Married

In the eternal struggle between the sexes, women appear to have found an ally or two in the research community. In recent weeks men have come under scrutiny for not keeping up with chores once they're married (North Carolina State University), overstating their sexual conquests (University of California, Berkeley) and being generally dominated by their wives in conversation (Iowa State University). But the biggest blow to manly-life-as-we-know-it may have been dealt by Gaithersburg's own Elaine D. Eaker, the lead researcher of a study that found married women who keep silent during marital disputes have a greater chance of dying from heart disease.

On an ordinary Saturday, the Rev. Phil Landers performs one or two weddings, allowing time in between to mingle with the guests and maybe snap a few photos. But July 7, 2007, is no ordinary Saturday. Wedding watchers say the 7/7/07 date, with its string of lucky sevens, is the most sought-after wedding day in a century, chosen by couples eager to start their lives together with luck on their side. So Landers' schedule is shaping up to be a road trip, a marathon of matrimony that will have him driving throughout the Chicago metropolitan area, marrying five couples.

When Ray Gundersdorff met Thelma Bowers, she was still Thelma Southcomb, a pretty senior at Catonsville High School. Ray was a junior.Besides passing in school hallways, Thelma and Ray belonged to the same church youth group. When a small faction of the group would sneak off to go bowling instead of attending the weekly meeting, Thelma and Ray were always in the thick of the high jinks.Not together, mind you. In the early 1950s, they both adamantly say, senior girls did not go out with junior-class men. So Thelma and Ray never even considered dating.

A former Baltimore police officer, who resigned amid allegations that he stole money from immigrants, admitted yesterday that he was married to two women at the same time.Dorian J. Martin, 24, pleaded guilty to bigamy in Baltimore Circuit Court. He was placed on five years' probation for the charge that came to light during the investigation of the alleged thefts.Martin is scheduled to be tried on three counts each of theft and official misconduct in July.Martin's attorney, Warren A. Brown, said that love was to blame for Martin's simultaneous marriages.

EDNA WRENN has seen enormous changes in her lifetime. Born in Washington on Aug. 28, 1899, she has lived through two world wars and the Great Depression and has witnessed, on television, man's first walk on the moon.Mrs. Wrenn celebrated her 100th birthday last week at Harmony Hall Retirement Community in Hickory Ridge."I had four birthday parties," she said. "It lasted all week. I had so many friends and relatives there. It was wonderful."On Friday, a representative from the county executive's office attended a party held in her honor and presented her with a proclamation declaring Saturday to be Edna Wrenn Day in Howard County.

LINDA WARD AND DAVE HOFFMANNLike so many brides before her, Linda Ward peered out the window of the upstairs dressing room at the Historic Little Wedding Chapel in Elkton and tried to catch a glimpse of her groom.Though Linda couldn't see him, a grinning David "Dave" Hoffmann was waiting in the tiny vestibule downstairs, crowded in with his family while the Rev. Frank T. Smith performed another couple's wedding ceremony.Dave and Linda were one of 13 couples Smith married on Valentine's Day. That's a far cry from the 22 couples he married on Valentine's Day 1998 ("but that was a Saturday," the minister says by way of explanation)

Richard Cressman and Danielle McMullen know what they want to do New Year's Eve: enjoy a nice early dinner, get married at 11 p.m. and return home before midnight.Fortunately for them, Howard County Circuit Court Clerk Margaret D. Rappaport is opening the courthouse in Ellicott City for marriages tomorrow night as a way to celebrate the beginning of 2000."How cool is it to get married on the millennium?" said Cressman, 23, an Internet support provider from Columbia.Rappaport and Anne Arundel County Circuit Court Clerk Robert P. Duckworth are the only court officials in the area volunteering to do this.

Candice Chancellor of Hampstead won the title of Mrs. Maryland 1999 at the pageant May 1 in Easton.Married women from across the state competed in the pageant that showcases the accomplishments of those who are wives and mothers and maintain careers.Chancellor has been married five years and is the mother of two. She has a bachelor's degree in public relations and journalism and is a marketing professional.Her platform for the pageant was "Buckle Up, America," to increase the use of seat belts and proper child car seat restraints.

The perfect honeymoon takes as many shapes as the perfect honey.Almost every lodging in the world offers some sort of romantic package or can invent one at a moment's notice with a quick call to the florist. In general, amenities range from ``Just Married'' T-shirts and a bottle of bubbly to moonlight sails (common in Florida and the Caribbean) and heart-shaped beds or tubs (a trademark of the Poconos and Niagara Falls).Geri Bain, travel editor of Modern Bride magazine, says the weddings-away business is ``growing really fast.

ROMANCE IS on the minds of west Columbians.If you're wondering how to spend Valentine's Day with the one you love, you may be inspired by some of our neighbors' romantic memories.Jessica Reisboard, Alvin and Doris Gregory and August Falck -- residents of Harmony Hall, a retirement Community in Hickory Ridge -- were reminiscing in the parlor last week."My husband was a very romantic guy. We were married at the height of the Depression, when $5 was like $50 today," Reisboard recalled.On Valentine's Day the year they were married, Reisboard's husband, Bernard, came home with a bouquet of flowers.

