Galena

On April 23, 2006, ROSE BOTTEON OATES, 85, formerly of Rosedale; devoted wife of the late Francis S. Oates; loving mother of Victoria Hay, Steve and Donna Oates, Frank and Helena Oates, Helen Oates and Tracey Miller; sister to Edith Monacelli; also 9 grandchildren and 7 great-grandchildren. Viewing Wednesday evening, April 26, from 5 to 7 Pm in the Galena Funeral Home of Stephen L. Schaech, 118 W. Cross St. Galena, MD and on Thursday from 3 to 5 and 7 to 9 at Mc Comas Funeral Home, 1317 Cokesbury Road, Abingdon, MD, where funeral service will be held on Friday at 11 A.M. Burial in Gardens of Faith, Baltimore, MD. Memorials may be offered to the Multiple Sclerosis Society of MD, 11403 Cronhill Dr. Suite E. Owings Mills, MD 21117.

On January 27, 2004, at her home "Thornton", Chestertown, MD, JANE VICKERS BROOKS SPRINKLE, 77. She is preceded by husband John H. Sprinkle and brother Philip M. Brooks, Jr. Mother of John H. Sprinkle, Jr. and wife Esther, Jane S. Turner, Mary S. Horky and husband Jeff, and Jean S. Robertson and husband Eugene. Also survived by four grandchildren Jeffery Turner and wife Christine, Kevin Turner, James Sprinkle, John Sprinkle, and two great-grandsons, Ray and Luke Turner. Funeral today, Friday, January 30, at 11 A.M. in Christ Church, I.U., Worton, MD. Interment in adjoining cemetery.

To the uninitiated, Galena was once merely an irritating stoplight on Route 213 between the northern cities and the ocean resorts of Maryland and Delaware. Its main attractions were a service station, a couple of liquor stores and a grocery where people could stock up on munchies for the rest of the trip. Only the dogwood trees that dressed the town in gauzy pink and white for several weeks in May hinted at Galena's hidden attractions.But that was 20 years ago. Today, this small town of 400 souls at the northern end of Kent County is undergoing a renaissance of sorts, both commercial and residential, moving itself into the 20th century without losing any of its 19th-century charm.

JOHN CARVEL SUTTON III, 56, retired vocational teacher for the State of Maryland Rehabilitation Center, died April 25, 2006, devoted husband to Betty Jean, loving brother of Beverly and Michael Philipp, uncle to Christopher, step-father to Donald Usilton, Jr. and Christina Simpler. Friends may call on Sunday evening, April 30 from 5 to 8 P.M. in the Galena Funeral Home of Stephen L. Schaech, 118 W. Cross St., Galena, MD. Funeral Monday at 11 A.M. in Shrewsbury Parish Church, Kennedyville, MD. Memorials may be offered to Camp Fairlee Manor or Shrewsbury Church, c/o the funeral home.

GALENA - You'd be hard-pressed to find a new pair of shoes, an auto mechanic or a screwdriver in this blink-and-miss-it farming community. But if you want a quaint corner cabinet, some porcelain figurines or a papier-mache rooster, you've come to the right place. This Upper Eastern Shore crossroads town of 650 residents has seven antiques shops, and the proprietors say business is booming. Part of the surge in shoppers comes from a weekly furniture auction in nearby Crumpton, where dealers jockey for the best deals amid fields of dressers, mirrors and lawn ornaments.

GALENA -- No one has come forward to claim the baby girl left on the steps of a rural Catholic rectory over the weekend, but she has captured the hearts of people here and elsewhere.The infant, left neatly swaddled in a blanket and tucked into a U.S. Postal Service first-class mail crate, has prompted offers of adoption, foster care, clothing, money and help of all kinds, said the Rev. Thomas J. Peterman, who found the child on his rectory steps before dawn Sunday. The baby is thought to be 2 to 4 weeks old."

TO GRILL or not to grill a crab cake, that was the question. Would the flavor of crab meat improve if it were cooked over a hot open fire? Would crab cakes hold together on a grill? When it came time to turn them, would they suffer the slings and arrows of outrageous backyard barbecue fortune? By flipping would I end them? I pressed ahead, lured by a strong fire, a hinged metal cooking basket and a belief that everything tastes better grilled. Having been hit by the sea of troubles that engulf you when you grill crab cakes, I would now say almost everything tastes better grilled.

Edgar Nollner Sr., 94, the last survivor of a desperate 1925 dog team relay that carried diphtheria serum to Nome, Alaska, died Monday in the Yukon River village of Galena. The serum relay inspired the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race, an annual 1,100-mile run from Anchorage, Alaska, to Nome that began in 1973.

On July 22, 2006, DAVID KENNETH GUITE of Houston, TX, formerly of Glen Burnie, Maryland; beloved son of Jean Guite and the late Ronald E. Guite; loving brother of Monica L. Henkel and her husband David, Kimberly D. Cieri and her husband Scott, and Kevin M. Guite and his wife Jennifer; cherished grandson on Miriam Boschert and the late George Boschert and the late Roy and Edna Guite; adoring uncle of Lauren and Andrew Henkel, Emily and Natalie Cieri and...

Discover! America's Great River Road, Vol. 4 (Heritage Press, $19.95) It's a long way from St. Paul, Minn., to Venice, La. -- so long, in fact, that it took author Pat Middleton one volume to get from St. Paul to Dubuque, Iowa; another to get from Galena, Ill., to St. Louis; and a third to travel from St. Louis to Memphis. Now, in this fourth volume of Discover! America's Great River Road, Middleton completes the journey with the Memphis-to-Venice leg. Like the other volumes, it's loaded with points of interest, historical insights, maps and photos.