Homeland

Maria N. Donnelly, a homemaker, volunteer and active churchwoman, died Jan. 7 of cancer at Gilchrist Hospice Care. The longtime Homeland resident was 58. In his eulogy, the Very Rev. Constantine Moralis, who is the dean of the Greek Orthodox Cathedral of the Annunciation, described Mrs. Donnelly as "a beautiful story of love, faith, determination, patience, perseverance, humor, compassion, charm, caring, respect and, most importantly, a story...

Katherine C. Hoffman, an artist and former longtime director of Red Cross volunteers, died Nov. 25 of dementia at a Washington assisted-living facility. She was 90. Katherine McCormick Commiskey, the daughter of a career Army officer and a homemaker, was born in Brooklyn, N.Y., and moved frequently in her early years because of her father's military assignments. She moved with her family to Baltimore in 1934 and graduated from the Bryn Mawr School in 1939. She attended Goucher College and graduated in 1943 from the Maryland Institute College of Art , where she had studied with noted portrait painter Jacques Maroger.

A child long lost and long forgotten is found, and returns home in time to spend Christmas at the side of a dying parent. It would be a Hallmark holiday movie special if it involved people. But this is a story about cactus. Seven years ago, Alex Boulton of Homeland bought a small agave at a plant sale held by Baltimore's Rawlings Conservatory in Druid Hill Park. It was a "pup," an offspring, of the enormous agave in the Conservatory's Desert Room. "It was ugly and had a very long, protruding root," said Boulton.

Gov. Martin O'Malley offered tepid backing Monday for the Obama administration's lawsuit against Arizona's controversial new immigration law. Former Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr., meanwhile, was eager to talk about an issue likely to energize his supporters. "It's a fascinating scenario here," said Ehrlich, a Republican who is trying to win back the job he lost to the Democratic O'Malley four years ago. "Everybody acknowledges the federal government's failure to do one of its primary jobs, which is protect our borders.

Gov. Martin O'Malley will be working closely with his controversial Arizona counterpart on homeland security and public safety issues as part of a National Governors Association committee. The association announced during its annual meeting Sunday that Janice K. Brewer will serve a term as co-chair of a panel on homeland security and public safety issues with O'Malley, who is being reappointed to the post. Brewer has made headlines for an Arizona law described by supporters and foes alike as the toughest measure in the country against illegal immigration.

On a recent Friday afternoon, a 40-foot metal shipping container clanged down in front of the Catonsville home of Martin and Audrey Peter. As soon as the massive container hit the pavement, a handful of men led by Martin Peter began filling it with medical equipment: motorized wheelchairs, walkers and assorted devices that had been stored in the Peters' home. The crew worked at a hurried pace — in just two hours the truck that had dropped the container would return to haul it to the Port of Baltimore, where it would be loaded onto a freighter bound for Durban, South Africa.

Marie Isabelle Ewing, who witnessed the coming of World War II in Germany and later settled in Baltimore, died of a blood clot Jan. 3 at the Broadmead retirement community in Cockeysville. The former Homeland resident was 92. Born Marie Isabelle vom Rath in Berne, Switzerland, she was the daughter of an American mother and a German father, who was a lieutenant in the German army during World War I. As an infant, she lived through the war with her mother and grandparents in Frankfurt, Germany.