Obituary of Nancye F. Markle

Nancye Fleming Markle, 101, of Blowing Rock, NC, died peacefully at home on April 8, 2011. Mrs. Markle was born March 15, 1910, in Winston-Salem, NC, to Calvin James Fleming and Nannie Bell Shouse Fleming. She grew up in Winston Salem and was a graduate of the Pratt Institute of Art & Design in New York City. Mrs. Markle opened The Nancye Fleming Shop, a very successful high fashion women's clothing shop in Alexandria, VA, well before women became a presence in business. She later was able to secure financing and build a building to house the shop in 1953. Her building remains occupied as a business to this day. Through her shop she met her future husband, Willard G. Markle, a jewelry designer, whose line, Castlecliff Jewelry, was sold in her shop. The Nancye Fleming Shop remained an institution in Alexandria until 1999. Throughout her life, Mrs. Markle was a very generous, yet often anonymous, benefactor of many charities whose missions are to improve the lives of underprivileged children. She had a particular interest in helping to provide a nurturing environment for children without families. Her generosity to the Alexander Children's Center in Charlotte, NC, included endowment of The Nancye Fleming Markle building and the installation of a sculpture of a little boy feeding farm animals on its grounds. Mrs. Markle was predeceased by her husband, Willard G. Markle, her two sisters Mary and Mildred, her brother James, and her namesake niece Nancye Fleming Splinter. She is survived by three nieces, Joan Renner of Southern Pines, NC; Susan Jocelyn of Alexandria, VA; and Mary Scott Christfield of Pisgah Forest, NC; and her beloved dog, Pocket, who will live with Susan in Alexandria. Mrs. Markle's nieces wish to recognize and thank the sisterhood of caregivers who became her de facto family in Blowing Rock. Angie Carver, Susan Engel, Pat Fox, Dot Grubbs, and Angie Swanson were a blessing to her in her final months. They are a very special group of women, known at their employer, Bayada Nurses, as The Dream Team. Thanks also to High Country Hospice for their loving care during her final weeks. And finally to Sue Harrison, the trusted caretaker of her properties for over 30 years in Blowing Rock, who was so much more than a caretaker, most heartfelt thanks. At her request, her body was cremated and her ashes will be scattered in locations of special meaning to her in her beloved Blowing Rock. Austin & Barnes Funeral Home of Boone, NC, handled the arrangements. Donations in her memory may be made to a children's charity of your choice. To live in the hearts of those you leave behind is not to die. "What A Woman!"