Margaret Helen Lester Fleagle, Age 94 of Temple, Texas died on November 2nd, 2020, after a brief illness. Mass of Christian Burial will be celebrated at St. Agnes Catholic Church in Walker, Minnesota. Burial will be in the family plot in Evergreen Cemetery in Walker, Minnesota. Scanio-Harper Funeral Home is in charge of arrangements in Temple along with Northern Peace Funeral Home in Walker, Minnesota.
Ms. Fleagle was born in Walker, Minnesota on March 19th, 1926 to Margaret and Ivan Lester. She graduated from Walker High School in 1944. Ms. Fleagle attended the College of St. Catherine’s School of Nursing in St. Paul, Minnesota, graduating in 1947, the University of Minnesota’s Department of Nurse Anesthesia and from Ottawa University in Kansas City, Kansas with a degree in education.
As an operating room nurse and supervisor, she worked at Ah-Gwah-Ching in Walker, Minnesota and St. Mary’s Hospital, Minnesota. While at St. Mary’s, she established an accredited school for student nurse anesthetists and served as its first director.
In 1956, she was commissioned a Captain in the Army Nurse Corps and served in Texas, California, West Germany and Beirut, Lebanon. As a civilian she was a member of the anesthesia staff of Scott and White Hospital in Temple Texas for 10 years and retired as Chief Nurse Anesthetist from the V.A. Medical Center in Temple, Texas. She was an active member of the American Association of Nurse Anesthetist in Minnesota and Texas. Ms. Fleagle was a member of the St. Luke Catholic Church in Temple for over 45 years.
Ms. Fleagle was preceded in death by her parents Margaret and Ivan, brothers Harry Lester and Stanley Lester, her sister Mary Lester Blekicki, brother in law Frank Orton, and nephews Jerry Lester and Jim Lester. She is survived by her sister, Lois Lester Orton of Walker, Minnesota along with three generations of nieces and nephews. Among them are nephews William Lester, Stanley Lester, Timothy Orton and nieces Linda Lester Ryski and Susan Orton Seep.
Memorials may be made to St. Luke Catholic Church, 2807 Oakdale Drive, Temple, TX 76502 or the Temple Public Library, 100 W. Adams Avenue, Temple, TX 76501.
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