Chap­ter II — The mem­oir of Fleem­ing Jenkin paints a vivid pic­ture of a man whose curios­i­ty and pas­sion extend­ed far beyond his engi­neer­ing career. His con­nec­tion to rur­al life offered a peace­ful yet stim­u­lat­ing con­trast to his aca­d­e­m­ic and pro­fes­sion­al oblig­a­tions. Time spent among vil­lagers revealed his nat­ur­al ease in embrac­ing dif­fer­ent lifestyles, and he approached rur­al cus­toms not with detach­ment but with gen­uine admi­ra­tion. These vis­its were more than retreats—they were oppor­tu­ni­ties to explore a world ground­ed in tra­di­tion and com­mu­ni­ty. His pres­ence was marked by thought­ful obser­va­tion, respect, and an eager­ness to learn from every­day life out­side the city’s rig­or.

Fleeming’s devo­tion to the the­atre added anoth­er lay­er to his char­ac­ter, reveal­ing a side both emo­tion­al­ly expres­sive and intel­lec­tu­al­ly refined. He didn’t just attend plays—he stud­ied them, inter­pret­ed them, and occa­sion­al­ly per­formed them with skill and pas­sion. His the­atri­cal inter­ests weren’t casu­al hob­bies but informed exten­sions of his cre­ative mind. He could eval­u­ate struc­ture, pac­ing, and dia­logue with a clar­i­ty few ama­teurs pos­sessed. Yet what made his engage­ment unique was the blend of tech­ni­cal cri­tique and emo­tion­al immer­sion. He under­stood how a play worked and, at the same time, let him­self be moved by its sto­ry­telling. This dual­i­ty made him not just a par­tic­i­pant, but a true con­nois­seur of dra­ma.

The ama­teur the­atre he helped estab­lish with friends reflect­ed his abil­i­ty to merge per­son­al inter­est with social engage­ment. Togeth­er, they trans­formed infor­mal gath­er­ings into well-orga­nized pro­duc­tions, with Fleem­ing often tak­ing the lead in direct­ing or act­ing. His prepa­ra­tion for roles was marked by dedication—each ges­ture and word con­sid­ered with care. The rehearsals were not just for per­for­mance but also for fel­low­ship, deep­en­ing the bonds between par­tic­i­pants. These moments of shared cre­ativ­i­ty became a cher­ished part of his life. His engi­neer­ing pre­ci­sion extend­ed to the stage, where he brought struc­ture and clar­i­ty with­out damp­en­ing the fun. The result was the­atre that felt per­son­al yet pro­fes­sion­al, play­ful yet deeply mean­ing­ful.

The chap­ter under­scores how the­atre served as a space for bal­ance and joy in Fleeming’s life. While his work in sci­ence demand­ed log­ic and order, the stage gave him room to explore imag­i­na­tion and emo­tion. The con­trast didn’t divide him—it com­plet­ed him. Even in the roles he played, one sens­es the engineer’s mind and the artist’s heart work­ing in har­mo­ny. His pas­sion was con­ta­gious, draw­ing oth­ers into the world of per­for­mance with warmth and enthu­si­asm. The­atre was not just enter­tain­ment for him; it was a form of connection—a way to expe­ri­ence oth­ers’ per­spec­tives while express­ing his own. This out­let allowed his intel­lect to remain sharp with­out becom­ing rigid.

What stands out most in this chap­ter is Fleeming’s abil­i­ty to invest ful­ly in what­ev­er he pur­sued. Whether orga­niz­ing drainage plans or direct­ing a com­e­dy, he brought the same blend of seri­ous­ness and delight. He didn’t see work and leisure as sep­a­rate domains but as par­al­lel paths of ful­fill­ment. The joy he found in stage­craft spilled over into his pro­fes­sion­al life, and his method­i­cal think­ing made him a bet­ter col­lab­o­ra­tor in artis­tic endeav­ors. Friends admired his abil­i­ty to tran­si­tion effort­less­ly from one realm to anoth­er, always giv­ing his best. His the­atre work wasn’t an escape—it was an exten­sion of his inner life. This abil­i­ty to blend roles—artist, engi­neer, citizen—made him not only respect­ed but deeply beloved.

The com­mu­nal nature of Fleeming’s the­atri­cal pur­suits also revealed his instinct for lead­er­ship root­ed in col­lab­o­ra­tion rather than com­mand. He knew how to draw out the best in oth­ers with­out over­shad­ow­ing them. His direc­tion felt less like instruc­tion and more like invi­ta­tion. By nur­tur­ing tal­ent in his cir­cle and set­ting a high stan­dard for per­for­mance, he ele­vat­ed the ama­teur pro­duc­tions into some­thing mem­o­rable. He cre­at­ed an envi­ron­ment where every­one felt essen­tial, and that inclu­siv­i­ty made each suc­cess a shared one. Through the­atre, he demon­strat­ed that joy could be struc­tured, and excel­lence could be wel­com­ing. In this har­mo­ny, Fleem­ing found a last­ing source of hap­pi­ness and mean­ing.

In sum, this chap­ter presents a man whose love of beau­ty, learn­ing, and fel­low­ship informed every cor­ner of his life. He remained ground­ed in tra­di­tion while open to artis­tic dis­cov­ery, and his time on stage became a reflec­tion of his deep­er char­ac­ter. Through per­for­mance, he shared his joy, sharp­ened his mind, and brought oth­ers togeth­er in laugh­ter and reflec­tion. His sto­ry reminds us that the rich­est lives are those in which intel­lect and imag­i­na­tion are not rivals but part­ners. And in that spir­it, Fleem­ing Jenkin’s lega­cy endures—not only in cir­cuits and cables but in the mem­o­ries of those who joined him in the sim­ple, pow­er­ful act of telling sto­ries.