Fraces Kay Fletcher
April 02, 1947 - September 18, 2006
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Fraces Kay Fletcher
April 02, 1947 - September 18, 2006
Obituary
Fletcher, Frances Kay, 59, passed on from this life to a new adventure on Monday, September 18, 2006 , at her Irvine home. Albert Einstein once said, ?It is the supreme art of the teacher to awaken joy in creative expression and knowledge.’ Miss Fletcher, as her students so affectionately called her, was just such a teacher! Born Frances Kay Fletcher on April 2, 1947, she grew up in the city of Ventura as the only child of Everett and Edna Fletcher. Kay found her creative outlet as a drama major at UC Santa Barbara and then was inspired to go into teaching. She interned in Bakersfield for a year, and in 1970, she became an integral part of the Huntington Beach City School District family. She began as a first grade teacher at Peterson Elementary, but spent most of her thirty-three-year career at Keller Elementary in Kindergarten. Complications from diabetes claimed part of one leg in 1999, and the devoted teacher who very rarely took a sick day had to take time off to heal and adjust. As soon as she was able, Miss Fletcher came back to teach for a little over two years in her beloved kindergarten at Perry Elementary. She not only worked with primary age children in her career, but with upper grade students in summer school, parents through adult education, student teachers as a master teacher, and teachers as a district mentor teacher as well as a workshop presenter for the California Reading Association and the California Teachers Association. As a teacher advocate, she knew every teacher’s name in the school district because she was Membership Chair for the Huntington Beach Elementary Teachers Association for many years. Kay also has the distinction of being chosen the first and only ‘Teacher of the Year’ from the Huntington Beach City School District.
When Kay retired two years ago, she could not put the teacher within out to pasture; after all, what is a teacher without her students? Kay never had to find out, even in retirement, because as a volunteer, she taught craft-making to senior citizens at County Villa in Laguna Hills. Kay was preceded in death by her parents, Edna and Everett Fletcher. She was dearly loved by many and will be deeply missed by her family and friends.
Undoubtedly, Miss Fletcher has puppets, storybooks, and crafts galore for students both young and old in a new heavenly classroom!
A Memorial Service will be held on Saturday, October 7, 2006 at 1:00 P.M. at Grace Lutheran Church, 6931 Edinger Avenue, Huntington Beach, CA.
In lieu of flowers, donations may be made in Miss Fletcher’s memory to: Huntington Beach Educational Foundation, 20451 Craimer Lane, Huntington Beach, CA 92646.