Retirement Community

When letter writer Susan Brown turns 75, sells her family home and moves to a quiet retirement area, she will be better equipped to opine whether or not she thinks a 700-seat elementary school is appropriate in her backyard ("Mays Chapel school would be an asset to the area," March 11). If she is like the several thousand people who actually live here and have signed the petition to stop the building, she quite possibly would even join our protest. The planned unit development to which she refers was signed many years ago, before Mays Chapel North became an area to retire to after you sold your family home.

Cary B. Beehler, a former Cross Keys sales associate and avid bird watcher whose travels took her all over the world in pursuit of her hobby, died May 7 from complications of a stroke at Gilchrist Hospice in Towson. The Blakehurst retirement community resident was 91. The daughter of the owner of Baxter Paper Co. and a homemaker, Cary Baxter was born in Baltimore and raised on Deepdene Road in Roland Park. She attended the Calvert School, Greenwood School and St. Mary's Seminary for Women, now St. Mary's College of Maryland, in St. Mary's City.

Strong opposition by Green Spring Valley residents and Baltimore County officials has forced the Charlestown Retirement Community to abandon plans to build a senior citizens housing development on the edge of the valley.Paul L. Erickson, general counsel for Charlestown, said that company officials decided 10 days ago to drop their effort to have public water and sewerage extended west of Falls Road to service the proposed 2,500-resident development at Falls and Greenspring Valley roads. A letter to that effect was sent to P. David Fields, county planning director.

Marie Rose Cornely, a homemaker who enjoyed writing poetry, died Sunday of heart disease at Stella Maris Hospice. She was 87. Marie Rose McKenna was born and raised in Philadelphia. She was a 1943 graduate of the Academy of Notre Dame de Namur in Villanova, Pa. She was an office worker before her 1947 marriage to Dr. Donald A. Cornely Sr.. The couple lived in Philadelphia when Dr. Cornely taught at the University of Pennsylvania and later at the University of Pittsburgh.

Anne Arundel County officials announced yesterday a partnership with a Severna Park nonprofit organization that will provide affordable housing for about 160 elderly people.Under the arrangement, the county is donating 10 acres near Cypress Creek Road and Ritchie Highway to Woodswise, a nonprofit group formed by Woods Memorial Presbyterian Church. The group will lease the land to a private corporation, which will build and operate the $10 million retirement community."Woodswise is acting almost as a trustee for the county," said Ardath Cade, the county's human services officer.

Vantage House Life Care Retirement Community has launched a Web site that includes photos and stories of residents and a photo tour of the community, which did an $11 million renovation last year. In Town Center, the not-for-profit retirement community includes 224 residential apartments and a health center for recuperative and emergency assistance or long-term nursing care. Information: 410-964-5454 or www.vantagehouse.org. Central library offering book club for young people The Howard County Central Library, 10375 Little Patuxent Parkway, will offer Classics for Teens, a new book club for those ages 12 and older.

Irene R. Eaton, a retired elementary school teacher who set up a financially successful store at her retirement community, died of old age June 7 at Oak Crest Village. She was 93. Sometimes called the "Queen of Oak Crest," she raised nearly $900,000 for projects and charity work at the Parkville retirement village. Born Irene Rollins in Rutherford County, N.C., she earned a bachelor's degree at Appalachian University in Boone, N.C. She moved to Carroll County, and while living and teaching in Sykesville met her future husband, Warren Eaton, an auto mechanic.

The state Board of Public Works yesterday approved the sale of a former 152-acre facility for the mentally retarded to a Catonsville company that plans to convert it into a $250 million retirement community.Senior Campus Living Inc.'s $9.1 million purchase of the former Great Oaks Center land, which straddles the Prince George's-Montgomery County line, is contingent upon local zoning and site plan approval.The company, developer of the Charlestown and Oak Crest Village communities in Catonsville and Parkville, respectively, plans to build up to 2,000 senior living units, a nursing home, medical center and other facilities at Great Oaks.

