Remembering a special Rockport principal

ROCKPORT — Daniel Fleming once said the best years of his educational career were those he spent serving as principal of Rockport High School.

So it's fitting that, despite having lived in Chelmsford, it was one of his final wishes that his funeral services be held in his adopted home of Rockport.

Fleming died Tuesday morning at the age of 61 following a more than two-year battle with melanoma.

The hearse carrying Fleming's body will pass by Rockport High School this morning on its way to his 9 a.m. funeral at St. Joachim's Church on Broadway.

The loving husband and father of three was remembered by friends Thursday as an inspiring, selfless, and dedicated man whose sense of humor and positive outlook on life was infectious.

"He was always upbeat and so enthusiastic about everything; every challenge that he faced, he always approached with great determination and a high amount of energy, and that was cool because it was contagious," said Rockport High School Dean Stephen Rowell. "Dan was just a real joy to be around, you couldn't help but want to do your best for him."

Asked to describe his relationship with Fleming, the responses offered by Rockport Middle School guidance counselor Dave Curley were echoed by all of those who knew him — "friend, confidant and mentor."

"I've been in education for 34 years and Dan was one of those guys that just got it, he had it figured out," said Curley, who at times struggled to hold back tears. "He was the first one here every morning, coming from Chelmsford, and the last one to leave. He made it fun to come to work."

Paul Murphy, a Rockport resident and now the assistant principal at Manchester Essex Regional High School, was a student at Rockport High School when Fleming, then just 33, was appointed principal. They became colleagues after Fleming hired Murphy to teach social studies in Rockport and stayed close friends even after they both moved on to other jobs out of town.

Murphy's first memory of Fleming reaches back to 1982 when the new principal called Murphy, then a Student Council president, on the phone one warm July morning to invite him to come to the school and talk about the high school from a student's perspective.

"He was a great resource to me, I could talk to him about anything," Murphy said. "He was very supportive, had a terrific smile, and an exuberance that was contagious."

Fleming could find the positive in any negative situation, Murphy said as he recalled the last conversation with his friend, which occurred about a week before his death. During the conversation, Fleming asked Murphy if he had ever dealt with hospice workers, and when Murphy answered affirmatively, Fleming asked, "aren't they terrific?"

"There he was dying of cancer and he was commenting about how nice these people are," Murphy said. "He was always worrying about other people, not himself."

Fleming grew up in a housing project in North Cambridge and was proud to be from that neighborhood of blue-collar men and women.

"There was no pretentiousness in Dan Fleming's makeup," Murphy said. "Not once did I ever hear an off-color remark or something that could be construed as insensitive."

Fleming was a graduate of Cambridge Rindge & Latin High School and went on to receive his bachelor's at Boston University, master's of Education at Tufts University and master's of Library Science at Simmons College.

Daniel was a lifelong educator, having taught at Cambridge Rindge & Latin High School and later held the position of education administrator at Cambridge, Chelmsford, Rockport and Framingham school systems. He was also a professor at Simmons College and worked as librarian at the University of Massachusetts — Lowell.

A supporter of the arts, athletics, music, drama and school government, he was also involved in the International Teaching Program and taught in Mexico, Guyana, Kuwait and Lithuania.

But it was Rockport where, just a few years ago, Fleming and his wife, Dianne, decided to purchase a second home in which to spend their summers — just down the road from his old friend, Murphy.

He loved Rockport, friends said, just as much as he loved driving his two-seat Pontiac Fiero to school each day and talking education and politics.

A 44-year veteran of the Rockport School District, George Ramsden started his job as director of high school guidance the same year that Fleming began his tenure in Rockport.

Ramsden called Fleming "a man of high integrity" who never expected anybody to do anything than he could or would not do.

Ramsden said Fleming came at a time in the early 1980s when the open campus approach of the 1970s had led to "sloppy habits" and a real change was needed.

Fleming delivered.

"(He) was the absolute perfect fit for what Rockport High School and the community of Rockport needed," said Ramsden, who credited the late Dr. Michael McCaffrey, the superintendent at the time, as a key figure in landing Fleming in Rockport.

"We grew and grew because of his leadership," Ramsden added. "I loved the guy; Rockport High School is a far, far better place than it was before Fleming took the reigns."

Fleming was responsible for introducing advanced placement courses at the high school; was ahead of his time in recognizing the value of bringing computer technology into the schools in the 1980s; and oversaw a major restructuring of the school campus, which included transforming the former middle school into what is now the elementary school and combining the middle and high school grades into one building.

Curley perhaps expressed best how all those who knew Fleming felt about the man.

"I am certainly a better person as a result of his influence on my life," he said.

Jonathan L'Ecuyer can be reached at 978-283-7000 x 3451 or jlecuyer@gloucestertimes.com.

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