Funeral Directors

Dimitri Tsafendas,81, who assassinated South African Prime Minister Hendrik Verwoerd in 1966, died Thursday in Johannesburg. Tsafendas was a parliamentary messenger when he stabbed Mr. Verwoerd to death in parliament in Cape Town on Sept. 6, 1966.The assassin claimed that a giant "tapeworm" in his stomach had forced him to kill Verwoerd, who was widely considered the architect of apartheid. Ruled insane, Tsafendas was imprisoned and later sent to a mental institution.Howard C. Raether,83, known to colleagues as "Mr. Funeral Service" during his years as executive director of the National Funeral Directors Association, died in Milwaukee Wednesday.

Joining a national trend, a major funeral home and cemetery company has gone beyond its traditional role and opened a center in Elkridge to educate the public about grief and grieving.Located in a former funeral home, the nonprofit Life Celebration Center is a sprawling building with a sunlight-filled lobby that has exposed brick walls and polished hardwood floors. It has display bookcases filled with books on death and grieving, comfortable chairs, a "reflection room" where people can read or watch videos and a large room that can hold up to 100 people for meetings or lectures.

Alfred Grayson Ritter Jr., founder and owner of Ritter M & M Sales Inc., which supplied emergency vehicles and hearses to fire departments, rescue squads and funeral homes in the Mid-Atlantic region, died Oct. 29 from complications of a stroke at Blakehurst, the Towson retirement community where he had resided since 1994. He was 84.The former longtime Cockeysville and Sparks resident owned Ritter Jeep Sales in Timonium from 1957 until 1961, when he established Ritter M & M Sales.Mr. Ritter, a handsome and kindly man who thought nothing of putting in 90-hour, seven-day work weeks, traveled throughout Maryland, Delaware and Virginia selling Miller-Medeor vehicles to rescue squads and funeral homes.

DALLAS -- June O'Donnell describes her husband, James, as "all Irish. His parents and grandparents were Murphys and O'Donnells, about as Irish as you can get."So when the couple planned a funeral for James O'Donnell, who had cancer, they picked Irish music, flowers the color of Ireland's flag -- even a casket with a picture of that flag.The service was in February."It created such a joy," O'Donnell says from her home in Hot Springs, Ark. "It was very original, very unique. There was such warmth there.

No one came to mourn the dead at Hampden's only funeral home yesterday. Visitors packed the halls, instead, to play bingo, eat hot dogs and watch a puppet show.How else for a funeral home in one of Baltimore's quirkier neighborhoods to celebrate 100 years of burying the neighborhood's dead?"I think this is the first time I've been here for fun," said Tabitha Curry, 30, who was playing bingo in the rear parlor with her daughter Vanity, 9. "Something to do on a rainy day."Burgee-Henss-Seitz Funeral Home on Falls Road, where Hampden residents have wept and prayed for a century, was turned into a balloon-filled playground yesterday.

Horace F. Burgee Jr., a popular and highly respected Hampden funeral director who served on the board of United Cerebral Palsy of Central Maryland for 40 years, died yesterday of pneumonia at University of Maryland Medical Center. He was 78.Mr. Burgee, known as Buzz, was born and raised above the two-story Burgee-Henss Funeral Home that was founded by his grandfather in a brick home at Falls Road and 36th Street in Hampden in 1899.The Towson resident continued working in the business until last year, and at the time of his death was chairman of the board of the funeral home.

Irvin Barry Levinson, 49, funeral directorIrvin Barry Levinson, vice president of Sol Levinson & Bros. Inc., funeral directors, died of a heart attack yesterday at home in Pikesville. He was 49.Mr. Levinson was a fourth-generation member of the family-owned funeral establishment that was founded in Baltimore in 1892 and moved to Pikesville about two years ago. He had worked at Levinson's since 1973.Born in Baltimore and raised in Pikesville and Miami, Mr. Levinson graduated from Pikesville High School in 1966 and earned a bachelor's degree from the University of South Carolina in 1970.

Names in the newsThe Land Development Council of the Home Builders Association of Maryland recently presented an award of excellence to G. W. Koch Inc. for Woodberry Farms in Severna Park and to Sturbridge Homes for Tidewater Colony of Annapolis. Koch also won a Silver Merit award for the Preserve at Broad Creek, Annapolis. The Home Builders Association of Maryland is a nonprofit group that conducts governmental relations and educational opportunities for the association and functions as the industry advocate.

Bessette-Kennedy in danger of being evicted from flatTough to tell just how Carolyn Bessette-Kennedy's landlord figured out she was no longer living in her New York apartment -- might it have been, say, front-page coverage of her wedding?The New York Post quotes real estate insiders who say John Kennedy Jr.'s bride has been accused of illegally subletting her rent-controlled studio apartment to a friend for about a year.Bessette-Kennedy has held the lease for five years. She's been served with a "notice to cure an alleged breach of lease," the step before filing court papers that could lead to eviction, sources said.

Bob Dole didn't like being compared to a mortician by Time and Newsweek, but he wasn't nearly as angry as the funeral directors."It's terrible," Russell Witzke, a Catonsville funeral home owner, says about the news magazine articles. "It's just people trying to get some headlines. It's sort of a silly comparison when you think about. It makes me mad."The comparisons followed the Republican presidential candidate's response to President Clinton's State of the Union address two weeks ago, and quickly spread to other publications.

