Russell Fletcher

Russell Rupert Fletcher, 74, who was preceded in death by his mother Daisy Evangeline Fletcher, his father Rupert J. Fletcher, and his brother David Lee Fletcher, died in his home in Olathe, KS on Saturday November 27, 2010 at 4:00 a.m. from the effects of melanoma cancer. Russell was born and raised in Independence, MO and graduated in 1954 from William Chrisman high school. He married his high school sweetheart, Joy Darlene Hoover, to whom he was married for more than fifty-three years. Besides his wife Joy, Russell is survived by his five children—David, John, Elizabeth, Joseph and Amy; his sister Virginia Fletcher Lane; and nine grandchildren including Jessica and Erica Fletcher, Jennifer and Megan Fletcher, Andrew, Mark and Justin Fletcher, and Jacob and Alex Starr. Russell began his career as a science teacher at Palmer Jr. High in Independence, MO, and at Blue Springs High School in Blue Springs, MO, and later as a computer programmer and IT manager for the ARMCO Steel Corporation living with his family in Sao Paulo, Brazil, Mexico City, Mexico, Middletown, Ohio, and Montevideo, Uruguay. During the last eighteen years of his career, Russell served as director and then as chief financial officer for Outreach International—a non-profit organization whose mission is to promote community self-sufficiency in third-world countries. A memorial service celebrating Russell’s life will be held at the Methodist Church of the Resurrection in Leawood, KS, Thursday, December 30, 2010. Contributions may be made to Outreach International, P.O. Box 210, Independence, MO 64051. In the meantime his body is being donated for science research to the KU Medical Center in Kansas City, MO, and his ashes will be interred at the Mount Pleasant Cemetery near Clitherall, MN in the spring of A.D. 2011. Russell was a kind and generous man who will be greatly missed by his family and friends.