Karen Naomi Connolly-Lawless, who helped run the former Connolly's Seafood, her family's restaurant and a Baltimore institution for 87 years, died Wednesday at home of lung cancer. She was 61 and lived in Westminster.
Born in Baltimore the only child of Naomi Bond Connolly and Sterling L. Connolly, her first love was art. She graduated from the Maryland Institute College of Art and became a freelance commercial artist, specializing in graphic design for companies throughout Baltimore.
"Before computers, she was a master at retouching photos; she was very precise," said her daughter, Karene Smith of Westminster.
Mrs. Connolly-Lawless was a successful businesswoman in her 30s when her mother became ill, and her parents asked for help running the family business at Baltimore's Pier 5. She was torn.
"She was sad to see that part of her life go," Mrs. Smith said. "She was very good at what she did and was very well-known for it. She had to give it up to take care of her responsibilities. But it wasn't where her heart was."
Nevertheless, she enjoyed running the family enterprise and infused her artistic talent into everything she did, her daughter said. On Halloween, she made elaborate costumes for Connolly's wait staff, re-creating characters from The Wizard of Oz and Alice in Wonderland.
"It got so involved," Mrs. Smith said. "People would be changing costumes every shift, and customers came just to see the show."
Later, Mrs. Connolly-Lawless and her daughter opened a small-crafts business at a farmers' market in Westminster, selling flowers and sculptures of fairies made out of polymer clay.
"She loved that," Mrs. Smith said. "We did it for six or seven years, traveling from Massachusetts to Kentucky selling these fairies."
Mrs. Connolly-Lawless also enjoyed dancing. While relatives studied tap and jazz, she took up Polynesian dancing. She earned money to help pay college tuition by performing, Mrs. Smith said.
Two years ago, shortly after she was diagnosed with cancer, she married Douglas M. Lawless, whom she had known since she was a teenager. The couple met at her parents' restaurant, where Mr. Lawless worked as a server.
"We had always been married; we just made it legal," said Mr. Lawless, who is a shuttle driver for an auto dealer.
Mrs. Connolly-Lawless was known for practical jokes, including one she played on former Mayor William Donald Schaefer, a friend of the family, her daughter said.
