Aurora

On February 15, 2003, AURORA I. MILLER of Severna Park and Millersville, MD; beloved wife of the late Matthew F. Miller; devoted mother of the late Joan Kwiatkowski and Matthew B. Miller; also survived by five grandchildren; nine great-grandchildren; and one great-great granddaughter. Friends may call at the BARRANCO & SONS P.A. SEVERNA PARK FUNERAL HOME, Ritchie Hwy at Robinson Rd on Thursday from 3 to 5 and 7 to 9 P.M. A Mass of Christian Burial will be held on Friday 10 A.M. at Holy Trinity Church.

Sue Miller published her first novel, The Good Mother, in 1985 at the age of 42 to critical acclaim. With each successive novel, she has honed her skill as premiere cartographer of the gritty terrain of familial relationships, terrain she revisits in The World Below (Knopf, 275 pages, $25). Catherine Hubbard flees the trauma of divorce to her grandmother Georgia's home in Vermont. There, she begins to piece together her own life even as she uncovers the secrets of her dead grandmother's via a diary that reads as a life primer.

AURORA, Colo. - When people ask Mayor Paul E. Tauer where he's from, he uses "the D-word," even though his hometown is larger than Orlando, Fla., or Birmingham, Ala., or Newark, N.J. "We're overshadowed by the fact that we're immediately adjacent to what I always refer to as our suburb to the west - Denver," says Tauer, who has run Aurora for 14 years. Aurora is the biggest city in the United States you've probably never heard of, a city defined by what it is not. It is not Denver. Denver is over there.

Aurora Vernita Bransford, 91, science technician Aurora Vernita Bransford, a retired physical science technician, died April 6 of heart failure and other complications at Good Samaritan Hospital. She was 91 and lived in Baltimore. Aurora Dingus was born in Langston, Okla., and raised in Ed Taft, Okla. At 15, she enrolled at what is now Hampton University in Virginia, where she earned a degree in home economics. She then was a teacher in Texas, Virginia and Harford County. She married Hugh Bransford Jr. in Elkton in 1930.

It was six years ago when Dawn Cooper Barnes hesitantly went about forming a multicultural dance company. Now in its fifth season, the Aurora Dance Company has been a labor of love. "I put it together rather reluctantly," Barnes said. "But it has turned out to be one of the best things I have ever done." The modern dance company will present "Works in Progress," a fifth-anniversary spectacular, at 8 p.m. today and tomorrow at Howard Community College's Smith Theatre as part of Columbia Festival of the Arts.

It was six years ago when Dawn Cooper Barnes hesitantly went about forming a multicultural dance company. Now in its fifth season, the Aurora Dance Company has been a labor of love. "I put it together rather reluctantly," Barnes said. "But it has turned out to be one of the best things I have ever done." The modern dance company will present "Works in Progress," a fifth-anniversary spectacular, at 8 p.m. today and tomorrow at Howard Community College's Smith Theatre as part of Columbia Festival of the Arts.

BATTLE CREEK, Mich. -- Kellogg Co., the world's biggest cereal maker, said yesterday that it had agreed to sell its troubled Lender's Bagels business to Aurora Foods Inc. for $275 million -- 41 percent less than it paid for the brand in 1996.Kellogg said it will take a charge of $110 million, or 27 cents a share, in the third quarter related to the sale. Kellogg bought Lender's for $466 million in 1996 from Philip Morris Cos.' Kraft unit, and sales have fallen annually by double-digit percentages.

In Philadelphia 223 years ago today, a group of men pledged "our lives, our fortunes and our sacred honor" to launch an experiment in liberty."The declaration of American independence was the proud national instrument which first declared to nations that All Men are EQUAL," the Philadelphia newspaper Aurora reminded Americans 23 years after the declaration was adopted. It continued:"This illustrious and immortal memorial of American wisdom and American virtue . . . as scintillated over the whole Universe: -- this grand and indelible register of Man's Right and of the wrongs of a nation at the hands of a tyrant gave at once a deadly blow to every class of meretricious distinctions and absurd titles -- It established the right of men . . . to govern themselves."

Thursday's Howard County edition of The Sun incorrectly reported a concert date. Columbia Pro Cantare will perform the U.S. premiere of the "Celebration Mass" by Czech jazz composer Karel Ruzicka on May 2.The Sun regrets the error.Two members of Aurora Dance Company are warming up on the stage of Howard Community College's Smith Theater and talking about "South Park.""I haven't watched that show," says one."I get my mom to tape it for me," says the other. "I'm never home to see it. I'm always here!"

BOSTON -- At 38, Rudy Kluiber is frank in admitting what he's looking for: a few good stocks and one good woman. So far, he's doing great on the stocks.In fact, in a stock market where small is suddenly beautiful, there are many bigger names but few have been putting up bigger numbers.Over the last 12 months, Kluiber's State Street Research Aurora Fund was up a stunning 73.45 percent, ranking it No. 1 out of 424 similar small-cap funds tracked by Lipper Analytical Services. Year-to-date, Aurora ranks No. 2, up 55.01 percent -- this after a 56.57 percent gain in 1996.