Funeral Services

On July 12, 2006 HUGH ARTHUR BLAHA, of Pasadena; beloved husband of Theresa M. O'Neill; loving father of Scott R. Blaha and his wife Patricia, Timothy C. Blaha and step-father of Cathleen M. Jordan and her husband Ronald, Mary R. O'Malley and Robert O. Stachura; cherished granfather of Katie Blaha. Also survived by nieces and nephews; preceded in death by his wife Betty Mc Ginn Blaha in 1986, by his sister Helen and his brothers Howard and Henry. Relatives and friends are invited to call at the STERLING-ASHTON-SCHWAB-WITZKE FUNERAL HOME of Catonsville, Inc., 1630 Edmondson Avenue, Catonsville, MD 21228 (1 mile west of beltway exit 14)

Family, friends and a host of elected officials celebrated the life of East Baltimore Del. Hattie N. Harrison at the West Baltimore United House of Prayer for All People, in a ceremony borne on the spirited rasps of trombones and rhythmic clattering of tambourines. "Today there's a lot of powerful emotion in this place," said Gov. Martin O'Malley. "There's also a lot of powerful music. " The funeral service struck a joyful tone as politicians from Baltimore and elsewhere in Maryland remembered the delegate who had represented her community since August 1973, making her the longest-serving African-American female legislator in the United States.

On March 26, 2009, BISHOP ANTHONY P. SR.; beloved husband of Azalee Stanton. He is also survived by five sons, other relatives and friends. Friends may call at the family owned Howell Funeral Home, 3331 Brehms Lane on Tuesday 4 to 7 P.M and on Wednesday 2 to 7 P.M. Family will receive friends at Mt. Zion Apostolic Church, 5501 Liberty Heights Avenue on Thursday 10 to 10:30 A.M with funeral services immediately following.

Funeral services for former Orioles manager Earl Weaver, who died aboard a baseball-themed cruise in the Caribbean , have not yet been scheduled, but a private service will likely be held later this week in South Florida. The week-long cruise, which docked out of Fort Lauderdale, just returned to port Sunday morning, so funeral plans have just begun. The Orioles also plan to have some type of memorial service to honor Weaver, who led the team to four AL pennants and a World Series in 1970, but where and when that service would take place has yet to be scheduled.

On October 18, 2007, DAVID; beloved husband of the late Velina Burrell. He is survived by one daughter, Cheryl Eldridge; one grandson, David; two sisters, Mary Ella Madden, and Geneva; two brothers, Moses and Johnnie Burrell. Friends may call at the Howell Funeral Home, P.A., 10220 Guilford Road, Jessup, MD on Wednesday, 2 to 7 p.m. Family will receive friends at St. Mark United Methodist Church, 1440 Dorsey Road, Hanover, MD on Thursday 11:30 a.m. to 12 Noon with funeral services immediately following.

Funeral services for IndyCar driver Dan Wheldon will be Saturday, 10 a.m., at First Presbyterian Church of St. Petersburg (Fla.). Wheldon, 33, was killed in a 15-car crash on lap 11 during Sunday's IndyCar series finale at Las Vegas Speedway. His wife, Susie, released the following statement and invited members of community to attend the service: "Although the last few days have been unbearable for our family, the overwhelming love and support we have received are rays of sunshine during these dark days.

The five victims of the fire that destroyed a Northeast Baltimore rowhouse Thursday will be memorialized together in a service Thursday. Nancy Worrell, 55, died along with her three grandchildren and a great-grandson in the 2 a.m. blaze that gutted her two-story brick home on Denwood Avenue. The victims were all found in the back bedroom on the second floor of the home. The deceased grandchildren are Daryl Stewart, 4, K-Niyah Scott, 2, and Tykia Manley, 7, who all lived at the residence.

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.

Funeral plans were announced yesterday for Mary Carter Smith, the Baltimore folklorist and storyteller who died Tuesday at age 88. A wake will be held from 4 p.m. to 7 p.m. Sunday at Huber Memorial United Church of Christ, 5701 York Road. A family hour will begin there at 10 a.m. Monday, followed by funeral services.

Funeral services were held Wednesday for Michael Carter, a longtime Baltimore city schools advocate whose outspokeness landed him the position in the administration of CEO Andres Alonso as the director of the district's parent and community engagement office.  We wrote an obituary last week on Carter, who lost his battle with cancer last week, which included solemn, but colorful remarks and remembrances from a host of city school officials and...

Local firefighter and former Sykesville Volunteer Fire Department Chief William “Mr. Bill” Frank Luebberman, 66, of Sykesville, died, Nov. 18, at the Carroll Dove House in Westminster. News of the death of the popular life member of Sykesville Freedom District Fire Department spread quickly through the Carroll County emergency response community. According to his obituary on the Haight Funeral Home website, he was born July 6, 1946, in Annapolis. He was the son of William E. and Betty Metzger Luebberman of Westminster.

