Church Members

Margaret F. Harris, a longtime member of Gillis Memorial Christian Community Church who sang with several gospel choirs, died Sept. 3 of cancer at Season's Hospice at Northwest Hospital Center. The Randallstown resident was 81. The daughter of a mason and a gospel singer, Margaret Frances Wells was born in Ottawa, Ill., and moved in 1935 with her family to a Carey Street home. After graduating in 1948 from Frederick Douglass High School, she studied radiology and in the early 1950s worked as an X-ray technician for the Baltimore City Health Department After marrying James E. Harris Sr., a postal worker, the couple became active members of Gillis Memorial Christian Community Church, where she was a member of the deaconess board and also a communion stewardess.

Inside Arnolia United Methodist Church, located at Joppa and Oakleigh roads, is an exact replica of the building complete with the steeple and cross which rises high over the church, dozens of windows, six porches with steps and even the corrals for the trash cans in the rear. The church building was built in stages with the sanctuary, the final section completed in1968 but the replica was constructed this year. It all started when church member Mike Pfeifer helped to build a train garden at the Jacksonville Senior Center in Baltimore County.

I just finished reading Mary Tilghman's article "Church members vote to become Catholic" in the Feb. 27 issue of the Catonsville Times. The subject of this article is intriguing, to say the least. I've lived in the Catonsville community for over 50 years and teach history at a nearby high school so the news that the congregants of St. Timothy Episcopal Church have voted to join the Roman Catholic Church was indeed surprising. However, for all the information related to the nature of the congregational vote, pastoral support, and future plans, nowhere in the article was a very crucial piece of information mentioned: Why was this decision made?

Helen M. Belz, a homemaker, died of heart failure Saturday at her Lutherville home. She was 106. Born Helen Mary Rosendale in Baltimore, she lived on Hollins Street and was a graduate of St. Martin's Academy. She was the great-granddaughter of Henry Rosendale Sr., who founded the Rosendale Furniture Co., which crafted the pews and choir loft in St. Alphonsus Church and donated one of its 15 bells and a stained-glass window. "While working as a secretary for [United States Fidelity and Guaranty Co.]

Members of the Church of Jesus Power testified before the Howard County Board of Appeals last night in an attempt to get a special exception that would allow them to hold religious services in a single-family home in Ellicott City. Supporters testified for nearly three hours before opponents took the stand shortly before 10:30 p.m. The church has pledged that its membership will not exceed 15 people and it will hold services only during the day Sunday. Neighbors worry their property values will decline.

If you go to the Bethel African Methodist Episcopal Church on Druid Hill Avenue, don't expect to sit quietly in your pew and watch the service.The Rev. Frank Madison Reid III won't let you. He makes sure that everyone is fully engaged.That means that six times during a nearly three-hour service recently, all 1,500 worshipers -- "brothers and sisters" -- were urged to hold hands with or hug their pew neighbors and exchange the Lord's blessings. "Only holy hugs!" he warned.It means that when collection time came, all 1,500 made their way, singing and clapping, to the altar to give money.

Mammie Lee Davis, a retired professional seamstress and tax preparer, died Saturday of renal failure at Gilchrist Hospice Care in Towson. She was 78. Mammie Lee Benjamin was born and raised in Florence, S.C. She was a 1951 graduate of Wilson High School. She worked for Wentworth Manufacturing in Florence, and in 1955, she married Sam Davis Jr. Two years later, the couple settled in Baltimore, and Mrs. Davis went to work as a professional seamstress at Raleigh Manufacturers Inc. on Wicomico Street.

CANADIAN PHYSICIAN Sir William Osler opined, "No bubble is so iridescent or floats longer than that blown by the successful teacher."His remark fits Margaret Haugh of Calvary Evangelical Lutheran Church in Lisbon.After 34 years as a Sunday school teacher for Calvary, Haugh, known as Miss Margaret, retired from her Sunday school duties in June.Church members honored her at a festive celebration, which she called a "joyous day." She claims to have had many helping hands in her endeavor."When I look into the faces of Calvary's little and young ones, I see hope for a brighter, better world tomorrow," she said.

He never kept count, but Waldron Patch estimates he has sent 25,000 get-well cards to fellow members of Harundale Presbyterian Church and their loved ones since the early 1970s. And he's still at it.Every Sunday, Mr. Patch, 90, picks up a new prayer list from the church bulletin and adds new names to his mailing list. "He reads each message to make sure it's appropriate for the person he sends it to," said his wife Helen, 82. He even sends cards to church members while he is on vacation, she added.

Eight-year-old Christopher Deal knows how to play Santa Claus.Dressed in a red sweat suit and a Christmas cap, he smiled broadly and handed out stockings full of Christmas treats to children at the Westminster soup kitchen yesterday."

