Bio: Fleming Gordon and Anna (Greenwood Fire - 1981)

Contact: Kathleen E. Englebretson
Email: kathy@wiclarkcountyhistory.org

Surnames: Fleming, Kuester

Greenwood Fire Kills 2

GREENWOOD -- A Greenwood man and his four-year-old daughter died this morning in a fire that gutted their home at 301 E. Central St., Greenwood.

Dead is Gordon J. Fleming, 25, and his daughter, Anna Marie. His wife, Dorothy, 26, and another daughter, Kim, 11 months, escaped from the burning building.

Cause of the fire has not been determined, but Greenwood firefighters said it could have started in the kitchen area.

Mrs. Fleming told officers she had gotten out of bed at about 5 a.m. to feed Kim, then went back to bed. About 6 a.m.. she said she heard Kim coughing in her bedroom and started coughing herself. She added that she was unable to see the night light in her bedroom and discovered the house was full of smoke. She then woke her husband, and told him to get Anna and she would get Kim.

The children slept in separate bedrooms, Mrs. Fleming said. She said she found Kim and ran into the street with her, where she heard her husband yell from an upstairs window, asking where Anna was. Mrs. Fleming responded that Anna was in her room.

Leon and Fern Kuester, who lived across the street, said they heard the screams and called the Greenwood Fire Department.

Fleming apparently was overcome by the smoke and was unable to get out of the house, according to Robert Lulloff, Clark County Coroner. Both bodies were found near a window in the child's bedroom.

Both had suffered burns but it was believed they had died of smoke inhalation, Lulloff added. The bodies were removed by firefighters through an upstairs window.

The Rinka Funeral Home in Greenwood is in charge of arrangements.