“I love you every day. And Now I will miss you every day” – Mitch Albom

Jeanette Gail Fleshman – passed away at her home, March 8, 2025, in Richmond Hill, GA, where she moved to in 2011 from Charleston, WV, to be closer to her children and grandchildren.

Born on April 1, 1949, in Huntington, WV, to the late Joseph and Catherine Lawhon.  She may have been born on Aprils Fool’s Day, but she was no kind of fool.  She knew the importance of family, the value of friendships, loved unconditionally, and gave without expectation.

Strength, dedication, and compassion is what defined her 39 years in health care. Her career began in 1971, as a graduate of St Mary’s Medical Center School of Medical Imaging, with a degree in Radiologic Technology.  She started as a Radiologic Technologist, working midnight shifts at Charleston’s General Hospital, and went on to work in the Lithotripsy department, helping to break up kidney stones and simultaneously began taking nursing classes. In 1991, she graduated with honors from the University of Charleston as Registered Nurse and signed on to be part of a beloved team of nurses on 4-South at CAMC Memorial Hospital until she retired in 2010, having earned a unit “Award of Excellence in Professional Nursing,” and the nickname “SARGE”.

If you would have ever asked her what was her greatest accomplishment was or what she was most proud of, her answer would not have been her high academic scores, her degrees, her impressive career … Okay, she may have said the Betty Crocker award she received in High School despite being a terrible cook (she really was) … but, her real answer would have been her family, especially her children and grandchildren.

She was married to Albert “Al” Lyle Fleshman, III for 30 years, he liked his steak well done and his turkey dry, a perfect match. It was complications from diabetes that caused his passing on March 24, 2000 that cut their marriage short. Together they had two children, their son, a retired USAF Veteran, Albert Lyle Fleshman IV in 1970, and their their daughter in 1974, Catherine Nicole “Nikki” Haborak, Marshall University Graduate, currently working as Geologist for the Georgia State Department of Natural Resources. Albert blessed them with their first granddaughter, US Army Pvt. 1^st class Brianna Gail Fleshman, on April 18, 1993. Nikki married her husband Kevin on June 5, 2004, and gave her three more grandkids: Nathaniel Albert “Nate” on April 22, 2005, Mason Wesley on June 5, 2007, and Adalyn Isabelle on January 12, 2011 (who she got to see come into this world).

Jeanette would spend her remaining time here doing what she did best, being a source of unconditional love, support, friendship, wisdom, and guidance; being the first person to call when a grandkid was sick or injured; and doing the most important thing of all, spoiling her grandkids and being a Mawmaw!

While we mourn her loss, she will be welcomed in Heavan by those that proceeded before her. These are just a few of the many: her husband, Al; her parents, Joseph and Catherine Lawhon; her sisters, Linda Casto (Late Charles), and JoAnn Bowyer; her brother, Richard (Juanita); her sister-in-law, Francis Gentry (Howard); and her brother-in-law, David Fleshman (Janet).  But it was her granddaughter, Brianna, that illness stole away from her on her birthday, April 1, 2014, that was the first one she ran to embrace (sorry Dad)!

Jeanette will be there waiting for those that she left behind: her son, Albert, her daughter, Nikki, her son-law, Kevin, her grandkids, Nate, Mason, and Adalyn, brother, Ronald Lawhon (Linda), brother, Ira “Rick” Lawhon, her brother in-law, Richard “Rick” Lawhon (Renee), her sister in-law, Ruth (Jack) Powers, the many nieces, nephews, and cousins she loved so dearly, along with her many lifelong and dear friends, their children, and even her children’s friends that she treated like her own (too many to all mention by name).

Nikki and Al would like to especially thank Linda Retelski, Nora McQuain, Connie Goins, Rick Fleshman, Karen Estep, Dianna Branham, and Jennifer Jarrell for helping them get Mom back home to West Virgina, and for all their advice, support, and guidance setting up her services. Thank you to the CAMC Nurses Honor Guard and to Heidi Edwards for singing to her one last time.

In lieu of flowers, please donate pet food, blankets, or other needed supplies to your local pet shelter or favorite animal charity in her honor. She would have loved that, as strays often found their way to her door.

A Service to Honor the Life of Jeanette will be held at 1 p.m. on Friday, March 14, 2025, at Snodgrass Funeral Home, South Charleston. Burial will be in Graceland Memorial Park, South Charleston. Family and friends may visit 1 hour prior to the service.

Memories of Jeanette may be shared by http://snodgrassfuneral.com and selecting the obituary. Snodgrass Funeral Home, South Charleston, is handling the arrangements.