Ferndale

On March 16, 2003, ELIZABETH LOWMAN of Ferndale, devoted wife of the late Milburn D. Lowman; beloved mother of Frank Brashewitz, William Lowman, Charles Lowman, Sharon Reynolds, Mary Emge, Thomas M. Lowman, Donald Lowman and the late Joseph F. Brashewitz and Carolyn Schuman. Loving great-grandmother of the late Joseph C. Brashewitz. Also survived by 31 grandchildren and 13 great-grandchildren. The family will receive visitors at the Singleton Funeral Home P.A. 1 Second Ave. S.W. (at Crain Highway)

The Anne Arundel County school board voted yesterday to move forward with a proposal to create a regional "early childhood center" for 4-year-olds and 5-year-olds on the site of dilapidated Ferndale Elementary School, opening the issue to a public hearing in coming weeks. The board declined requests for public hearing from three communities seeking to redistrict their children to other schools. Board member Paul Rudolph introduced motions on behalf of two of the groups, but they failed because of a lack of support from the board.

THEY SAY all good things must come to an end. After 12 years of writing this column, this is the last one in which I will be reporting on the happenings and people in the Ferndale and Linthicum communities. I feel very fortunate, though, that I had the opportunity to perform this service for the many clubs, organizations, churches, schools and individuals in our area. If I helped publicize an event or informed you of some special person who needed recognition, it was not just a job but my pleasure, and I received much gratification in doing so. Why do I think this community is so special?

Anne Arundel County schools Superintendent Eric J. Smith said yesterday that he will recommend closing the dilapidated, but beloved, Ferndale Elementary School and erecting in its place the county's first institution devoted entirely to prekindergarten and kindergarten. If approved by the board, Smith's plan would bring to an end years of controversy surrounding the small, gray, 77-year-old building on Wellham Avenue. In July, noting unsafe and unhealthful conditions, Smith temporarily shuttered the county's smallest elementary school and sent its 140 students to nearby George Cromwell Elementary.

Anne Arundel County schools Superintendent Eric J. Smith said yesterday that he will recommend closing the dilapidated, but beloved, Ferndale Elementary School and building in its place the county's first institution devoted entirely to pre-kindergarten and kindergarten. If approved by the board, Smith's plan would bring to an end years of controversy surrounding the small, gray, 77-year-old building on Wellham Avenue. In July, noting unsafe and unhealthful conditions, Smith temporarily shuttered the county's smallest elementary school and sent its 140 pupils to nearby George Cromwell Elementary.

THE FERNDALE Roadrunners, a senior social group, is throwing itself a birthday party from 11:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. Oct. 24 at La Fontaine Bleu in Glen Burnie. John Norfolk will perform on the keyboard. Members, associate members and friends of the club are invited. The cost is $15. Reservations must be made by Thursday. During the club's 30-year history, there have been two presidents, Ethel Schmidt, the club's founder, and Melvia Scott, its current president. Schmidt, now deceased, saw the need for a senior citizens club in Ferndale and organized one at age 75. She was the club's first president when it began in 1972.

With termites crawling through the walls and water running through the kitchen, Ferndale Elementary School is "no longer suitable for instruction" and will be shut down for this school year, new Anne Arundel County Superintendent Eric J. Smith announced yesterday. The decision was made two months after the County Council approved $450,000 to fix the roof of the 76-year-old school -- money Ferndale parents had thought would save their beloved school in the northern part of the county from closure.

With termites crawling through the walls and water running through the kitchen, Ferndale Elementary School is "no longer suitable for instruction" and will be shut down for this school year, new Anne Arundel County Superintendent Eric J. Smith announced yesterday. The decision was made two months after the County Council approved $450,000 to fix the roof of the 76-year-old school - money Ferndale parents had thought would save their beloved school in the northern part of the county from closure.

Joseph J. Alcamo, a retired cartographer for a state tax agency, died Wednesday at Country View Eldercare in Whiteford from complications of a series of strokes. He was 81 and lived in Baldwin. He worked for 31 years for the state Department of Assessments and Taxation and retired as a senior map-maker for the department in 1985. In earlier years, he had been a sheet-metal worker for the George H. Wahmann baking supply company on Greene Street in downtown Baltimore. Born in Baltimore and raised on Aisquith Street, he was a graduate of St. James the Less parochial school and received a diploma from its commercial department in 1937.

The 150 children of Ferndale Elementary streamed out of their battered school yesterday into the brilliant sunshine, not to return until the school's doors reopen in the fall. At most schools and for most children, that routine is as certain as summer is short. But in Ferndale, a small working-class community holding fast to its identity, the fact that children will be returning at all is big news and a big relief. A year ago, the 77-year-old school was on the brink of closure. The walls were moldy and cracked, and rooms were filled with buckets and trashcans to catch what the old, leaky roof could not. The facilities were so poor and the cost of fixing them so high that Ferndale, which has seven classrooms, seemed to be beyond saving.