Janet Fleming

Janet Fleming passed peacefully on October 6, 2024, at The Daughters of Sarah Rehabilitation and Nursing Center. Janet previously had been a resident at The Massry Home for Assisted Living after having resided in Albany for many years. Janet was born April 20, 1939, in Belleville, NJ, the daughter of Robert Cletis Conahan and Clara Anne Doel. She moved to Slingerlands while a teenager and attended Bethlehem Central High School. It was there she would meet her future husband, Gary Ronald Fleming, whom she married in 1959 and continued until his death in 2007.

Upon graduation, she attended Mildred Elley Secretarial School. She then had a long career as a trusted secretary for the law firms of Donald Sommers and later Samuel R. Whiting and then entered New York State service working for the Judicial Department.

During the 1970s, Janet along with her husband and two sons, attended The Albany Unitarian Universalist Church and enjoyed the social aspect but more importantly, the social justice aspect of its teachings. Of note also was her service in the early 1970s at the Refer Switchboard, later on becoming known as Equinox, and they were responsible for providing free Thanksgiving dinners to thousands of people—early social responsibility in action.

Janet had a lifelong interest in many things but foremost was that of Eastern Religion and Philosophy. In the Fall of 2001, she was able to travel to India--Meherabad, Arangaon Village, Maharashtra, home to Indian Spiritual Master Meher Baba’s Samadhi Mandir. There she was honored to visit the shrine and universal spiritual retreat center of Meher Baba, originally established as an ashram by Meher Baba in 1923.

Other travel highlights included a trip to China in the 1980s before it was officially open to tourists. She returned home with many stories and was in awe of the people she met there. She loved going to Mexico, in particular Playa del Carmen, and told of sleeping in a hammock on the beach many years before it became fashionable.

Janet also had a great interest in gardening, the ocean, traveling the world, bridge, and her many friendships. Of note, she enjoyed the 50-year special friendship she had with the late Janice Harvith (Kirkman) and, among other adventures, attended weekly movie dates for most of those years. She also shared a very active social life and friendship with her longstanding…some also 50 years…group of ladies known as the TALC10 who became her family of choice (Joni Conlon, Louise Kuziomko, Suzanne Krempa, Pat Ross, Roz Conway, Kathleen Kearney, Gail Ganter, Donna Monaghan--RIP, and Mary Martits--RIP). They enjoyed many, many events, trips, and weekend jaunts together with every one of them becoming meaningful and rewarding to her life.

Janet was predeceased by her parents Robert and Clara, her husband Gary, her son Brian, and her sister Karen Fagan and her husband Larry. She leaves behind to honor her memory her son Patrick and his husband Walter of Germantown, NY, her brother Robert Conahan and his wife Barbara of Rotterdam, NY, and many nieces, nephews, and dear, dear friends.

A gathering to recall and remember Janet will be held on Saturday, October 12, 2024, 2-4:00pm at the Applebee Funeral Home, 403 Kenwood Avenue, Delmar, NY 12054, 518-439-2715. In lieu of flowers, please consider a donation in her memory to Equinox, Inc., 500 Central Avenue, 1st Floor, Albany, NY 12206, or online equinoxinc.org