The wife of an Annapolis alderman who is running for mayor appeared to say Wednesday in an e-mail that the abuse allegations she made against her husband in a 1986 court filing were "exaggerated" and "not true." Jana Shropshire, who is married to Alderman Samuel E. Shropshire, refused a telephone interview, and the authenticity of the e-mail could not be verified yesterday. Samuel Shropshire, 61, denied on Tuesday the 23-year-old accusations. Shropshire, a Democrat, has been accused of groping a Naval Academy midshipman May 14 and has been charged with second-degree assault and a fourth-degree sex offense.

Married priests ready to serve I have unqualified respect for the Rev. Jim Hannon and his tireless care of the Catholic community of Western Maryland ("A busy shepherd," April 10). However, one priest serving seven parishes is completely unnecessary. Archbishop Edwin F. O'Brien of Baltimore refers to the "priest shortage" to explain Father Hannon's demanding situation. But the truth is that there is no true shortage except in the frozen thinking of the Vatican and its bishops. The fact is that by some estimates there are some 25,000 married Catholic priests in America alone, most of whom would happily serve the faithful if church authorities would simply get out of their own legalistic way. There are also countless women who qualify for priestly ordination and would generously and joyfully bring the Eucharist and a full sacramental life back to many starving Catholic people.

After a lengthy illness, on April 9, 2009, WILLIAM; beloved husband of Christine. He was born June 5, 1932 to the late William and Martha Lowrimore in Alabama. He was one of five children. His parents moved to Baltimore at an early age, where he attended private schools. Here he met and married Catherine Chavis. To this union was born four children, Martha, Debra, William, and Dwayne. After the untimely death of Catherine, he met and married Christine; to this union one child was born Jerry.

Portia B. Pitts, a homemaker who raised her dozen children in public housing and still found time to volunteer at her East Baltimore church, died Saturday of heart failure at Johns Hopkins Hospital. Last month, Mrs. Pitts celebrated her 90th birthday. Portia B. Jackson was born in Baltimore and spent her early years on East Monument Street. After the death of her mother when she was 14, she moved to Edmondson Avenue. She graduated from Douglass High School in 1938, then worked for several years before marrying David Augustus Pitts, an $18-a-week dishwasher, in 1940.

BETSY BLAIR, 85 Actress nominated for Oscar in 'Marty' Betsy Blair, who played the shy teacher who meets Ernest Borgnine's lonely Bronx butcher at the Stardust Ballroom in the 1955 movie Marty, died March 13 of cancer at a London hospital. The red-haired actress, who was blacklisted in Hollywood in the 1950s while married to screen legend Gene Kelly and later was married to director Karel Reisz, earned an Academy Award nomination as best actress in a supporting role as Clara Snyder in Marty.

The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act is a month old today, but there is still a lot of confusion about the tax breaks. Tax professionals have been answering readers' questions on the stimulus package on our consumer blog at www.baltimoresun.com/consuminginterests. Here are answers to frequent questions: First-time homebuyer credit This is worth 10 percent of the purchase price, up to a maximum credit of $8,000. To get it, you must buy a house between Jan. 1 through Nov. 30 this year.

Fergie, Josh Duhamel get married in Malibu The Dutchess is a bride. Her manager says Fergie and Josh Duhamel have been married. Manager William Derella said by e-mail that the 33-year-old "Fergalicious" singer-actress, whose real name is Stacy Ferguson, and the 36-year-old Transformers actor were married Saturday at the Church Estates Vineyards in Malibu. The pair had been dating since 2004 and were engaged in 2007. The Black Eyed Peas singer launched her solo career in 2006 with the hit album The Dutchess - the title is a misspelled variation of the title held by Sarah "Fergie" Ferguson, the Duchess of York.

Santo C. Scalio and Margaret L. Metcalf married October 21, 2008. A secret love held in two hearts from 1957 to 2007. For 50 years we did not live enough until uniting our love together in marriage.

Joseph B. Harlan, a prominent Baltimore attorney and lifelong supporter of lacrosse, died Thursday at Gilchrist Hospice Care after suffering from a brain tumor. He was 66. Born in Roland Park, he graduated from Friends School. He was an excellent lacrosse player and went to the University of Maryland on an athletic scholarship. He then earned a law degree from the University of Baltimore. Mr. Harlan began his career as a prosecutor in the organized crime division of the state's attorney's office and later worked as a deputy director of the federally funded Narcotics Strike Force.

MAUDIE WHITE HOPKINS, 93 Widow of Confederate veteran Maudie White Hopkins, who grew up during the Depression in the hardscrabble Ozarks and married a Confederate army veteran 67 years her senior, died Sunday at a hospital in Helena-West Helena, Ark. She was 93. Other Confederate widows are still living, but they don't want any publicity, Martha Boltz of the United Daughters of the Confederacy said yesterday. Mrs. Hopkins grew up in a family of 10 children, did laundry and cleaned house for William M. Cantrell, a Confederate veteran whose wife had died years earlier.