Kelly Fleming

By Holly Kurtz
Denver Rocky Mountain News Staff Writer

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The empty Coke can is still under the bed. The bed is still unmade. The Hula-Hoop contest ribbons, the NSYNC CDs, the Corvette calendars — all still there.

Nothing is missing from Kelly Fleming's bedroom.

Nothing that is, except Kelly. And she's not really missing — not from the hearts of her sister Erin or her parents Dee and Don Fleming.

And not from the hundreds of people she touched during her 16 years.

"She would never imagine how she touched so many hearts," said Dee

Before she touched those hearts, she made a few beat faster.

Faster with worry.

Kelly stopped breathing shortly after her birth Jan. 6, 1983. By the time it was restored, the damage had been done. She had slow motor-skills development throughout childhood.

At one point doctors thought she might never walk normally.

Physical therapy started at 6 months. Speech therapy followed. Both worked.

But she was destined to never grow beyond 5 feet, a fate she bemoaned as a teen-ager, especially when her mom kissed her on the top of her head.

Her family had lived in several states, and she stayed in touch with almost all her friends via e-mail.

Sometimes Don would walk into her room and see three screens up at once on the computer. Kelly was dispensing encouragement and advice — signed by her trademark "Keep smilin."

She loved to write. She hoped to make it her career.

"She seemed to be on a different sensitivity level," her mother said. "Kelly would always comment on the sunrise and sunset. She'd notice the clouds in the sky or the birds flying over."

Kelly hoped to go on a road trip to visit her friends after she graduated. Preferably in her dream car — a black Corvette.

Even today her parents can't pass a Corvette, any Corvette, without saying "That's Kelly's car!"

In first grade, the visits to the orthodontist started.

Years passed when most photos were of an unsmiling Kelly. Only rarely would she smile for the camera, revealing her braces.

Her parents found two photos of her smiling after her death.

One was a gift from her dentist, who took it 12 days before the Columbine tragedy. The other was a gift from Kelly. The camera sat in her bedroom for half the summer before her parents thought to have the film developed.

In the framed picture on the living room end table, she is grinning as if her braces are silver jewels.

In the days and weeks following April 20, the Flemings estimate they received 2,000 to 3,000 gifts, letters and cards. There were enough teddy bears to take up two sofas, enough flowers to fill the living room.

"In the first few months, we were surrounded by such a protective layer of love," Don said. "It really did carry us through.

"You can almost feel the prayers around you," he said.

They have considered moving. But they've decided there's no way they can in the forseeable future.

Through Healing of People Everywhere (HOPE), a group of families whose children were killed April 20 at Columbine, they have found strength.

They also found renewed strength in each another, partners through 24 years of marriage.

"I couldn't have gone through this without DeeDee," said Don.

"And vice versa," Dee said.

Kelly's sister Erin, 19, has also been a blessing.

"I keep telling her she can live here forever," said Don.

"For me it was hard initially not to smother her," Dee said.

Dee still has to suppress the thought that every hug is the last, every goodbye final.

"You can't live your life like that," she said.

After the shootings, Dee took a month off from her data management job. It wasn't enough. After three weeks back at work, she took another month.

Today, she works four days a week.

She has more time to spend on the memory books that she calls her "therapy," more time to tend the geraniums and forget-me-nots and columbines in "Kelly's garden" in back of the house.

The Flemings say they have never once had contact with the Columbine killers' parents.

"I wouldn't know what to say to them," Don said. "I do pray for them. I think their hell is probably worse than ours."

In the midst of the soul-searching and finger-pointing that has followed the tragedy, the Flemings have stuck to simple principles.

"I don't find it to be a real complicated issue," Don said. "Parents need to talk to their kids more. They need to be more actively involved in their lives."

"People can touch other people's lives," Dee said.

"It has," Don added, "a ripple effect."

Contact Holly Kurtz at (303) 892-5082 or kurtzh@RockyMountainNews.com.