Oxford

On December 28, 2007, THOMAS J. HEALY JR., of Easton, MD, devoted husband of Nancy (Nee Cottingham) Healy, loving father of Donna Clem of Oxford, MD and Barbara Hope, Thomas "Mooch" Healy, III, Paula Broll and Shelley Chance all of Easton, MD. Also survived by a sister, Margie Mullaney of Baltimore, 9 grandchildren, 7 great grandchildren and several nieces and nephews. Services will be held at St. Mark's United Methodist Church, Easton, MD, on Thursday January 3, 2008 at 11A.M. Burial will be in Oxford Cemetery, Oxford, MD. Friends may call at the Fellows Helfenbein Newnam Funeral Home P.A., Easton, MD on Wednesday January 2, 2008 from 6 to 8 P.M. Memorial donations may be made to Talbot Hospice Foundation, 586 Cynwood Drive, Easton, MD 21601 or the Oxford Volunteer Fire Company, 300 Oxford Road, Oxford, MD 21654.

On March 3, 2007, JACK F. WROTEN; beloved husband of the late Joan Healy Wroten; loving father of Janet B. Wroten, Martha W. Cole and husband Dan, Christopher F. Wroten and his wife Terri, the late Sarah W. Patterson and her husband Bob; grandfather of Nicholas, Hilary, Jesse, Claire, Nathan, Hannah, and Chris. Jack donated his body to the Anatomy Board. A Memorial Service in Oxford will occur at a future date. In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions may be made to the Oxford Community Center, 200 Oxford Rd., P.O. Box 308, Oxford, MD 21654.

IT IS NOON on the Sunday before the annual Varsity match against Cambridge, and the Oxford University boxing team has just finished a grueling two-hour session of sparring, shadowboxing, bag work and circuit training.Still dripping sweat, they gather around an upright, gray-haired man known as the Colonel. A veteran of the Second World War, Lt. Colonel Peter Fleming boxed for Oxford in the late 1940s, and each year he delivers a series of talks on strategy to the team as they prepare for the big match.

OXFORD -- A parasite that has been killing crabs from the Gulf of Mexico to Long Island Sound for more than a decade is a suspect in the decline of the commercial crab catch in Maryland's coastal bays.The parasite, known as Hematodinium (he-mat-a-DIN-ee-um) sp, threatened Georgia's $4-million-a-year crab industry this year and shut down crabbing on the Atlantic Ocean side of Virginia's eastern shore in 1991-1992. The commercial catch in Maryland's coastal bays was cut in half last year, the most recent year for which figures are available, and apparently declined again this year.

AN OXFORD University theology professor once told me that it was impossible to live according to the Sermon on the Mount because Jesus tells us to turn the other cheek. The exact phrase is something like, "Whoever shall smite thee on thy right cheek, turn to him the other also." Further, he tells us that if any man "take away thy coat, let him have thy cloak also."I grew up in Baltimore and Virginia trying to live the Sermon on the Mount. It was hard. I finally gave up during the past couple of years.

Ever since Adam and Eve were evicted from Eden, people have seen work as a grim necessity that gives structure, as well as sustenance, to our lives.But in today's turbo-charged economy, where new jobs last little longer than Hollywood marriages, does the lack of structure in our work threaten our identity and integrity?So asks the respected sociologist and workplace-watcher Richard Sennett in his "The Corrosion of Character: The Personal Consequences of Work in the New Capitalism" (W. W. Norton & Co., 176 pages, $23.95)

OXFORD -- When this little town on the Tred Avon River decks itself for Christmas, the party is strictly invitation only. And that's the way residents intend to keep it.Oh sure, there are a couple of bed and breakfasts and a handful of restaurants. But here, natives and newcomers seem to take pride in their disdain for tourist dollars. It is a town that brags about a maritime heritage that even now includes seven working boatyards.Maybe that is why folks who eschew anything they deem to be too commercial have taken so quickly to stringing up Christmas lights in the shape of trees to decorate the 50 or so docks that rim Town Creek at the heart of the 331-year-old port.

The Rev. Olin T. Binkley,91, a former president of Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary who was an early proponent of racial integration during the civil rights era, died Friday in Wake Forest, N.C.Abdullah al-Baradouni,70, Yemen's most famous poet who was blinded as a childand later imprisoned several times for his politically charged writings, died yesterday in San'a, Yemen.Lani Kai,63, an entertainer who had a feature role in the Elvis Presley movie "Blue Hawaii," died Aug. 24 in Oahu.

Sir Edward Abraham, 85, an Oxford University professor and biochemist who played an important role in the development of penicillin, died Sunday in Oxford, England, his family said.As a researcher at Oxford, Sir Edward worked with Ernest Chain and Howard Florey on the purification of penicillin, and went on to develop the cephalosporin class of antibiotics now used extensively in the treatment of respiratory infections such as pneumonia and bronchitis.Saul Steinberg, 84, the artist whose drawings appeared in the New Yorker for more than half a century, elevating comic illustration to fine art, died yesterday at his home in Manhattan.

OXFORD, England -- Americans paying upward of $20,000 a year in tuition to attend the best universities might wonder what Alex Ismail's problem is.The 19-year-old Briton is protesting against the $1,600 a year tuition levied for the first time in decades at British universities, including world-famous Oxford University.Ismail is one of the "Oxford Six," the fiercely bright holdouts at the center of an effort to reverse the tuition tide and bring back Britain's free college ride, a right once enjoyed by millions of Britons at all British universities.

