Family

THE ROLAND PARK Second Presbyterian Church looked absolutely stunning last Saturday for the wedding of Natalia Pia Melanie Sommer and Richard Matthew Dohler. Thousands of wildflowers, miles of lace ribbons and tulle, and window sills decorated with Singapore orchids set the stage for the nuptials of the daughter of pop music star Donna Summer and her first husband, Helmut Sommer,and the son of Dick and Bonna Dohler, he's an Ellicott City builder.The church was filled with the music of German trumpeteer Langston Fitzgerald and selections of Bach, Beethoven and Vivaldi, played by the church's music director Margaret Budd on the organ.

In its fifth year, the Park Quest program run by the Maryland Department of Natural Resources closed its registration for 1,000 families in less than two hours Monday. Told that the spots went as fast as Springsteen tickets, program director Barb Knisely said, "That's what everyone is saying. " Those signed up for the free program have between May 26 and Sept. 3 to complete 10 quests at the 23 participating state parks to qualify for the program's Rendezvous extravaganza at Patapsco State Park on Sept.

Before sunrise Monday, Kevin and Shelley Taylor set out from their Millersville home to a new employment center for the Maryland Live! Casino, a slots parlor next to the Arundel Mills mall seeking workers for 1,500 jobs. Having tracked the progress of what will be the state's largest casino, the Taylors believe the facility could provide opportunity for their five-member family. Though Kevin Taylor has a job, he wants a better-paying one. And Shelley Taylor has been out of work for several months.

Talk about instant success. Baltimore native Jason Winer doesn't even have a name yet for his Hollywood production company. But he and his two co-creators, "The Book of Mormon" Broadway star Josh Gad and former White House speechwriter Jon Lovett, already have an order for 13 episodes of their first production, a new NBC sitcom titled "1600 Penn. " "I really don't know yet what it's going to be called," he says of the production company. "I'm mulling a number of names, but I honestly don't know.

We're at the finale already (didn't this season seem short?). I'll say it right here at the top of the episode - unless William falls repeatedly on his keister, requiring the judges to give him 5's across the board, there's no way he's not winning this thing. That being said, I'd be OK with any of the three finalists winning, even though I'm personally Team Driver. Tonight's show will have each couple dancing two dances:  1. Judge's pick, which are new routines danced to new music, but in a style the couple has previously danced and in which the judges would like to see them improve.  2. Freestyle Tomorrow night, the couples will be doing some sort of third scored dance, details about which we'll learn later.

The story of a 24-year-old Georgia graduate student fighting a flesh-eating disease has prompted a microbiologist with the Veterans Affairs Maryland Health Care System to speak out about the infection. Aimee Copeland lost most of her left leg after the flesh-eating bacteria necrotizing faciitis is believed to have entered a cut on her leg, according to the Associated Press, which reports she may also have to have her fingers amputated. The waterborne bacteria Aeromonas hydrophila is believed to have caused the infection.

North County High School freshman Jack Andraka stood on the auditorium stage, speaking about the invention that earned him the $75,000 grand prize at the recent Intel International Science and Engineering Fair. Behind him stood Dr. Anirban Maitra, a professor in the Johns Hopkins University's department of pathology who gave Jack use of his lab to craft his invention, a cheap and effective "dipstick-sensor" method of testing blood or urine to identify early-stage pancreatic cancer and other diseases.

Last week we learned that adult children of divorce will almost always revert to childish behaviors. Case in point, Briana, the daughter previously known as The Most Reasonable Person in Orange County, dissolved into a impertinent, recalcitrant, petulant brat upon meeting her mother's boyfriend. This week Briana grows up and fights like a big girl … but we'll get there soon enough. Elsewhere in the O.C., there are tiaras to be worn and bling to be bought as Alexis goes all out for her little princesses, and Slade decides to declare Gretchen his queen.

Deputed Testamony is 32-years-old. His dark brown coat is shaggy, and his biggest excitement is going into his paddock at Bonita Farm for three or four hours of grazing each day. He is a pensioner, an icon. The oldest living winner of a Triple Crown race. But when Billy Boniface looks at the horse in his paddock, he sees the striking colt that was born and trained at the family farm and raced to victory in the 1983 Preakness - the last horse bred or trained in Maryland to do so. "Oh my gosh, I still get goose bumps when I look at him and remember that day," said Boniface, who was 18 then and had just taken over the breeding operation at the farm.