Assembly panel OKs Verizon settlement A House of Delegates committee has unanimously approved a bill directing state regulators to approve an agreement with Verizon about delayed repairs and deregulation of some bundled telephone services. The settlement, negotiated by Verizon, the Maryland Public Service Commission staff and the Office of the People's Counsel, calls for the company to pay $1 million to customers with repair complaints, increase some fees and lower others for regional telephone service, and deregulate some bundled products.

You say you're a die-hard Orioles fan. You say you'd follow the team to your grave. Now you have a chance to do that - literally. How about heading off to that big ballpark in the sky in your very own Orioles funeral casket? Oh, this baby is a beauty, too: a cream-colored, 18-gauge steel model with Orioles logos up the wazoo. Think about it. Orange handles. Black tassels. Your head resting on a fluffy white pillow embossed with an image of the ornithologically correct Oriole bird. Your eyes staring up for all eternity at the same image on the underside of the casket lid. Best of all, you don't have to deal with all the doom and gloom that comes with being a fan. Because if the Orioles still stink, what do you care?

When Dorothy Anderson died in late September at age 87, her grandson would have preferred burying her at Woodlawn Cemetery. But money was tight for Edward Rucker, so he opted to save money by having her cremated. Anderson's final disposition cost $2,500, most of it covered by her life insurance. A traditional burial would have run at least twice that amount, a burden Rucker said he was unable to manage. "I couldn't afford to spend $5,000, $6,000," said Rucker, 44, an independent truck driver who struggled amid high gas prices.

In Maryland, the only way to own a funeral home is to be a licensed mortician - or to hold one of about 60 corporate licenses that were grandfathered in when lawmakers in 1945 barred corporations from owning funeral homes. The result, some say, is that competition is limited and consumers pay too much for funerals in Maryland - as much as $800 more by one estimate. But others say the rules help maintain the highest standards for the industry. In the aftermath of a federal judge's ruling last fall that the ban on corporate ownership is unconstitutional, state lawmakers are weighing changes to the way the state regulates funeral homes.

A federal judge's decision yesterday could lead to more competition within Maryland's funeral industry and drive down funeral prices that now run about $800 above the national average. U.S. District Judge Richard D. Bennett declared unconstitutional a decades-old provision in state law that prevents most corporations from owning funeral homes. The decision opens the door for more entrepreneurs to enter the funeral business under the legal and financial advantages afforded by incorporating.

DALLAS -- When Patty Jacobs' 33-year-old son, Jeff, died in a boating accident in March, she was thrust into a major and immediate financial decision that most Americans are unprepared for - purchasing funeral services. "This was such a shock," said Jacobs, 66, of Dallas. "You never expect that your 33-year-old son was going to die, and I had no idea what to do and hadn't even considered a funeral home." Jacobs was fortunate in that her friend Joe Tinnin accompanied her to the funeral home to make arrangements for her son. If it weren't for Tinnin, a board member of the Funeral Consumers Alliance, she would have spent far more money than necessary, Jacobs said.

Funeral services are expensive, as any Marylander who has laid a loved one to rest can affirm. The average funeral cost in the Old Line State was $5,682 in 2002, the last year for which federal data are available. Funerals also are expensive in other states, but Maryland's costs are much higher than they need to be. A recent Washington Post exposM-i revealed that a World War II-era state law that supposedly was enacted to protect consumers from fly-by-night morticians is being used by existing funeral homes to block legitimate competitors from opening shop.

On Thursday, October 13, 2005, Alice L. (S.) Whitehurst, age 87, of Elkton, MD died at Union Hospital, Elkton, MD. Mrs. Whitehurst was born on January 13, 1918 in Wayside, GA to the late Mr. and Mrs. Spooner. She was a member of Eutaw Place Baptist Church where she taught Sunday School and Vacation Bible School. She was also a Volunteer for Red Cross at Keswick Nursing Home, Baltimore, MD. She is survived by her son, Ronald L. Whitehurst of Rising Sun, MD; daughter, Carolyn L. Cline of Glen Burnie, MD;6 grandchildren, Donald Emerson, Kenneth Emerson, John Whitehurst, Amber Ritchie, Honey Lynn Whitehurst and David Whitehurst and 13 great-grandchildren.

Nicholas Wasylczuk, 80, of Chesapeake City, MD, died April 14, 2005, in Union Hospital, Elkton, MD. Born the late Paul and Lena Wasylczuk. Nicholas was a painting contractor and member of Local Union 923. He was a decorated Veteran of World War II, serving in the United States Army where he served in the European African Middle Eastern Theatre. He was a member of the VFW Chesapeake City, MD, Knights of Columbus where he participated in their charitable event fund raisers. He was dedicated parishioner of St. Basil's Ukrainian Catholic Church where he devoted time and energy in helping to maintain the upkeep of the church property and supported church functions.

SEVERAL OF you responded to last week's rant against funeral processions. My premise was that funeral processions are an outdated tradition. "I agree with you," said Dennis Johnson, who lives in Georgia, but is a former Marylander. "We should re-think how we conduct funerals and funeral processions. In Georgia, the lead vehicle in the procession does not even have to stop for red lights." It is important to note that laws regarding funeral processions differ from state to state. In Maryland, if the lead car encounters a red light at an intersection, it must stop and wait for the green light before proceeding.