Shy writer blossomed on paper

By Katie Kerwin McCrimmon
Scripps Howard News Service

Kelly Fleming

Kelly Fleming was writing her life story on her home computer.

She started it at the very beginning when her mother's water broke and she came into the world. She had gotten to age 5.

Then on Tuesday, two heartless gunmen shot Fleming to death and created a tragic postscript to her life story.

At just 16, the sophomore was slain in the school library where she often went to write.

Fleming's family had moved to Colorado from Phoenix in December 1997.

"We scoured the city to find a great neighborhood and a great school, somewhere where the girls would be safe," said her dad, Don Fleming.

Then a horrific act of violence destroyed the serenity of Columbine High and robbed the Flemings of their daughter.

"She is probably one person who has never truly sinned. Just innocence. That's what they did. They killed innocence," Don Fleming said, his eyes full of anguish.

Kelly Fleming was not an outgoing, charismatic person. She expressed herself best on paper. Often, after school, she would drift into her math teacher's office, where she would share her latest work.

"Math certainly wasn't her favorite subject," said Jud Blatchford, who taught her math last year and first semester this year. "She was more of an artsy-type person."

Even so, Fleming shared her poems and stories with Blatchford.

"She was really shy. She would never read them to me," he said.

Instead, she would hand over the paper and let Blatchford absorb the words himself.

She often wrote about herself, about the struggles she faced. Despite her honesty about teen life, her stories and poems often had happy endings.

"She was one of the kindest students I've ever had," Blatchford said.

He will serve as one of her pall bearers during her funeral Sunday at St. Frances Cabrini Catholic Church.

"She was the most gentle, loving individual," said her mother, DeeDee Fleming. "She was an angel on earth."

Kelly Fleming was learning to drive and wanted to get a job at a day care center so she could save enough money to buy a Mustang or a Corvette.

Fleming couldn't wait to turn 18 and go on road trips. She loved the idea of hopping into the car and heading for Phoenix, where she was raised, or San Antonio or Houston or the Napa Valley, all places she had lived.

And she loved to read, especially books about vampires.

Someday, she hoped to turn her passion for writing into a career. She dreamed of getting her work published and often entered contests.

The Fleming family is devastated without her. She is survived by an 18-year-old sister, Erin, her parents and scores of relatives who all rushed to town to honor her memory.

Despite the horror of this week, Don Fleming feels as safe as ever in the community he so carefully picked.

One neighbor tied a lace bow around a tree outside. Another shoveled the snowy walks early Friday morning. A steady stream of deliveries have come day after day: pizza, bagels, flowers, food trays. "We've got a great community here," he said.

As Don Fleming contemplates his family's loss, he prays for the parents of the gunmen. "They'll have a tougher time getting over this than we will."