Hundreds of people lined up on sun-drenched asphalt Saturday to see if they could get regular payouts, in the form of paychecks, from the new Maryland Live! Casino, a slots casino scheduled to open at Arundel Mills mall in about three months. "I hope I get lucky enough to get a position," said Mark Ellison, who's from West Baltimore. "They want people who are willing to go the extra mile so customers come in and enjoy spending their money. " The operators of what will be the state's largest casino hosted a job fair Saturday with the Anne Arundel Workforce Development Corp.

My earliest recollection of the television that arrived in my family's Guilford Avenue home was the broadcast of the 1955 Preakness. We were all fixed on that black-and-white Sylvania mounted high on a wall. Nashua beat Swaps and went on to win the Belmont, too. Nashua was named 1955 Horse of the Year and later bred to many other winners. A number of the horses competing at Pimlico today are his descendants. Not long after that 1955 Preakness, my mother guided me through the recently opened Woodward wing of the Baltimore Museum of Art , where I was dazzled by the portraits of thoroughbred horses and of a tall and distinguished gentleman, William "Billy" Woodward, Nashua's owner.

South River High School senior Caitlin Byrnes says her parents have been stressing the importance of college since she was young, and though she listened to the message, she didn't think it applied to her. The Crofton resident would consider the family hardships — her father struggling through a myriad of illnesses since his childhood, her mother never fulfilling her dreams of going to college because of a disability — and she didn't see how...

The young boys involved in the shooting death of Monae Turnage, whose body they hid under trash bags in an East Baltimore alley, were sentenced in juvenile court Wednesday. The 13-year-old who said he pulled the trigger will be committed indefinitely to a treatment facility; the 12-year-old who helped him move the body will be monitored by the Department of Juvenile Services while living with a relative in Harford County. But the family of Monae — the bubbly 13-year-old who wanted to be a pediatrician — sat outside the downtown Juvenile Justice Center after the hearing, stunned at the outcome.

Just in time for Mother's Day, your article on the mother of the young man who inexplicably committed suicide ("Dulaney graduate's mother will accept his college diploma from Temple," May 9) was a clear and strong wake up call to all mothers, fathers, brothers, sisters and friends of those suffering from depression or other problems. My own 25-year-old son from Parkville, successful on the outside, committed suicide last month, having said nothing to show he felt so burdened. Suicide needs to be rejected and spoken of openly in the public square.

Genevieve O'Neill Williams, a homemaker who enjoyed singing with her family, died of complications from Alzheimer's disease May 2 at her Towson home. She was 88. Born Genevieve O'Neill in Baltimore, she was the daughter of pulmonary specialist Dr. John O'Neill. Her mother died when she was a baby. An aunt, M. Genevieve Thuman, a Johns Hopkins librarian, raised her at the family's Mount Washington home. She was a 1941 graduate of the old Mount St. Agnes High School in Mount Washington, where she earned a diploma at its junior college.

The fliers first showed up in March, dropped on doorsteps of the big homes in Todd Stave's quiet cul-de-sac. They compared him to a Nazi. Two months later and 50 miles away, new anti-abortion leaflets appeared in another peaceful suburban subdivision, this time in Baltimore County. They had the same bloody images. But now, they targeted Stave's in-laws, asking neighbors to pray for the family and to call or visit their home. Protesters had also showed up at his daughter's middle school.

A perennial jokester known for his tendency to break into song, Sean Gamble was the one his friends turned to when they needed cheering up or had an occasion to celebrate. With his two brothers and two sisters, he filled his parents' home with church songs and improvised melodies, making friends and family laugh with his tunes about cold-cut sandwiches and feta cheese. So it was only natural that Sean Gamble would accompany his cousin, Martin Gamble, and their friends during Martin's 23rd birthday celebration last Saturday at Select Lounge.

A friend of mine has a saying that weather changes every 15 miles. The events of March 1958 seem to prove the point. A snowstorm that brought Baltimore to just an inconvenient stop beginning March 19 was devastating to our immediate north. Baltimore, Harford and Cecil counties were inundated with wet snow that shut roads and downed electrical wires. While a dangerous storm, with accumulations of at least 2 feet, it does not seem to have made it into the record books because the depth counts were taken elsewhere, out of the storm's main path.

George Warren "Moose" Mix Sr., a well-known Towson attorney whose legal expertise included administrative, criminal and family law, died May 4 of heart failure at Johns Hopkins Hospital. The 30-year Lutherville resident was 74. "I knew Warren when I was a prosecutor and later as a defense attorney, and he was often in three jurisdictions during a single day. He was a stand-up, honest and hardworking guy when it came to his clients. He'd fight for his people," said Gov. Martin J. O'Malley.