Ann D. Fleck

Ann Davison (Duffie) Fleck, a longtime resident of Norwood and Walpole, died Monday, November 26, 2018 at the Benchmark Senior Living Center in Franklin.  She was 95.  Ann was born May 13, 1923 in Dorchester, Massachusetts, one of three daughters of Harold Richard and Marion (Davison) Duffie.  Her love of music expressed itself early when she played in the orchestra at the Randall G. Morris Elementary School in West Roxbury; in the school band and orchestra at the Robert Gould Shaw Junior High School in West Roxbury; and in the orchestra at Roslindale High School.  In 1940 she won the “Rising Stars of Tomorrow” contest.  She played in the New England Festival Orchestra and was a member of the Boston Civic Symphony.  Ann earned a degree in Music Education from the New England Conservatory of Music in Boston and began her music career as a Music Supervisor in the Litchfield Connecticut Public School System and as an Instrumental Music Specialist for the Brookline Massachusetts Public School System.  She served as the Choir Director at the First Baptist Church of Norwood, and volunteered as the Festival Chorus Conductor of the combined church choirs of Norwood; was the Conductor of the DAR Chorus in Washington, DC for eight years; and was a drummer for the Sons of the American Revolution Color Guard for 39 years.  Ann marched and drummed for the Bicentennial in 1976 in Boston; at the VA Bicentennial in 1981; at the Treaty of Paris Bicentennial in 1983 in Paris, France; at the Bicentennial of the Constitution in 1987 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; and at Patriots Day parades in Concord, Massachusetts.  She played her drum in every state in the union as well as Washington, DC, and in Australia, England, France, Canada and Mexico.  She also guest conducted the United States Army Band and the United States Air Force Band, both in Washington, DC, and President Mitterand’s own band at the American Embassy in Paris, France. She was a member of the Wellesley Symphony Orchestra for 53 years.  Ann was a member of the National Society Daughters of the American Revolution (where she was a member of the Boston Tea Party Chapter, a State Regent of Massachusetts from 1974-1977, the Historian General of the National DAR from 1977-1980, the Recording Secretary General from 1983-1986, and the President General of the National Society DAR from 1986-1989), the National Society Daughters of the American Colonists, the National Society United States Daughters of 1812, the National Society of New England Women, the National Society of Colonial Dames XVII Century, the Order of Americans of Armorial Ancestry, the National Gavel Society, the Colonial Order of the Crown, the National Society Magna Charta Dames and Barons, the Sovereign Colonial Society Americans of Royal Descent, the Society of Descendants of Knights of the Most Noble Order of the Garter, The Plantagenet Society, and the National Association of Rudimental Drummers.  Ann was predeceased by her husband of 65 years, Raymond F. Fleck, and her sisters Jean Gardner and Marcia Durfor.  She is survived by her son, William Davison Fleck, and his wife Susan P., of Franklin; and her daughter, Carol A. Whetzel, and her husband Michael Dennis, of Chambersburg, PA; her six grandchildren, Melanie J. Taylor, Michael D. Whetzel, Jr., Janet E. Lundgren, Timothy W. Fleck, Joyce E. Fleck, and Diane M. Fleck; and her nine great grandchildren, Nathan and Joshua Whetzel, Malachi Taylor, Susanna,  Rosalia, Zachary, and Amy Lundgren, and Zoe and Theodore Fleck.  Visiting hours will be held Friday, November 30, 2018 from 3 to 7 pm at the Folsom Funeral Home, 649 High Street, Westwood.  Relatives and friends are invited to attend her funeral Saturday, December 1st at 10 am at the First Baptist Church of Norwood.  Interment will be at the Mount Pleasant Cemetery in Harwichport at approximately 2:00.  If desired, donations in Ann’s memory can be made to the First Baptist Church, 71 Bond Street, Norwood, MA 02062 or to the Ann D. Fleck Scholarship Fund at Hillside School, 404 Robin Hill Street, Marlborough, MA 01752.