May 03, 1996|By Sylvia Badger
THERE'S SOMETHING pretty special about the annual Shock Trauma Gala. Perhaps it's because so many of the guests, who are doctors, nurses, emergency medical services personnel and former patients, have shared experiences. Even the walls of the Towson Center were covered with with giant billboards showing the importance of teamwork among members of the University of Maryland Medical Center's Shock Trauma unit.
This year's event, which raised a walloping $257,000 for the center, attracted more than 1,200 people to the Towson Center, where they hobnobbed with Cardinal William H. Keeler, who gave the invocation; WBAL-TV anchor Donna Hamilton; Dr. Morton I. Rapoport, president and CEO of the University Medical System, and his wife, Rosalie; John W. Ashworth III, director of Shock Trauma Center, and his wife, Sandra; Stewart and Marlene Greenebaum, he's the medical system's board chairman; Janet and Francis X. Kelly, he chairs the Center's Board of Visitors; and Baltimore County Fire Chief Allen A. Thomason. Unfortunately, the guest of honor, Dr. Ricardo Martinez, national highway traffic safety administration, was unable to attend because of a family emergency.
The most touching part of the program was when James Greenberg was reunited with the 21 men and women who saved his life on Feb. 27, 1995. He'd left BWI Airport in an awful ice storm, and soon, his car became part of a 23-car pile-up. As he got out of the car, another car was careening toward him, so he jumped over the retaining wall for safety, not knowing he was on an elevated section of the road. He plunged 50 feet to the bank of the Patapsco River, sustaining multiple injuries. After months of medical treatment, he's back at work.
Brady bats a different ball
Heard it through the grapevine: Recently, tennis players at Bare Hills darn near dropped their rackets when Orioles center fielder Brady Anderson walked in recently to play a game of tennis with Mary Pierce, one of the top-ranked women players in the world. Even a most notable foursome made up of tennis great Pam Shriver and her partner Steve Painter, Bethlehem Steel, and 1st Mariner Bank's Ed Hale and Baltimore tennis star Elise Burgin, stopped to chat.
Werner Kunz, general manager of Harbor Court Hotel, has plans when he returns from London where he'll be among those greeting Pride of Baltimore II's arrival there. As soon as he returns, he'll be leading a three-mile round-trip "power walk" to Fells Point from the Harbor Court every Tuesday morning, beginning May 14. The walk is open to anyone who is there at 7: 30 a.m.
The walk is free and so is the espresso when you return.
Honoring Fallen Heroes
Four Maryland police officers and two firefighters will be honored at the 11th annual Fallen Heroes Memorial ceremony in Dulaney Valley Memorial Gardens from 1 to 2: 30 p.m. today. John Arminger Jr., Dulaney Valley Memorial Gardens owner, has invited heroes' families' to the services, which include a procession of honor guards, VIP speeches, and fly-overs by Baltimore and State Police helicopters.
This year's Fallen Heroes are Leroy J. Cropper Jr., Ocean City volunteer firefighter who died of a heart attack battling a blaze; Joseph T. Lanzi, a state trooper who died when his car crashed on a wet road while on his way to assist a Cecil County sheriff deputy; Timothy C. Minor, Charles County Sheriff's Department officer killed when a van collided with his motorcycle as he responded to a call; John J. Novabilski, a Prince George's County police officer shot to death while while he sat in his patrol car providing security to a Landover restaurant and liquor store; Edward A. Plank, a state trooper slain while writing a speeding ticket on the lower Eastern Shore; and Eric D. Schaefer, a Baltimore City firefighter who died in the line of duty when a stone wall of the Clipper Mill Industrial Park collapsed on him.