Christine D. Sarbanes, a retired educator, active board member and wife of former Sen. Paul S. Sarbanes, died Sunday of cancer at her Guilford home. She was 73. "Her life and legacy as a teacher and community servant touched thousands of Marylanders and reminds us all that a life lived for others is the greatest of gifts," Gov. Martin O'Malley said in a statement Monday. "She believed in the dignity of every individual, and that every person has potential that we, as a community, can unlock through literacy and access to higher learning."

Eugenia M. "Jeanne" Kappler, a nurse-midwife who delivered many babies during nearly four decades in Maryland, died Tuesday of lung cancer at Brakeley Park Care Center in Phillipsburg, N.J. She was 83. Miss Kappler, a native of Oxford, N.J., was the youngest of seven children. She served in the Army Cadet Nursing Corps from 1943 to 1946 and graduated from St. Francis School of Nursing in Trenton, N.J., in 1946. A decade later, she received a nursing degree from Villanova University. Miss Kappler also studied to be a certified nurse-midwife at the Johns Hopkins University, graduating in 1958, and earned a master's degree from the University of Maryland in 1959, said her niece, Mary Alice Bockman.

JAMES HOYT, 83 Concentration camp liberator James Hoyt, one of four U.S. soldiers who discovered Buchenwald concentration camp as World War II neared its end, died in his sleep Monday at his home in Oxford, Iowa, said his wife, Doris. The cause of death was not immediately determined. Mr. Hoyt served in the Army's 6th Armored Division during World War II, earning the Bronze Star. He fought in the Battle of the Bulge. Buchenwald, one of the largest concentration camps established by Nazi Germany, was liberated in April 1945.

On December 28, 2007, THOMAS J. HEALY JR., of Easton, MD, devoted husband of Nancy (Nee Cottingham) Healy, loving father of Donna Clem of Oxford, MD and Barbara Hope, Thomas "Mooch" Healy, III, Paula Broll and Shelley Chance all of Easton, MD. Also survived by a sister, Margie Mullaney of Baltimore, 9 grandchildren, 7 great grandchildren and several nieces and nephews. Services will be held at St. Mark's United Methodist Church, Easton, MD, on Thursday January 3, 2008 at 11A.M. Burial will be in Oxford Cemetery, Oxford, MD. Friends may call at the Fellows Helfenbein Newnam Funeral Home P.A., Easton, MD on Wednesday January 2, 2008 from 6 to 8 P.M. Memorial donations may be made to Talbot Hospice Foundation, 586 Cynwood Drive, Easton, MD 21601 or the Oxford Volunteer Fire Company, 300 Oxford Road, Oxford, MD 21654.

Midshipman Blaine Moore says he was pleasantly surprised to learn he was named a Rhodes Scholar, but it might not have been a shock to those who eat with the Naval Academy senior every day. A squad leader responsible for about a dozen students in his company, Moore has held court this semester at meals by engaging them in all-but-mandatory discussions on nuclear proliferation, Darfur, the rise of China and the intersection of religion and politics....

The lowdown -- Performance Workshop Theatre has bookended its season with plays by Irish dramatist Brian Friel. Having opened with Faith Healer in the fall, the theater will wrap up its season, beginning tomorrow, with a five-weekend run of Philadelphia, Here I Come!, the play that launched Friel's career in the 1960s. Tom Byrne and Kyle Riley star as the public and private incarnations of Gar O'Donnell, a young man struggling with his decision to move to the United States from his home in the Irish village of Ballybeg.

On March 3, 2007, JACK F. WROTEN; beloved husband of the late Joan Healy Wroten; loving father of Janet B. Wroten, Martha W. Cole and husband Dan, Christopher F. Wroten and his wife Terri, the late Sarah W. Patterson and her husband Bob; grandfather of Nicholas, Hilary, Jesse, Claire, Nathan, Hannah, and Chris. Jack donated his body to the Anatomy Board. A Memorial Service in Oxford will occur at a future date. In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions may be made to the Oxford Community Center, 200 Oxford Rd., P.O. Box 308, Oxford, MD 21654.

Jeanette Hall Cascio, 89, Belleview, FL, formerly of Baltimore died Monday, February 5, 2007 at her residence. She was a retired supervisor from Mrs. Filberts Food Service. She was a Methodist and moved to Belleview, Fl from Baltimore in September 1999. Mrs. Cascio was the widow of George Cascio and is survived by her niece and caregiver, Virginia Nelson of Belleview, FL and many other nieces and nephews through out the nation and in the Baltimore area. The family requests memorials be made to the Oxford United Methodist Church, 3906 E. CR 466, Oxford, FL 34484 or the Hospice of Marion County, Inc., P. O. Box 4860, Ocala, FL 34478-4860.

Lewis Kenneth Sullivan Jr., a retired Baltimore and Ohio Railroad communications engineer, died of heart disease Saturday at Union Memorial Hospital. The Oxford resident was 77. Born in Baltimore and raised on Elmley Avenue, he attended City College and later earned a General Educational Development diploma. He began work as a messenger in the telegraph office of the railroad's downtown Baltimore headquarters in 1946. He retired in 1984 as regional communications and signal engineer of the Chessie System, successor company to B&O. Mr. Sullivan lived for many years in Glen Burnie before moving to the Eastern Shore.

George W. Robinson, a retired Social Security Administration claims adjuster and volunteer, died of complications from a stroke Oct. 27 at a nursing home in Oxford, Pa. He was 87. Mr. Robinson was born and raised in Berlin, N.J. He graduated from Glassboro High School and Strayer's Business College in Philadelphia. After World War II service as a clerk-typist with an Army engineering unit in India, he went to work in 1946 for Social Security in the Candler Building in downtown Baltimore.