In Memory of Martin P. Fleming, M.D.

Written by Kaitlin Hill & Sarah French-Fleming 

Though a native of Castlemartyr in County Cork, Ireland, Martin P. Fleming was a true Virginia gentleman. He passed away peacefully on June 4 at his home “after watching the Epsom Derby over the weekend, holding a Waterford crystal glass full of a beloved Irish whisky,” shares his wife, Sarah French-Fleming. 

Fleming was a Mayo Clinic-trained radiologist who practiced in both Leesburg and Winchester. French-Fleming remembers, “[He] was often asked to X-ray horses. ‘But they would bump their heads upon entering the X-ray room!’ he used to reply.” 

Fleming hunted with the Blue Ridge Hunt for decades and was master of the Nantucket-Treweryn Beagles in Clarke County. “He adored steeplechase racing and part-owned winning racehorses, participating in the Virginia Circuit and Southern states, winning in Aiken,” remembers French-Fleming. 

French-Fleming adds, “His reminiscence of his dear old Glenwood Grange home in Berryville and tales of Ol’ Virginny were legendary. He recalled when there was only one vineyard in Northern Virginia and he happily drove up and down Zulla Road collecting empty wine bottles from estates and friends … to donate to the only winemaker in the fine land of the Piedmont.” 

He was a founding member of the Welbourne cakewalk. For the 50th anniversary of the event this month, “There will be a moment of silence for the chattiest man alive,” shares French-Fleming. She finishes that Fleming is a “much-missed charming spirit of old and no hunt ball will be the same without [him].” 

Fleming is survived by his wife, Sarah French-Fleming; daughter, Tara Fleming, and her mother, Patricia Fleming; sisters Anne Coffey and Mary O’Callaghan; daughter-in-law, Amy Fleming, M.D.; grandchildren Keenan, Luca, Hannah, Virgina, and Delaney; brother-in-law, Bill O’Callaghan; nieces Clara O’Sullivan, Jean Van Sinderen-Law, and Cliona Law; and nephew, Paul O’Callaghan. 

Photo courtesy of Sarah French-Fleming.