Kay Fleck receives newly minted Red Coat
(Talk of the Town photos by Jennifer Zartman Romano) Above, newest Red Coat Kay Fleck is congratulated by 1977 Old Settlers Day Association president Keith Dowell. Below, 1987 Old Settlers Day Association president John Lefever helps Kay Fleck into her newly minted Red Coat.
By Jennifer Zartman Romano
A much-beloved member of the community, the Old Settlers Day Association Red Coats selected Kay Fleck to be the newest member of their group -- presenting her with a scarlet jacket of her own during their annual dinner Tuesday evening at the Eagles Nest Event Center.
Fleck, the former executive director of Passages Inc. and long-time community volunteer, was selected by ballots submitted by all living Red Coat honorees. Only the fourth woman to receive the honor in 108 years, Fleck is in good company with Jacie Worrick, Laura Lefever and Patricia McNagny. McNagny was the first woman selected to be a Red Coat and served as president of the OSDA in 1997. 
Born in Rapid City, South Dakota, Fleck spent her childhood in the Black Hills of South Dakota and in Wyoming. She was a 1963 graduate of Hot Springs High School. A graduate of Indiana University, she met and married college classmate Columbia City Mayor Jim Fleck in 1967. The couple moved to Fleck's hometown of Columbia City in 1969.
"I really didn't know a girl who grew up in South Dakota and Wyoming could be a Red Coat," Fleck said after receiving her jacket during the dinner, but said that she was honored for the opportunity to serve as the community's newest Red Coat, an honor that will require her leadership as president of the association in four years.
Fleck is a member of the Columbia City United Methodist Church, participated in the founding of the Whitley County Community Foundation and serves on the board of directors for Parkview Whitley Hospital. Additionally, she's a member of Master Gardeners, ARC of Indiana and the Whitley County Arts Partnership.