I just finished reading Mary Tilghman's article "Church members vote to become Catholic" in the Feb. 27 issue of the Catonsville Times. The subject of this article is intriguing, to say the least. I've lived in the Catonsville community for over 50 years and teach history at a nearby high school so the news that the congregants of St. Timothy Episcopal Church have voted to join the Roman Catholic Church was indeed surprising. However, for all the information related to the nature of the congregational vote, pastoral support, and future plans, nowhere in the article was a very crucial piece of information mentioned: Why was this decision made?

An upstairs room at Asbury Methodist Church is stuffed with memorabilia and documents of the Annapolis church, from faded photos of generations of church leaders to mugs commemorating the recent 200th anniversary. The filing cabinets that line a back wall in this informal exhibit space contain a trove of church records - births, deaths and marriages among them. The glass cabinets elsewhere in the room hold other items, including a tea kettle that a century ago sat on a wood-fired stove in the church, used to boil water for tea for the pastor and his visitors.

Sara O. Leizear, a former housekeeper and active church member, died Monday from complications of a stroke at the Broadmead retirement community in Cockeysville. She was 80. The former Sara Marguerite Onsel was born and raised in Rising Sun, Ohio, where she graduated from high school in 1949. She earned a bachelor's degree in education in 1953 from Bowling Green State University in Bowling Green, Ohio. She taught elementary school from 1953 to 1954 in Worthington, Ohio, and from 1956 to 1958 was a day care teacher in Columbus.

The inaugural Glen Mar Golf Classic benefit for Grassroots attracted a full field at Timbers at Troy Golf Course, in Elkridge, and raised more than $16,000. All of the proceeds from the event, including sponsorships, silent auction and other fundraising activities were donated to Grassroots. Sponsors included Corporate Sponsor Brickman, Silver Sponsor Howard County General Hospital, Hole In One Sponsor Pat and Don Lee, Putting Contest Sponsor Cel and Dave Beck. Hole sponsors and other contributors also supported the event.

He ate at the church pantry in Ellicott City, but something snapped, and police said that on Thursday he came to  St. Peter's Episcopal Church and shot a reverend and an administrative assistant. He then returned to nearby woods and took his own life. Here is today's story by reporter Scott Dance [ read complete coverage here ]: Douglas Franklin Jones was a regular visitor to the food pantry at St. Peter's Episcopal Church in Ellicott City, living just yards away in a wooded area behind a house owned by the church.

The congregation and leadership of Mountain Christian Church have been exceedingly generous with Anna's House of their time, talent and treasure. Anna's House was recently selected as one of the beneficiaries of the Christmas Eve service special offering and received $12,000 earmarked specifically for client assistance funding to help homeless women and their children reach self-sufficiency. These funds will pay for things not traditionally covered by existing grants such as help with car repairs for clients so they can obtain and maintain employment, camp scholarships and special recreation opportunities for the children, as well as a variety of other individualized needs that arise throughout the year, Torri Dietrich, director of Anna's House, said.

The smells of coffee, punch and cookies often greet worshipers at the fellowship hour after church services. How does the hearty, garlicky smell of bologna and cheese sandwiches grab you?That's what the members of Elkridge Baptist Church smell and see every week during their fellowship hour. That's what they're smelling as they construct sandwiches and place them in bags, making lunches. Completing the lunches are cookies and chips when they're available.The bag lunch project began in December 1991, when a small group decided that rather than getting together over coffee, they would gather over food preparation tables and work to make lunches for Baltimore's homeless.

Some church members are angry at plans to redevelop their West Baltimore neighborhood without including social service facilities suggested by the churches.About 70 members of the churches surrounding the George P. Murphy Homes along Pennsylvania Avenue met yesterday with developers hired by the city to raze and redevelop the high-rise public housing units.Church members said city leaders solicited their input and support for plans to build single-family and townhouses on the site. In exchange, church leaders said, they expected the city to incorporate their plans to operate facilities such as day care centers and shelters.

The Rev. Dr. Edythe Cherry Marshall, the first female pastor to be installed in the Presbytery of Baltimore who had recently retired as minister of Hope Presbyterian Church in Arbutus, died Friday at the University of Maryland Medical Center from complications of a fall. The Catonsville resident was 66. Dr. Marshall retired Jan. 8 after having pastored Hope Presbyterian Church for 38 years. "Everybody is speechless. The blessing in all of this is that we had a wonderful celebration — 269 attended the dinner and church was full that morning — the good part was that we were able to tell her how much we loved her," said E. Farrell Maddox, the church's organist and choir director.

A log cabin home that dates back to 1790 and is now owned by Bethany Community Church has been nearly restored and the project was unveiled to the community last month. The cabin, known as the Caleb Carr House and named after its original owner, was part of 24 acres of land donated to Bethany Community Church in the 1990s by the sons of the late James Smith, James Smith II and Winslow Smith. As part of their donation, James and Winslow Smith required that the church restore the cabin.