The five victims of the fire that destroyed a Northeast Baltimore rowhouse Thursday will be memorialized together in a service Thursday. Nancy Worrell, 55, died along with her three grandchildren and a great-grandson in the 2 a.m. blaze that gutted her two-story brick home on Denwood Avenue. The victims were all found in the back bedroom on the second floor of the home. The deceased grandchildren are Daryl Stewart, 4, K-Niyah Scott, 2, and Tykia Manley, 7, who all lived at the residence.

Lois Roena Pyle, a retired secretary for Baltimore City's social services office who later worked for Baltimore County, died of complications from Alzheimer's disease Oct. 3 at the Ware Presbyterian Village in Oxford, Pa. The former Rodgers Forge resident was 90. Born Lois Roena Anderson in Havre, Mont., she was the daughter of a dry-goods merchant, and a homemaker. She attended the University of Montana and graduated from the Kinman Business College in Spokane, Wash. As a young woman, she took flying lessons.

The day after a Harford County Sheriff's deputy was buried after dying in the line of duty, another sheriff's deputy has died. Sgt. Ian Loughran, 43, of Harford County, died of a heart attack sometime after midnight Thursday. Sgt. Loughran, a 16-year veteran of the sheriff's office, unknowingly began to suffer the symptoms of a heart attack Wednesday during the funeral services for his fellow deputy, Cpl. Charles Licato, who died Sept. 6 in a car accident while on his way home, according to a press release from the sheriff's office.

As a longtime member of Colonial Baptist Church who attended the June 23 funeral services for Christopher Brown, I found it hard to believe the Sun reporter was present and awake during the funeral based on the paper's account of the occasion ("Hundreds gather to mourn teen who died after fight with off-duty officer," June 23). The article focuses on the approximately five minutes that Rev. Jamal Bryant spoke. He was on the program only to make comments. Three paragraphs were use to report his message.

The remains of Lance Cpl. Eugene C. Mills III, 21, of Laurel, who was known by some of his Marine comrades as "Gino Bambino," were scheduled to arrive at Dover Air Force Base in Dover, Del., shortly before noon Monday, according to a family friend. On Friday, Mills was killed in combat in the Helmand province of Afghanistan as a Marine assigned to 1st Battalion, 8th Marine Regiment, 2nd Marine Division, II Marine Expeditionary Force out of Camp Lejeune, N.C. He was the fifth service member from Maryland killed this year, and the fourth to die in Afghanistan.

The remains of Lance Cpl. Eugene C. Mills III, 21, of Laurel, who was known by some of his Marine comrades as "Gino Bambino," were scheduled to arrive at Dover Air Force Base in Dover, Del., shortly before noon Monday, according to a family friend. On Friday, Mills was killed in combat in the Helmand province of Afghanistan as a Marine assigned to 1st Battalion, 8th Marine Regiment, 2nd Marine Division, II Marine Expeditionary Force out of Camp Lejeune, N.C. He was the fifth service member from Maryland killed this year, and the fourth to die in Afghanistan.

On February 19, 2007, JOSEPH COSTELLO HASKINS; survived by Cheryl Haskins, Esq. and Rev. Dr. Bruce Haskins. Viewing on Friday, February 23, 2007, from 3 to 7 at Howell Funeral Home, 4600 Liberty Heights Avenue. Funeral services on Saturday, February 24, 2007 at New Antioch Baptist Church, 2401 St. Paul Street, 10 A.M. Wake, 11 A.M., Funeral Services. Interment February 22, 2007, Garrison Forest Veterans Cemetery.

Ada Althea Gettier, a homemaker and former cashier, died Saturday of Alzheimer's disease at Bethania Home Care, a Westminster assisted-living facility. She was 90. Ada Althea Burke was born in Baltimore and raised in Ednor Gardens. She attended city public schools, leaving in the eighth grade to help support her family. She was married in 1941 to Donald Edward Stallings, a Cloverland Farms milkman who died in 1973. During the 1960s, Mrs. Gettier worked as a cashier at the Colts Lanes in Woodlawn, and from 1970 until 1980, she was a cashier at Social Security Administration headquarters in Woodlawn.

Havre de Grace lost another one of its iconic residents with the passing of Jack McLhinney Tuesday. Mr. McLhinney was 85. Best known as Jack Mac, Mr. McLhinney was a long-time member not only of the Susquehanna Hose Co., but also of the Church of St. Patrick of Havre de Grace. Friends may call Sunday from 2 to 4 and from 6 to 8 p.m. at Zellman Funeral Home at 123 S. Washington St. in Havre de Grace. Funeral services will be at 10 a.m. Monday at St. Patrick. Mr. McLhinney will be missed around the number two firehouse, St. Patrick Church and the downtown of his community.