A student hugs teacher Sandy Fleming after May 14, 2026 school Mass at Blessed Mother Parish in Owensboro, as Fleming retires from the OCS system to enter into a fulltime role of director of religious education at Our Lady of Lourdes Parish. COURTESY OF SIDNEY BENNETT, OCS
A ‘family of believers’
Retiring from OCS, Fleming looks forward to continuing to build ‘a strong Catholic foundation’ at the parish level
BY ELIZABETH WONG BARNSTEAD, THE WESTERN KENTUCKY CATHOLIC
Sandy Fleming’s classroom is decorated with M&Ms.
When she first designed the space in 2000, Fleming said she was leaning into a theme of “Mighty Messengers of Jesus” – with M&Ms being a play on that.
“Wherever we go, whatever we do, we are messengers of Jesus,” she has always told her students. “We make a family of believers, a family of evangelists.”
She stuck with that – and received many M&M-themed gifts over the years – up until her recent retirement from Owensboro Catholic Schools 4-6 Campus this past May.
“I started teaching in 1986 under P.J. Hayden,” said Fleming, of the first principal of Catherine Spalding Catholic School, which was the name for the school on Our Lady of Lourdes Parish’s campus after the school consolidations of Immaculate, St. Anthony, and Lourdes.
Fleming’s years in Catholic education included serving as a religion teacher, a head teacher, and a principal several times over – but her heart has always led her back to the classroom.
She taught in the Catholic schools throughout Owensboro in the early years of her career and later served at Holy Name of Jesus School in Henderson for 12 years under the leadership of Daryl Hagan. When he was made the superintendent of the Evansville Catholic schools office, she served as Holy Name’s principal for several years after that.
Fleming eventually transitioned back to what is today the Owensboro Catholic Schools System – where, by that point, her son was attending elementary school – and began teaching at the 4-6 Campus.
Students of Owensboro Catholic Schools 4-6 Campus process up the aisle at Blessed Mother Parish on May 14, 2026, carrying a banner honoring retiring teacher Sandy Fleming. COURTESY OF SIDNEY BENNETT, OCS
“In the Catholic schools I loved incorporating our faith in every subject and life of our school,” said Fleming. “From the bible story in the middle of a math lesson to the story of Creation and baptism in a science lesson on the water cycle, all defines our purpose in the Catholic community.”
With her wealth of knowledge and veteran teacher insight, she ultimately became “the mama teacher” for the brand-new teachers at her school. Fleming always told them: “Take care of you, take care of your family” – echoing Daryl Hagan, who often told his teachers that “family comes first.”
Fleming’s love of spreading the Catholic faith expanded beyond the borders of her classroom. As a lifelong Lourdes parishioner, she also consistently taught religious education at the parish.
This love of catechesis grew from her college years at Murray State University, when as a young adult she volunteered to teach high school religious education classes at St. Leo Parish in Murray. (This was before the university had a Catholic Newman Center, and Fleming was seeking a way to stay connected to her faith far from home.)
“I taught freshmen; I wasn’t much older than them!” she chuckled. “But they wanted a teacher,” and so, she taught.
In recent years Fleming has taken on the additional role of director of religious education (DRE) at her home parish. As she retires from OCS, she will embrace her DRE role full-time at Lourdes – and cannot wait.
“Catholic schools and religious education within the parish have a common goal: to bring our faith to life and build a strong Catholic foundation,” she said. “In both, we value the parents as the first educators of their child in their Catholic faith.”
Fleming looks forward to working with the parish staff to continue providing sacramental prep, OCIA, bible studies, and supporting Dcn. Ken and Helen Bennett as they lead youth ministry activities.
“I look back on the years of teaching and religious ed with very fond memories of each and every student and family I have been blessed to share in the academic and spiritual growth,” she said.
This May, Fleming was honored with the Bishop John J. McRaith Catechetical Leader Award, which was presented at the diocese’s annual end-of-year gathering for parish catechetical leaders.
Fleming told the WKC that as she transitions into fulltime parish life, she looks to “strengthen our parish community and draw more people into the Catholic faith.”
She said she is proud of her students present and past, and that they have been the reason she could not wait to get to school each day: “They will be and are the future of our Church and I am proud.”
“This year, as I retire, I have a student in my last class whose mother was in my first class,” she said. “It has come full circle.”
Sandy Fleming, retiring from Owensboro Catholic Schools 4-6 Campus, is presented with a banner thanking her for her years of service during May 14, 2026, school Mass at Blessed Mother Parish. COURTESY OF SIDNEY BENNETT, OCS
