Douglass High School

Horace Hugh Ashby Jr., a retired educator who was known for his stern but compassionate nature, died of a stroke Thursday at Sinai Hospital. The longtime Catonsville resident was 74. Dr. Ashby was born in Baltimore and raised on Harlem Avenue. After graduating from Frederick Douglass High School in 1951, he entered what is now Morgan State University, where he earned a bachelor's degree in psychology in 1956. In 1957, he earned a bachelor's degree in education from what is now Coppin State University, and in 1975 he earned a master's degree in education administration and supervision from Morgan State.

Jacques Melvin LeBrun, 69, advertising executiveJacques "Jack" Melvin LeBrun, a retired advertising executive, died of a heart attack Thursday at home in Timonium. He was 69.After serving in the Navy during the Korean War, he joined Reuben H. Donnelly Advertising Corp., a national firm later acquired by Yellow Book. After 29 years, he retired as manager for the mid-Atlantic region in 1990.The Baltimore native graduated from Dundalk High School in 1947, and enlisted in the Navy in 1950. An aviation electronics and radar expert, Mr. LeBrun flew many missions as a crew member on a P2V, or spy plane.

Abdella J. Campbell, a 34-year teacher and principal in Baltimore public schools who served as president of a retired teachers' organization, died of heart failure Thursday at Bon Secours Hospital in Baltimore. He was 92.Mr. Campbell started as a gym teacher in the city school system in 1938, rising to become an assistant principal of Western High School, assistant principal of Pimlico Junior High School and principal of Garrison Junior High School. He retired from the Garrison post in 1972.

William L. Ames Jr., 70, postal workerWilliam L. Ames Jr., a retired postal worker and lifelong Baltimorean, died of cancer Sunday at his West Baltimore home. He was 70.He joined the U.S. Postal Service in 1951 and retired in 1983. He later worked as a courier for First National Bank of Maryland from 1986 to 1993.Mr. Ames graduated from Douglass High School in 1945 and attended then-Morgan State College.He enjoyed listening to jazz, playing cards and reading. He was a member of the National Alliance of Postal and Federal Employees, the Forest Park Senior Center and the Frederick Douglass High School Alumni Association.

The Rev. James E. Hodges Sr. found one of his callings in the late 1940s, when he worked part-time for a Baltimore druggist while still a student at Douglass High School.Seven years later, he became the first African-American graduate of the School of Pharmacy at the University of Maryland at Baltimore, according to a school official.Mr. Hodges died of a heart attack Tuesday at his longtime home in the 1900 block of E. Belvedere Ave. He was 65.Mr. Hodges also earned a master's degree in urban planning from Morgan State University in 1975 and a doctorate in behavioral pharmacology from Union Institute in Cincinnati in 1991.

THELMA Dorsey Jackson learned about "cooperative learning" and "peer tutoring" back in 1916. That was the year she entered public school in Sykesville at the tender age of 5.Kids didn't start school that young in 1916, but Thelma, from a family of 12 children, had older brothers who could take her under their wings. Children from seven grades gathered around a stove in the one-room "colored" school. By necessity, older children taught younger children.Textbooks were hand-me-downs from the nearby white school, but Jackson says, "We really didn't know the difference.

Naomi Jenkins-Jones, a physics instructor at Douglass High School who was known for her simple goal of "pursuit of teaching excellence," died Wednesday of a heart attack at the University of Maryland Medical Center.Mrs. Jones, 50, of Reservoir Hill was trained as a chemist and had taught physics and science at the West Baltimore school since 1993."She loved making the difference. She had a relentless pursuit to be the best and for her students to be the best," said her sister, Devora Jenkins-Whiting of Baltimore.

DURING Women's History Month, it's easy to list famous women, but many lesser-known ones who have had a significant impact on our culture are often forgotten. One such person with Baltimore roots is Anne Wiggins Brown, a product of Douglass High School and a Presstman Street rowhouse, who with her classically trained voice helped pave the way for African-Americans on Broadway in the 1930s.It was Ms. Brown who put "Bess" into the title of the opera George Gershwin intended to call "Porgy." Gershwin was well into writing the music for an opera based on DuBose Heyward's novel "Porgy" when Ms. Brown, still a student at the Juilliard School and hoping to land a role in the new work, wrote to the composer asking for an audition.

Margaret Loggins, 84, homemakerMargaret Loggins, a homemaker and lifelong Baltimorean, died of complications of a stroke Saturday at Sinai Hospital. She was 84.The former Margaret Briscoe, who graduated from Douglass High School in 1930, married Ernest Loggins in 1943.Services will be held at 11 a.m. today at Kingdom Hall of Jehovah's Witnesses, 901 W. Mulberry St.Survivors include her husband; two sons, Donald Rice of Washington and Ernest Loggins Jr. of Baltimore; two daughters, Dolores Jones and Ernestine Baldwin, both of Baltimore; a sister, Alverta Parker of Brooklyn, N.Y.; 19 grandchildren; and 11 great-grandchildren.

