Family Man

John H. "Jack" Bender, a World War II veteran who didn't like to miss a Memorial Day parade or a Lions Club meeting, died Monday of complications from a stroke. The retired Aberdeen Proving Ground employee was 84. Born and raised in Harrisburg, Pa., Mr. Bender was a corporal in the 85th Infantry "Custer Division" and the 337th Infantry Division, serving in Northern Africa and Italy during World War II, his family said. He was injured by shrapnel in his right arm and suffered a head injury in May 1944 during the drive to liberate Rome, said his son, John F. Bender of Aberdeen.

On Thursday, April 19, 2007, PAUL EUGENE LEBRUN, beloved husband of Dawn Whitcomb Lebrun, loving father of Andrew, Heather and David Lebrun, beloved son of Maurice and Dorothy Lebrun and of Betty Lebrun, devoted brother of Maurice Lebrun, III and Bruce Lebrun. Also survived by Brittany and Jay Whitcomb and numerous other relatives. Accomplished musician, hardworking truck driver, devoted friend and family man. Family will receive friends Saturday, April 21 from 2 to 4 and 7 to 9pm at the Daugherty Family Funeral Home and Cremation Center, P.A., 2601 Mountain Rd in Pasadena where a service will be celebrated Saturday, April 21 at 8pm. Interment private.

The family of a man who was killed at Baltimore's booking center last year filed a $130 million lawsuit yesterday, alleging that the state and correctional officers acted negligently in failing to correct what they knew were dangerous conditions. Attorney A. Dwight Pettit said he hopes the suit will force the state to examine the Central Booking and Intake Center and resolve problems of crowding, inadequate training and understaffing that he said contributed to the death of Raymond K. Smoot.

STAFF CRITICS GIVE YOU THE LOWDOWN ON TEN TOP MOVIES, POPCORN NOT INCLUDED! The Constant Gardener What It's About: A midlevel British diplomat gets posted to Kenya, where his politically committed wife uncovers a global conspiracy between Western governments and Big Pharma. RATED R The scoop: Ralph Fiennes is at his heartbreaking best as the husband; Rachel Weisz is astonishing as a passionate activist. Grade: A Everything is Illuminated What It's About: A young American (Elijah Wood)

WITH FOUR KIDS ages 7, 4, 1 and 3 months, Victor Wooten's house is full of activity, something like a circus. Away from the stage and the studio, the jazz fusion bassist is a family man who relishes the joys of home. And all of that fun, warmth and vibrancy translate nicely on his latest album, Soul Circus, in stores Tuesday. The 16-cut record is a family affair. "I usually involve the kids when I make an album," says Wooten, who is calling from his Nashville home. "That's my son Adam -- he's 4 -- on the intro on the record, and my daughter Kaila, who's 7, is on the outro.

IN 1950, ABOUT one in 25 American children was born to an unmarried mother. Today, that rate is about one in three, usually to those least likely to be able to support a child on their own. This has led some to charge that the marriage norm is dead in poor communities. My colleague and I entered into the lives of 165 low-income single mothers living in eight destitute neighborhoods across Philadelphia and its poorest industrial suburb, Camden. We spent five years chatting over kitchen tables and on front stoops, giving these mothers the opportunity to speak to the question so many affluent Americans ask about them: why they have children outside of marriage when they face such an uphill struggle in supporting them.

A Dundalk man convicted in April of strangling two prostitutes was sentenced yesterday to back-to-back life terms in prison without the possibility of parole by a Baltimore judge who called him an "evil and violent person." City Circuit Judge John M. Glynn told the courtroom that there was overwhelming evidence against John Patrick Garcia, while Garcia told the judge he is innocent and had no motive to rape and kill prostitutes. "I can go into any bar any day of the week and get any woman I want, not by being a Don Juan, but by being me," Garcia said in his own defense before sentencing.

James Odom Jr. is living proof that miracles happen. It was Labor Day in 2000, and 32-year-old Odom was sailing toward the Havre de Grace Marina with a canoe in tow. Rough, choppy waters and the weight of the canoe were more than the towline could handle. The line snapped, sending the metal hook like a slingshot into the lower right side of Odom's skull. The Harford County businessman and widowed father of a 3-year-old girl slumped over, motionless. Several of Odom's relatives, including his daughter, Tori, were on board.

His family wants Jackie M. Frost, 64, to be remembered as a devoted husband and father, a man who loved to sing and play golf. They don't want the world to know him only as the driver who died Tuesday when his tanker truck fell from an overpass onto the northbound lanes of Interstate 95 in Howard County and exploded, a conflagration into which four other vehicles disappeared. Family friends such as Eileen Porach would prefer to remember the Finksburg resident as one-half of a karaoke duo - led by his wife, Geri - who frequented restaurants and bars in Perry Hall, where the Frosts performed their renditions of country music hits.

Everyone knows that Francis Scott Key wrote the words to "The Star-Spangled Banner." But how many people know that he also wrote a brief in support of Sac and Fox Indians against a white settler with claims on their land? Or that Key once aspired to publish a newspaper, ordered fried oysters by the dozens and in 1839, paid $9 in taxes for three female slaves? Key (1779-1843) may be a patron saint to many Marylanders, but his life isn't exactly an open book. A trove of letters, receipts and legal papers recently acquired by the Maryland Historical Society helps to flesh out a historical figure who never completely overcame a cardboard cut-out image as a pious patriot with a penchant for sentimental rhymes.