At the age of 100, Bennie Fleming knows all of the notes to “Over the Rainbow” by heart. It’s a song that, much like her own life story, embodies hope. But the life that Fleming has created for herself in Providence is one she said she never could have imagined as a child.
Born in San Antonio on Nov. 19, 1923, Fleming dreamed of being a nurse while growing up in South Texas — but she learned it would not be an easy path for a Black woman.
“There were no hospitals in San Antonio that would hire a nurse, a Black nurse,” Fleming said. “The only thing I could do was private duty, and that was very expensive. And you’re doing private duty for Black patients, so you didn’t have a lot of people who could afford a private nurse.”
It was 1945. The United States was engulfed in World War II. A friend had joined the U.S. Cadet Nurse Corps and Fleming, born Bennie Vera Young, decided she wanted to do the same.
“I got on the phone and called the Red Cross and said I wanted to volunteer,” Fleming said. “And of course, that’s how I got into the service.”
Fleming was 21 when she enlisted in the Army as a second lieutenant. At the time, the armed services were still segregated.
“You lived in a Black dorm while other nurses lived in a white dorm,” Fleming said. “You were separated that way. The officer’s club was not open to you.”
While she was stationed at Fort Huachuca in Arizona, she met the man who would become her husband: Lt. Theodore Fleming, a doctor in the Army. They were married in Pima County, Arizona, on March 20, 1946.
The two went on to witness a historic moment. In 1948, President Harry Truman signed an executive order banning segregation in the military.
A chance to see both sides
When asked if there was something that stood out to her from that time, Fleming responded, “I don’t talk about it too much because I had a chance to see both sides.”
She is referring to her time caring for German prisoners of war at a camp in Arizona — a far different assignment than tending to wounded American soldiers.
“Our boys were coming back from World War II, and they were coming back … emaciated, they were broken, they had been wounded,” Fleming said. “I had these feelings: how could you treat ours so badly when we are treating yours so grandly?”
Nearly 80 years have passed since Fleming served in the Army. Still, she remains physically active. She enjoys walking through Providence, the city she has called home since 1946. She admits getting used to the weather took some time.
“I came on July 5. I left San Antonio was 103 degrees. I got here the next day. I almost froze to death,” Fleming said. “I guess it was maybe 70 or 60 or so.”
Several years after moving to Rhode Island, Fleming took a job working full-time at Rhode Island Hospital’s School of Nursing, but that changed after she was there for two years.
“Somebody came into my husband’s office and said, ‘I see you’ve got your wife working.’ That was it. I had to quit,” Fleming said. She recalled her husband wasn’t happy with her decision to work. “My husband is just — he was of that era.”
Fleming became a stay-at-home mother for a few years, focused on raising her two children, and then she made a career change.
“I decided, well, maybe if I went into public education, maybe that would help because I would be out the same time that my kids would be out,” she said.
The Providence City Council honored her service to the community in February, which includes 41 years as an educator in the Providence School District. She took on various roles, from teaching to overseeing the district’s science curriculum. Fleming also made history as the first Black nurse to teach at Rhode Island Hospital. Service, she says, is in her blood.
Fleming said, “I was taught that you give something back.”
She comes from a long line of family members who have served both in the military and in government. Her nephew, Ron Kirk, was the mayor of Dallas from 1995 to 2001 and the United States Trade Representative under then-President Barack Obama. Fleming remembers her nephew introducing her to the Obamas while at Martha’s Vineyard.
Fleming said the former president “insisted on getting my dinner. I didn’t have to do anything.”
She also sat on numerous boards, from Planned Parenthood of Southern New England to The Miriam Hospital.
Still sharp and mobile
Fleming remains sharp and mobile at 100. She still drives and appreciates having the freedom to move around. She goes for a 2-mile walk in Providence three times a week, down from five days, per doctor’s orders.
She lives with her 75-year-old son, Theodore. She credits him with being able to maintain a high quality of life.
“I’m so lucky because people my age are stuck in nursing homes. Nobody to see them, nobody to do anything for them,” Fleming said. “But yet I still have people around me and I have young people around me.”
When asked the most important life lesson she’s learned, Fleming said, “You have to be kind.”
She said she tries not to hurt people’s feelings and tries not to get involved in other people’s business.
Instead of meddling in the lives of others, Fleming said she remains focused on enjoying her own.
“At this stage in my life, happiness is all I’m looking for,” Fleming said. “You know, tragedy comes. You can’t help that but fortunately thank God we’ve been spared something like that.”
