Barbara Dorothy Fleer
Passed away peacefully on Friday, January 20, 2023 at her home in Sun City, California. Barbara was given to us on December 19, 1926 in French Creek, New York to the late Anthony and Helen (Machelski) Gorski.
Barbara was an Engineer for Boeing for over 30 years. She was a part of the team who built the space stations. Even in her retirement years, Barbara continued to work for Boeing were she was dearly loved and respected by all who knew her. She and her husband Earl moved to Sun City in 1994 to live out their retirement years, where Barbara was a devoted member of St. Vincent Ferrer Catholic Church. There, she was a member of the church choir, Mission Aide and the St. Vincent’s Guild. She was also a member of the Red Hat Society. Barbara was a devoted prayer warrior, not a day went by without her reciting prayers for all. Wherever she went, she was the shining light and made friends with total strangers. I know, even in her absence, she will continue to be here with us in our hearts and fond memories. We will think of her every time we see a butterfly a beautiful butterfly as Barbara was to all of us.
In Barbara’s word’s….
I was born in French Creek, New York in 1926 on a farm where I lived and worked on the farm until I grew up and worked at General Electric for 10 years, and then ventured out to California for vacation and never ventured back to my beloved state. A cousin wanted me to stay. I went to modeling school and modeled for 2 years, but realized that was not the life for me and applied for a hostess job at a hotel where I was hired and worked there for a time; it was the Brown Derby in Hollywood. One day I ventured to Howard Hughes plant in Culver City, was hired for $1.25 an hour making collars for planes. I learned a lot about wiring and reading blue prints etc. I met Howard Hughes, no big deal. After several years, I decided to apply at North American Downey Cal and worked on the space shuttle. We lived and worked hard and I earned my way up to a good position, when things got slow, I went to McDonald Douglas to keep the $$ coming in. However, most of my years were working on the space shuttles. I loved my boss and all the people I worked with. I received several awards, met many of the astronauts and I worked until I was 75!
I lived in a great era (1926). The horse and buggy changed to the twentieth century, the man on the moon, how can you beat that…
The Lord has blessed me in so many ways, Thank you Lord!