Alma Taylor Thomas, a physical education teacher at several city public schools for nearly 50 years who was born and lived in the same East Baltimore rowhouse for 85 years, died Sunday of cancer at Good Samaritan Nursing Center. She was 92.Mrs. Thomas was an instructor in the city school system from the mid-1920s until 1972, teaching at Frederick Douglass High School, Dunbar High School and the former Cherry Hill Junior High School.As a physical education teacher, Mrs. Thomas believed in making her students as well conditioned as possible.

Norvice G. Penny, an educator who later was director of human relations for Baltimore County Public Schools and who worked tirelessly to improve race and community relations as well as the quality of education for all students, died of congestive heart failure Sept. 18 at Northwest Hospital Center. The longtime Lochearn resident was 76. "I would give Norvice the credit for ushering Baltimore County schools into diversity and minority recognition and providing full equality to all students and the broader community.

Second of two parts The different-colored uniforms tell the story. They converge at Mondawmin Mall from Frederick Douglass High School, just a few blocks away and connected with a walkway built over the Gwynns Falls Parkway. They come from Carver, 10 blocks farther south, and from high schools from northwest to northeast and south to north. It's a transit hub for 11 bus lines and the subway, and a daily afternoon meeting spot for teens heading home from school, their competing white, green, blue and orange shirts filling the parking lot and the bus depots, many milling about waiting for the mall's afternoon curfew to end at 4 p.m. The place also is a meeting spot for officers from three agencies - the Maryland Transit Administration and city and school police - who try to keep the kids moving while watching for trouble.

There was Michael Steele on national TV the other day, slamming Baltimore's Frederick Douglass High School for failing black kids, the same ones he failed after making a dramatic personal vow three years ago to get the school fixed. And there was Doc Cheatham on local radio yesterday, announcing he'd gotten the Maryland Historical Society to take down a monkey mural because he thought the stripes on the animals' heads looked like cornrows. You have to wonder which America needs more: public figures who raise real issues but do nothing about them, or those who get silly things done.

City schools chief Andres Alonso publicly asked Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Steele last night to apologize for making disparaging remarks about Frederick Douglass High School on national television. A spokesman for Steele, Maryland's former lieutenant governor, did not immediately respond to requests for comment. In February 2006, Steele visited Douglass in West Baltimore, holding it up as an example of the failures of urban education and making a personal commitment to turn the school around.

Ken Jackson, the veteran Baltimore radio broadcaster who is host of In the Mood, a weekly three-hour Big Band radio show that airs over WYPR on Friday evenings, called me the other day and, in the course of our discussion, mentioned the name of Chuck Richards. "Did you know that Chuck sang with Fletcher Henderson?" said Jackson. I said I never knew that. In fact, I knew nothing about his past during the glory days when Americans fell in love, swayed, and jumped and jived to the music of the Big Bands.

Lewis Herbert Richardson Jr., an educator in the Baltimore school system for more than three decades, died Jan. 25 of Parkinson's disease at Augsburg Lutheran Home in Lochearn. The longtime Northwest Baltimore resident was 80. Dr. Richardson was born in Baltimore in 1928, the eldest of four children, and graduated in 1946 from Douglass High School. He earned a bachelor's degree in mathematics and biology in 1950 from Lincoln University in Pennsylvania. He later earned a master's degree in administration and supervision from Loyola College, and in 1982 earned a doctorate in education from the University of Maryland.

The retired Army officer who has been chief of staff to Baltimore schools chief Andres Alonso has resigned. Maj. Gen. Bennie Williams is leaving Dec. 31 "to pursue personal interests," according to a statement yesterday. Spokeswoman Edie House described Williams as a "quiet but effective" leader whose military experience brought organizational structure to city schools. House said he helped implement decentralized school funding and oversaw back-to-school logistics. "It's hard to find people with his integrity and dedication," said Alonso, who hired Williams in the summer of 2007.

Today, the first day of the 2008-2009 school year, is the most important day of the year. And hands down, it is the most important first day in years for Baltimore City Public Schools. Our kids are making historic progress, and we as a school system are in the midst of unprecedented change. As never before, we have the opportunity, momentum and responsibility to turn the city schools into the system of great schools our 81,300 great kids who arrive at school today - with pencils, notebooks and new energy - deserve.

George Thomas Wood, a retired high school science teacher, died of an aneurism May 13 at Sinai Hospital. The Mondawmin resident was 82. Born in Baltimore, he was a 1944 graduate of Frederick Douglass High School, where he was a member of the track team. He earned a biology degree at Morgan State University in 1948 and belonged to the Kappa Alpha Psi Fraternity. He studied embryology and pre-medical studies at Howard University, and while in graduate school, he met his future wife, the former Lorraine McDowell.

David Lofton, 17, of the 500 block of N. Fremont Ave., a Frederick Douglass High School student, has been arrested and charged with attempted murder in the stabbing Monday afternoon of a fellow student in a school bathroom, police said. Police were initially trying to determine whether the injury was accidental or intentional. The victim, whose name was not released, was treated at University of Maryland Medical Center. His condition was not available, but he was expected to survive.