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Biography
Irene Uhl Fleming was born September 3, 1906, daughter of Charles
and Emma Balch Uhl in the town of Wheatland, Texas south of Dallas
near Duncanville, Texas. Her grandparents were early settlers of
this area. Their wagon train came across the Trinity river at the
Neely Bryan cabin when they came from Illinois to settle. The family
helped establish the community, school, church, and cemetery of
Wheatland.
Irene attended elementary and secondary school at the Wheatland
School and then finished her senior year at Oak Cliff High School to
get full accreditation. In 1923, Irene attended TCU and lived with
her Aunt Thomazine in Fort Worth, Texas. She took a year off to
teach first, second, and third grade in Renner, Texas. She finished
her college education in 1929 at the University of Texas with a
degree in Home Economics under the Smith-Hughes Act which guaranteed
her a job during the depression. Irene taught Home Economics in
Calvert and Olney, Texas 1931 – 1934.
After entering a canning contest in the Chicago Worlds Fair, she
traveled by train to Chicago to experience the Fair, then on to New
York to visit her Uncle Forrest. Upon leaving New York she took a
cruise ship down the Atlantic coast around to Galveston and then a
train to Dallas. It was quite a trip fro a young woman alone.
Returning to work, she taught in Garland, Texas.
On August 6, 1936, she was married to Everett B. Fleming and they
lived in the Dallas area having a daughter in July 1940. Pearl
Harbor occurred December 7, 1941 which effected everyone’s lives.
The family moved to the farm at Wheatland to help with chores
because of ill health of both parents. Soon after the farm was sold
and all the family moved to Oak Cliff.
In 1944, they purchased their first house and were independent.
Irene began work at Atlantic Richfield in 1954 where she was an
accounts payable clerk and during her tenure she processed many
checks paying for the Alaska pipeline. During this time she spent
several years as one of the directors of the company’s Junior
Achievement project.
In 1981 Irene moved to Mercer Island, Washington to be near her
daughter and granddaughters. She has been busy with church work,
quilting, and writing to keep in touch with many family members.
Quilting blossomed into a late life hobby and Irene was honored at
the Quilters Anonymous Club show for being the oldest active quilter
anyone knew about in 2003. Twenty six of her quilts were presented
in her special display where she sat to demonstrate hand piecing. |
