Funeral

The family of Christopher Brown, the Randallstown teenager who died after a confrontation with an off-duty Baltimore County police officer last week, has met with Baltimore County State's Attorney Scott Shellenberger, who asked for patience and updated them on the investigation, their lawyer said Tuesday. Family members also have scheduled his funeral for Saturday, according to the Browns' attorney, Russell Neverdon. Shellenberger has promised a thorough investigation into the circumstances that led to Christopher's death.

In the spirit of forgiveness, several local Episcopal churches have offered to host a funeral for Douglas Franklin Jones, the man Howard County police say fatally shot a rector and a church administrator at St. Peter's Episcopal Church in Ellicott City before killing himself in nearby woods. "A couple of churches thought it would be nice to offer their space," said Sharon Tillman, a spokeswoman for the Episcopal Diocese of Maryland. "It's up to [his] family whether they will take it or not. " Jones is accused of entering the church May 3 and shooting the Rev. Mary-Marguerite Kohn, whose funeral was held Tuesday at the Cathedral of the Incarnation in Baltimore, and ecclesiastical administrator Brenda Brewington, whose funeral is scheduled for Thursday at St. John's Episcopal Church in Ellicott City.

A Baltimore company is making an offer to die for -- or at least they think so. Reed Street Productions, known up to now for creating a zombie-themed 5K race,has thrown down something that will probably bring them even more attention: the chance for people to win a free funeral if they agree to put the race's URL on their tombstone. “Everyone else markets to the living, so we thought why not market to the undead through deadvertising," Derrick Smith of Reed Street Productions said in a statement.

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...

Lou Ruth Blake was the family's matriarch who sang in the church choir and organized gospel shows. Lowell Frederick Blake liked to make people laugh. Venessa Marie Blake was the ardent churchgoer with a contagious smile. All three family members died within days of each other earlier this month from complications of the flu — a cluster that state officials acknowledged was unusual. Their deaths caused a stir in the community of Lusby in Calvert County, where Blake family roots run deep in the town of nearly 1,600.

Stanley F. Stearns, the photographer who captured the image of a young John F. Kennedy Jr. saluting his late father, a picture that instantly evokes memories of the Camelot era, died of lung cancer Friday at Hospice of the Chesapeake in Harwood, his family said. He was 76. A former United Press International photographer who later ran a studio for 40 years in his native Annapolis, Mr. Stearns snapped the president's son outside a Washington cathedral as the family left the funeral Mass on Nov. 25, 1963.

I went to church on CNN Saturday, and it was one of the most powerful, uplifting and spiritual experiences I've had in years. Yes, watching six hours of cable TV coverage of Whitney Houston's funeral was a spiritual experience, and I am not using that word carelessly. It was profound and elevating, and the way in which media bring us together for such experiences makes up for one hell of a lot of cable TV's daily sins. CNN certainly wasn't the only cable channel with wall-to-wall coverage.

Making the most of Monday.  

Elizabeth L. "Bobbi" Phillips, who co-founded and operated a West Baltimore funeral home, died of congestive heart failure Dec. 28 at her home. She was 93. Born Elizabeth Lattimore in Baltimore and raised on Schroeder Street, she was a 1936 Frederick Douglass High School graduate. She earned a diploma at the old Cortez Peters Business School on Eutaw Place. She also attended the University of Maryland, College Park and Morgan State University. "She was a woman of amazing fortitude, natural beauty, dignity, strong character, modesty, unrelenting strength and quietness, and calmness of spirit," said Doretha "Dottie" Hector, a co-owner of the funeral business, who worked closely with her for the past 30 years and now runs the business.

Tandon Doss was absent from the Ravens' 20-point loss to the San Diego Chargers, but the rookie wide receiver had a very good reason. Doss was in the Indianapolis area to attend Saturday's funeral for Sherry L. Rawson-Koker, who died Dec. 11. An obituary in the Indianapolis Star described the 57-year-old Rawson-Koker as a photo archivist for the Indianapolis Motor Speedway since 2003. Doss said that Rawson-Koker was a guardian who took him into her home when he was an eighth grader in the Indianapolis area.