Jayne McKenney Meredith dies

Thoroughbred breeder attended 50 consecutive Preakness Stakes

Jayne McKenney Meredith, who assisted in the operation of a Baltimore County horse breeding farm and attended 50 consecutive Preakness Stakes, died of Alzheimer's disease complications June 26 at the Blakehurst Retirement Community in Towson. She was 90 and had lived in Kingsville.

Born Jayne McKenney in Centreville, where she was raised, she attended Western Maryland College for two years and then Bard Avon Secretarial School, from which she graduated in 1941. She worked for five years as a private secretary at the McCormick spices plant on Light Street.

She married Dr. G.G. Meredith, a retired equine veterinarian, in 1943. They settled in Kingsville, where they owned and operated two thoroughbred breeding farms. Mrs. Meredith's horses won many races under her stable's name, Merry Acres Farm. She attended 50 consecutive Preakness Stakes — her last was 1997 — nine Kentucky Derbys and an Arc de Triomphe in Paris.

She is survived by her husband of 67 years; a son, George Meredith Jr. of Cockeysville; and a granddaughter. A son, Dr. Donald Meredith, also a veterinarian, died in 2005.

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