Keswick

On March 10, 2004, HILDA M. (nee Bull), beloved wife of Robert J. "Jimmy" Vallonga, Sr., devoted mother of Robert J. Vallonga, Jr., Cathie Norris, Bethany Jacob, Vallerie Vallonga, Jeffrey Vallonga and Kim Sullivan. Loving grandmother of Brandon, Ellen, Olivia, Jeffrey, Jr., Kyle, Gavin and Desha Friends are invited to call at the Burgee-Henss-Seitz Funeral Home, Inc., 3631 Falls Road, on Thursday and Friday from 3 to 5 and 7 to 9 P.M. Services on Saturday at 10 A.M. In lieu of flowers, contributions may be made to the Free Methodist Church, 3441 Keswick Road, 21211 in Mrs. Vallonga's name.

Rachel A. Miller, a former licensed practical nurse who worked at several area hospitals during a career of more than 40 years, died of renal failure Tuesday at Keswick Multi-Care Center. She was 95. She was born and raised Rachel Anna Yingling on Dellwood Avenue in Hampden. She attended Western High School and earned her licensed practical nursing degree in 1928 from what was then the Keswick Home for Incurables. Mrs. Miller worked as a private-duty nurse at Keswick; the old Baltimore Eye, Ear and Nose Hospital; and Children's Hospital.

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.

Claire N. Carney, a retired accounting clerk at Keswick Multi-Care Center, died of multiple organ failure Nov. 26 at Greater Baltimore Medical Center. She was 87 and a resident of Pinewood Avenue in Hamilton for more than a half-century. Claire Naomi Chester was born in Baltimore and raised on Brentwood Avenue. She was a 1933 graduate of the former Seton High School in Charles Village and had recently attended her 70th class reunion. She was married in 1941 to Owen B. Carney Jr., a postal worker, and settled on Pinewood Avenue.

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.

Former U.S. Rep. Parren J. Mitchell moved this week to another nursing home, and a dispute with officials of the Keswick Multi-Care Center over a substantial amount in unpaid bills has been resolved. Arthur M. Frank, the attorney for the retired Baltimore congressman, confirmed yesterday that Mitchell, 81, was moved Monday from Keswick in Roland Park to HCR Manor Care-Ruxton, a 206-bed facility at 7001 N. Charles St. in Towson. Frank said the transfer was for health reasons, but he declined to elaborate.

Phyllis G. McCardell, a social worker who helped expand services for patients at Keswick Multi-Care Center and was the widow of a well-known Baltimore banker, died of stroke complications Tuesday at the Roland Park nursing facility. She was 78. Mrs. McCardell, who lived in the Poplar Hill neighborhood of North Baltimore, was born Phyllis Green in Philadelphia and raised in Collingswood, N.J. She earned her bachelor's degree in sociology and economics from Hood College in 1945, the same year she married Adrian LeRoy McCardell Jr. The couple moved to Norfolk, Va., and later Charleston, W.Va.

Elizabeth Nolley Brocklander, a longtime Bolton Hill resident who worked at Chesapeake & Potomac Telephone Co. of Maryland for 35 years, died Wednesday of complications from a stroke at Keswick Multi-Care Center. She was 86. Elizabeth Nolley grew up with five brothers in Bolton Hill, graduating from Seton High School in 1934. She took a job that year as an operator with C&P Telephone and was supervising other operators by the time she retired in 1969. In 1941, she married John J. Brocklander, chief engineer at Goetze's Candy Co. Inc. The couple bought several homes in the Bolton Hill area in the 1950s and 1960s and spent countless hours after work renovating them, said a nephew, Edmond B. Nolley Jr. of Homeland.

Parren J. Mitchell, the former congressman and civil rights leader, filed a $251 million lawsuit against The Sun and two of its reporters yesterday, alleging trespassing and invasion of privacy when the reporters interviewed him at the Keswick Multi-Care Center in North Baltimore. Standing outside the Clarence M. Mitchell Jr. Courthouse, named for Parren Mitchell's older brother, the storied civil rights leader and family patriarch, three relatives excoriated the newspaper, calling a recent series of articles politically motivated and untrue.

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.