Farrell Fleming, the Edmonds Senior Center director for nearly 20 years, died on Nov. 27 in Salt Springs, BC.

Fleming is survived by his devoted wife Delaine, who shared his love for meditation, holistic health and healing.

“I met Farrell in 2014 when I joined the Edmonds Senior Center team to lead the effort to raise the money to build a new center,” said Edmonds Waterfront Center CEO Daniel Johnson. “I was captivated. He had a clear vision of what the senior center could become and used his university professor skills to galvanize the community around that vision.”

The Edmonds Senior Center formed in 1967 and occupied the former Surf and Sand Marina until 2019 when the building was demolished making way for the new Edmonds Waterfront Center (EWC). Farrell retired at age 80 in 2020 and moved to his home on Salt Spring Island, BC. The EWC opened its doors in March 2021.

Johnson said that when he last communicated with Fleming in June, he wrote the following:

“We are coping as old people do,” Fleming said. “As Betty Davis said ‘old age is not for sissies.’ The Salt Spring community is very supportive of seniors and we are taking full advantage of that. The work of this stage in our lives is increasingly in the meditative and contemplative arts and it is beginning to bear fruit. Please give our best wishes to everyone — they have done and continue to do something quite remarkable and unique in the world. It gives me a great deal of satisfaction to have played a role in that. It was my honor, privilege and joy to work with so many amazing people over the years to accomplish really good things that serve the region well and will function as a model worldwide.”

As reported in our earlier story on Fleming’s retirement, he was born and raised in the New York City borough of Queens and attended Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island.

After arriving at Brown, the student manager of the Brown marching band informed the school that he would not be coming back. “With only a few weeks to go before the first big football game, I was asked to both manage the band and be the new drum major,” Fleming said. “The band director was a classical cellist, and running a marching band was really not his thing, so he needed someone who could hit the ground running. Why they offered it to me I have no idea — I didn’t know the first thing about doing either job, but of course I jumped at the chance!”

Next step was a quick trip to the library where he found only one book — written in 1890 – on drum majoring.

“I picked a routine that didn’t look too difficult, practiced it, and the rest — to coin a phrase — is history,” Fleming said. He marched, strutted and studied his way through Brown, graduating in 1962 with a degree in philosophy.

He subsequently attended other schools for graduate work, following his chosen path to become a professor of philosophy.

After retiring in 1997, Fleming began a new career working with seniors. He served as Edmonds Senior Center executive director in 2001, left in 2007 and then returned in 2010.

At the time of his retirement in 2020, Fleming said that his “fondest accomplishment here is the new Waterfront Center,” he said. “It’s so much more than just the building,” he continued. “The real heart of the place — and the heart of my pride in it — are the people who planned it, nurtured it and will animate it. The building by itself is just a shell — it’s the people, really. I’m always struck by Margaret Mead’s famous quote, ‘A small group of people with an idea can change the world.’ I’m seeing that happen here, and I couldn’t be more proud to be part of it.”

Commnnity members offered their memories to mark Fleming’s passing.

“We all know well how fortunate we and the community had been for his shepherding of the senior center for so many years, and then guiding us to EWC,” said former Edmonds Waterfront Center Board Chair Bob Rinehart. “Of greater import, Farrell was a wonderful person. We have lost a valued colleague, friend and a man who steadfastly fit his role here.” 

Waterfront Center Director of Social, Recreation and Education Programs Michelle Neu said that she is “forever grateful to have worked closely with Farrell for 10 years. He was a sound voice during a lot of changes as the Edmonds Senior Center evolved into the Edmonds Waterfront Center. His main focus was making sure there was always a place for seniors in this community, while at the same time acknowledging that the senior center model needed to change in order to remain active and sustainable. He got to see that vision come to life,” Neu said.

“Farrell was such an incredibly kind person,” said former EWC Board Member Margaret Mesaros. “His dedication to seniors in our community for so many years, vision for what a new center could be and his ability to bring together a host of folks to make it happen was a joy to see. He leaves a great legacy.”

Added Edmonds resident and European travel guide Rick Steves: “When Farrell had a vision, he made getting there both an adventure and fun. And part of the fun was knowing that his passion for that vision was both for community and from his heart. It’s community leaders like Farrell that make great dreams (like the Edmonds Waterfront Center) happen. Thank you, Farrell “

A celebration of Farrell’s life is being planned and will be held at the EWC, with the date to be determined.