Keswick

Baltimore Country Club members voted last night to sell 17 acres of unoccupied land in Roland Park to a care facility, a potential $12.5 million deal that has met strong opposition from the surrounding neighborhood. The proposal still needs approval by the City Council, which would have to take up a request to rezone the property to accommodate the retirement community. Phil Spevak, president of the Roland Park Civic League, said the organization is disappointed that club members supported the plan.

Representatives of the Keswick Multi-Care Center intend tonight to address concerns of many Roland Park residents that acres of green space in their neighborhood would be eaten up by a proposed senior facility. Keswick administrators will publicly unveil their proposal for 17 undeveloped acres that they are buying from the Baltimore Country Club for $12.5 million at a 7 p.m. meeting at Roland Park Elementary/Middle School at 5207 Roland Ave. The $195 million facility would have 225 independent-living units, 58 assisted-living units and 40 beds for residents in need of skilled nursing.

Frail and slowed by strokes, former Rep. Parren J. Mitchell has spent the past three years at the Keswick Multi-Care Center in Roland Park, leaving his financial affairs in the hands of his nephew, Michael B. Mitchell Sr. Parren Mitchell's assets include a $60,000-a-year congressional pension and a trust that holds title to his West Baltimore home. But Parren Mitchell's bills - including more than $100,000 owed to Keswick - have gone unpaid by Michael Mitchell, a former city councilman and former state senator who was disbarred for stealing from a client.

When Dr. Jesse C. Coggins wrote his final will in 1962, he promised his $2.3 million fortune would eventually go to the Keswick nursing home in Baltimore. He had just a few conditions: He wanted Keswick to use the money to build housing for patients, and he wanted it named after him.Anticipating the money, Keswick went ahead and spent $11 million on its new Coggins Building. It even hung a portrait of its benefactor in the lobby.But Keswick was unable to meet a third condition in the will: that the building be used only by whites.

The new position of Andrea A. Braid was reported incorrectly in The Sun on April 29. Braid is executive director/chief executive officer of Keswick.The Sun regrets the error.Pub Date: 5/07/96

Battling over a gift of nearly $30 million, lawyers for two Baltimore health care institutions argued yesterday over which takes precedence, Maryland's anti-segregation policies or rules governing bequests. The attorneys, appearing before the state's highest court, are vying over a bequest from Dr. Jesse C. Coggins. In 1962, Coggins wrote a will leaving what was then a $2.3 million estate to the Keswick Home with the caveat that it use the money to house white patients and name the building for him. If that was unacceptable, the money was to go to University of Maryland Medical System, with no race restrictions.

On November 26, 2003, FRANCES L. (nee Keefer), beloved wife of the late Edmund L. Holmes, loving mother of E. Elizabeth McCulloch, dear sister of Mary Virginia Reuter, cherished grandmother of Teresa L. Dawson. Also survived by several loving nieces and nephews and beloved friend to the Vincent family. A Memorial Service will be celebrated in Keswick Multi Care center, 700 W. 40th St., Baltimore, MD 21218, on Saturday, December 6, at 2 P.M. In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions may be made in Mrs. Holmes' name to Keswick Multi Care Center, Attn.

On November 29, 2003, ALIDA SOMMER; died peacefully at Keswick Nursing Home. She is survived by two sons; Bernard and James French and ten grandchildren; wife of the late Herman Sommer. Arrangements by Mitchell-Wiedefeld. Mass and Interment at Immaculate Conception at a future date.

Russia and the United States are shocked to discover that the other is still spying. Shocked.The Christmas lights on 34th Street between Chestnut and Keswick in Hampden are the best, again.Moscow's thinking is that when Grozny no longer exists, Chechens will be better Russians.The West Side plan calls for removal of businesses that work. What's to understand?

Helen H. Mower, who won golf championships in the 1940s and was on the board of the old Presbyterian Eye, Ear and Throat Charity Hospital, now part of the Greater Baltimore Medical Center, died Oct. 18 of heart failure at Keswick Home in Baltimore. She was 100.Mrs. Mower had also been on the board of Keswick, a home for the elderly where she was a resident for 10 years. She had lived for many years earlier on Cloverhill Road and in the Thirty-Nine Hundred North Charles Apartments.As a golfer in Baltimore in the 1930s and 1940s, she won the women's championship at the Elkridge Club several times in the 1940s.