Colleen Fleck

Colleen "Coke" Patricia Fleck, age 92, of Willmar, died Friday afternoon, March 9, at Bethesda Grand Nursing Home in Willmar.


Mass of Christian Burial will be held at 11:00 a.m. on Tuesday, March 27, at the Church of St. Mary in Willmar. Interment will be in the church cemetery. Visitation will be from 6-8 p.m. with a Daughter of Isabella Rosary at 7:30 p.m. on Monday, March 26, at the Peterson Brothers Funeral Home in Willmar and visitation will continue for one hour prior to the service at the church.


Colleen "Coke" Patricia Fleck was born August 26, 1925 to Antoinette (Roy) and Clarence Patrick Murphy, their third child and only daughter. They made their home in Virginia, Minnesota. Colleen (Coke) lived a rich and varied life. She was an honor student in high school and secretarial school. Following junior college, she worked as a secretary at legal firms in Virginia, MN and Chicago, IL. Following WWII, she married her high school sweetheart, Robert J. Fleck, in a ceremony at her parents' home in Virginia, MN. They made a handsome couple. They moved to Fargo, ND, where Robert attended pharmacy school on the GI bill. Next, they lived in St. Louis Park, MN, where they bought a house and planted apple trees. Soon Colleen's husband (a registered pharmacist) went to work as a "detail man" for Eli Lilly Pharmaceuticals. Several moves followed to Montevideo then Duluth and finally to Willmar. While in Willmar, Colleen worked as a school secretary at Lafayette School for several years. She filled in many areas of the school as needed, sometimes as library help, in the lunch room and also helped with recess. Following their retirement, Coke and Bob loved to travel. They toured widely in the USA, staying in condominiums, sightseeing, visiting relatives and of course their children, grandchildren, nieces & nephews. Having great adventures such as visiting Iceland and their crowning achievement was a trip to China with a walk along the Great Wall. Colleen was a long-time member of the Church of St. Mary.


She is survived by one son, Dr. Robert (and Melissa) Fleck of Cincinnati, OH.; six daughters, Dr. Michele (and Brad) Babb, Margaret Fleck of Willmar, Patricia Lien of Superior, WI., Ann Fleck of Willmar, Mary Fleck of Lino Lakes and Jean Dummer of Eden Prairie; thirteen grandchildren and six great grandchildren.


She was preceded in death by her parents; her husband, Robert in 2005; two brothers, Tyrone and Douglas Murphy and one daughter, Carol in infancy.

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