Corridors are closed off and workers in hardhats scurry about, but the folks who live at Pickersgill Retirement Community don't seem to be bothered. "Getting to the meeting room is a little inconvenient, but that is a temporary thing," said Sanford Disney, a resident of the Towson retirement community. "It's exercise, and it keeps you walking." Pickersgill, which describes itself as Maryland's oldest retirement community and the second-oldest in the nation, is in the midst of an extensive renovation.

Frances D. Tompkins, a registered nurse who had been vice president and director of nursing at Union Memorial Hospital, died Tuesday of complications from pneumonia at the Oak Crest Village retirement community. The longtime Stoneleigh resident was 92. Frances Dillaway was born in Baltimore and raised on Stuart Avenue in the city's Forest Park neighborhood. After graduating in 1937 from Forest Park High School, she earned a bachelor's degree in 1941 from what is now McDaniel College.

Dr. George G. Hansen, a retired dentist and master woodworker, died April 11 of pneumonia at Oak Crest Village retirement community. He was 89. The son of educators, Dr. Hansen was born in Baltimore and raised in Towson. He spent his boyhood summers at a camp his parents owned and operated in Oakland, where he learned to ride horses, shoot, canoe, camp and do woodworking. After graduating in 1941 from Polytechnic Institute, where his father taught physical education, he earned his degree in an accelerated class in 1946 from the University of Maryland School of Dentistry.

Margery K. Reid, a retired secretary and volunteer, died of a stroke Tuesday at Gilchrist Hospice Care in Towson. She was 89. Margery McShane was born in Baltimore and raised in Bolton Hill. She was a 1938 graduate of Western High School and the Baltimore Business College. She also attended the Maryland Institute College of Art . She was married in 1945 to A. Walter Kraus Jr., who was a partner in the Miles and Stockbridge law firm. After his death in 1955, she went to work in the Maryland Judiciary's Administrative Office.

Capt. Herbert Hamilton Ward III, a retired career naval officer who was active in Upper Chesapeake Bay environmental matters and other issues, died March 17 from complications of a blood clot at Gilchrist Hospice in Towson. The Broadmead retirement community resident was 91. The son of a lawyer and a homemaker, Herbert Hamilton Ward III was born and raised in Wilmington, Del., where he graduated in 1939 from Friends School. He was a member of an accelerated wartime class at the Naval Academy, from which he graduated in 1943.

When letter writer Susan Brown turns 75, sells her family home and moves to a quiet retirement area, she will be better equipped to opine whether or not she thinks a 700-seat elementary school is appropriate in her backyard ("Mays Chapel school would be an asset to the area," March 11). If she is like the several thousand people who actually live here and have signed the petition to stop the building, she quite possibly would even join our protest. The planned unit development to which she refers was signed many years ago, before Mays Chapel North became an area to retire to after you sold your family home.

When the Mays Chapel planned unit development was approved by Baltimore County, part of the agreement was that there was to be a school built as part of the project. Since it is sorely needed now, the county should build a school that serves the area. It has been many years since this agreement, but the county hasn't fulfilled its promise. There are many children who are living in the area considered Mays Chapel. While it is true that one of the closest residential areas is a retirement community, that should not affect where a school is located.

Robert W. "Bob" Summers, a retired Chesapeake & Potomac Telephone Co. manager, died Thursday of heart failure at Oak Crest Village retirement community. He was 82. Robert Wendell Summers was born in Baltimore and raised in Forest Park. He was a 1947 graduate of Polytechnic Institute and earned a bachelor's degree in electrical engineering in 1952 from the Johns Hopkins University. He served in the Army from 1952 to 1954, and was stationed at Aberdeen Proving Ground, where he worked on weapons development research.

On the 94-acre campus of Broadmead, a retirement community, there is an immediate sense that this isomething very different from preconceived notions about senior life residences. Instead of multistory buildings tucked into the hills of Hunt Valley, little clusters of cottages have been designed and built on the property. Each cluster of one-story bungalows is like a small court of homes in a quaint village, albeit one that is rich in wildlife, nature trails and the protected wetlands of Western Run. Rhoda Dorsey's cottage is located in the newest group of homes.