Annie Fleming, who died on January 6th, aged 95, was a founder member of the Friedreich's Ataxia Society of Ireland.
She was also an inspirational figure who walked in mini-marathons to raise funds for hospitals until she was over 90 years old.
What is most remarkable is that she began these walks when she was in her eighties, after she went to live in a retirement home.
She was born at North Strand, Dublin, in 1905 to Patrick and Anne (nee Newman) Fleming. Her father was a postman. She worked for some years for solicitors Porter Morris & Co and then for the Irish Hospitals Trust but became a civil servant at the outbreak of the second World War. Initially she worked for the Department of Supplies and later for the Departments of Transport and Power and Industry and Commerce. If she began her civil service career late, she also ended it late and managed to get her service extended until she was in her seventies.
But it was after her retirement that she did the work for which she will be remembered. Her niece had two children with Friedreich's Ataxia and Annie Fleming became involved in setting up an association to support other families afflicted by this condition.
She worked assiduously for the Friedreich's Ataxia Society of Ireland and was full of ideas for raising money for it. But her efforts were not confined to the society. When she moved into a home for active older people, she became interested in raising funds for hospitals. Now in her eighties, she began to walk in mini-marathons for children's hospitals and maternity hospitals. She continued to do these walks until 1997.
Quite apart from the mini-marathons, she loved walking. Even when she had to use a white stick she went on quite long walks to do her shopping and to visit relatives. She loved making rugs and finished her last rug in September after working on it since January. She also knit clothes for premature babies.
Annie Patricia Fleming: born 1905; died January, 2000