nederland Centennial Mother of the Year.
Marie is survived by her children, Joanna Lee Morgan and her husband Mike, of Smithville, Jean Fleming Powers and her husband Bruce, of Houston, Stephen G. Fleming and his wife Mary of Nederland, and Mark D. Fleming of Baytown; her grandchildren, Jeff Morgan, Jason Powers and his wife Dawn, Scott Powers and his wife Kate, Matthew Powers and his wife Sarah, Tara Matlak and her husband Mike, Jim Powers, Greg Fleming and his wife Jennifer, Rebecca Fleming, Matt Fleming and his wife Chrissy; great-grandchildren, Spencer and Ainsley Powers, Samantha and Audrey Powers, Jack and Alice Powers, Haley Matlak, and Megan, Brady and Hudson Fleming. Also surviving her are almost two hundred members of the extended Rienstra clan, all of whom she loved dearly.
She was preceded in death by her husband of sixty-two years, Jack Milton Fleming; grandchild, Stephen Powers; her sister, Anna Rienstra; and her brothers, Dick, John, Albert, Marion and Dan Rienstra.
Her funeral service will be 10:00 a.m. Wednesday, February 23, 2011, at First United Methodist Church, 104 North 13th Street in Nederland, with burial to follow at Oak Bluff Memorial Park in Port Neches. A gathering of her family and friends will be Tuesday, February 22, 2011, from 5:00 p.m. until 7:00 p.m., at the church.
Memorial contributions may be made to Methodist Children’s Home, Main Campus, 1111 Herring Avenue, Waco, Texas 76708.
