Funeral Home

In Friday's local section, a story appeared about the Harry H. Witzke Funeral Home in Ellicott City. That funeral home is not affiliated with the Leroy M. and Russell C. Witzke Funeral Homes in Columbia and Catonsville.The wife of a longtime Ellicott City funeral director is facing criminal charges that she made burial arrangements without a state license.Alene Collins Witzke, 63, is charged by the state Board of Morticians with two counts each of practicing mortuary science without a license and misrepresenting herself as a mortician.

The unusual characteristics of a rural crossroads prompted three of the five members of the Board of Appeals last night to deny a petition to construct a large funeral home in southern Howard. Developer Souder Builders sought "conditional use" permission to build an approximately 12,000-square-foot structure on about 4 acres near Route 108 and Highland Road for the Donaldson Funeral Home of Laurel. Its chapel would seat 120, with 45 parking spaces. Neighbors of the Highland site felt the one-and-a-half-story building would dwarf others nearby, including the small grocery store, saddlery and veterinary office that occupy the corners.

From fallen battlefield heroes to notable political sons, a list of Henry W. Jenkins and Sons Co.'s clientele read like a who's who of Baltimore. But after 201 years, the venerable funeral home is following the lead of many of its clients and leaving the city for more bucolic surroundings in northern Baltimore County. Jenkins and Sons has sold its stately stone funeral home and adjacent chapel at 4905 York Road and is building a new 9,000- to 11,000-square- foot facility in Hereford. The new building will be at 16924 York Road.

Marba Abram Struble, a retired church and funeral home organist and marina co-owner, died of heart failure May 16 at Anne Arundel Medical Center. The Severna Park resident was 94. Born Marba Abram in Chicago, she studied piano at the Gibson Studio there and moved to Maryland in 1940 to work at the old Bendix radio plant on Joppa Road in Towson. She was briefly co-owner and operator of a laundromat in Endicott, N.Y., then co-owner of the Clover Farm variety store in Marley Park, which she ran for more than nine years.

The large Colonial funeral home a developer hopes to add to the small country crossroads of Highland would not look out of place because common details of the town's buildings were included, its architect maintained last night. Roughly 60 residents turned out at the same Howard County hearing to offer silent testimony to the contrary. For many of them, the debate over the funeral home is a struggle to save the essence of their community. In the second night of meetings on the contentious case, the developer's team tried to convince the county's hearing examiner that the approximately 12,000-square-foot plan deserves "conditional use" permission to allow the funeral home to operate on land zoned for residential use. The crossroads, where Route 108 and Highland Road meet, is dotted by a dozen or so small businesses, from an antiques shop to a saddlery.

Life and death imitate art in Family Plots, a reality TV series premiering tonight on the A&E cable channel. In much the same fashion as HBO's acclaimed Six Feet Under, which takes a fictional look at life inside a family-run funeral home in Southern California, Family Plots takes viewers backstage at the Poway Bernardo Mortuary, a real family-run funeral home in San Diego. Does television really need another reality series - let alone one featuring cadavers, body bags, leaking bodily fluids, caskets and graves?

An 85-year-old rabbi well-known in the Baltimore area's Jewish community has been found guilty of sexually molesting a woman. Rabbi Jacob Aaron Max, who turned 85 Tuesday, is rabbi emeritus and founder of Pikesville's Liberty Jewish Center, also known as the Moses Montefiore Anshe Emunah Hebrew Congregation. He had pleaded not guilty in Baltimore County District Court to the two counts on which he was convicted, a fourth-degree sex offense and second-degree assault. The rabbi fondled the 44-year-old woman's breasts on two occasions minutes apart and murmured that he was "being bad" and was a "bad rabbi" for doing so, according to court documents.

Why do Jewish families bury their loved ones as soon as possible after death? What is the origin for other Jewish traditions, such as sitting in mourning for seven days after the funeral and throwing handfuls of dirt into the grave? Those are all part of the Jewish approach to the mourning process, said Rabbi Maurice Lamm, author of "The Jewish Way in Death and Mourning." Lamm will offer his insights tonight as keynote speaker at the third annual Irvin B. Levinson Memorial Lecture Series on Death, Dying and Bereavement.

Adams, Linda D. Suddenly, On November 5, 2002, LINDA D. ADAMS (nee Regulski), beloved wife of Earvin N. Adams and devoted mother of David Welsh, Angelia Welsh, Jonathan Regulski, Jeffrey R. Adams and Scott R. Adams, sister to Dianne Regulski, George Regulski and Teddy Regulski. Also survived by granddaughter Meadow L. Welsh. Funeral Services from the Connelly Funeral Home of Essex, 300 Mace Ave. on Saturday at 9:30 A.M. Interment Oak Lawn Cemetery. Visiting hours on Friday 3 to 5 and 7 to 9 P.M. In lieu of flowers, contributions may be made to the Adams Funeral Fund, c/o Connelly Funeral Home of Essex.

On April 7, 2005, GERALD H. SHAFFER SR., beloved son of Joseph E. Shaffer and brother of Shirley Lovill, Ellen Collins, Elizabeth Warner, Etta Robinette and the late Mary Baines, husband of the late Mattie Shaffer and the late Betty Shaffer, father of Betty Jean Shaffer, Gerald "Bo' Shaffer Jr., Margaret Shaffer and Lori Shaffer, also survived by many grandchildren, great-grandchildren, nieces and nephews. Friends are invited to call at the Burgee-Henss-Seitz Funeral Home Inc., 3631 Falls Rd, on Monday from 3 to 5 and 7 to 9 P.M. Services will be held on Monday at 8 P.M., at the funeral home.