Retirement Community

Jeanne R. Houck, a homemaker and bridge player, died of complications from a stroke Tuesday at the Blakehurst retirement community in Towson. She was 87. Jeanne Ripley was born in Baltimore and raised in Roland Park. After graduating from Girls' Latin School in 1938, she went to work as an administrative assistant at Waverly Press and then in sales for William & Wilkins Co. She later earned her real estate license and worked in real estate sales for the Russell T. Baker Co. from 1954 to 1960 while operating a Christmas card business from 1950 to 1970.

H. H. Walker Lewis, former general solicitor for the Chesapeake & Potomac Telephone Co. and author of two biographies and numerous monographs, died Wednesday of heart failure at Roland Park Place retirement community. He was 95.Mr. Lewis, a former longtime resident of St. Johns Road in Roland Park, moved to the retirement community in 1991.The corporate attorney, who specialized in tax law and rate cases, joined C&P's legal department in Washington in 1948 and retired in 1967.Earlier, he was an attorney for the United States Fidelity & Guaranty Co.He began his career at Piper, Carey and Hall in Baltimore after he graduated from Harvard Law School in 1928.

The Memorial Stadium review panel met Wednesday night and made a "confidential" recommendation to Housing and Community Development Commissioner Daniel P. Henson III on redevelopment of the 30-acre parcel in North Baltimore, city officials said.The proposals are for a research and technology park, a senior citizen retirement community and a combined retail/housing use. The panel that studied the options included five city officials, a state official and five neighborhood representatives.Zach Germroth, an HCD spokesman, said Henson, who has the final vote on the matter, will decide soon.

Walter Harper Bryan, 88, builder and businessmanWalter Harper Bryan, a retired builder and businessman, died Sunday of cancer at Oak Crest Village in Parkville. He was 88.Mr. Bryan, who retired in 1977, had been a resident of the retirement community since 1997. He had resided at the Charlestown retirement community from 1989 until 1997, and earlier had lived in Grasonville and Hamilton.He purchased Montebello Hardware in the 4700 block of Harford Road in 1966, a business that was later operated by his daughters until it closed last year.

Retirement park is best way to reuse stadium siteAs Anna Mae Becker noted in her recent letter ("`Technology Park' could revive community," April 5), there is no unanimity in Ednor Gardens-Lakeside over how best to redevelop the Memorial Stadium site. However, a clear majority of residents present at the Feb. 23 meeting of the local community association supported the GEDCO/PHI retirement community proposal rather than the "technology park" Ms. Becker favors.Nearly 200 residents attended the Feb. 23 meeting and the GEDCO proposal garnered 103 votes, compared to 62 for the technology park and 19 for the mixed-use development proposal.

Fairhaven Retirement Community's plan to build a $3.5 million headquarters has several of its Sykesville neighbors clamoring for the complex to keep its distance.Episcopal Ministries to the Aging, Fairhaven's parent company, angered homeowners along Springfield and Central avenues recently when it announced plans to build corporate offices adjacent to their residences."Would you want an office building in your back yard?" asked Debbi Lamb of Central Avenue. "I have no problem with Fairhaven as neighbors, but not next door."

Retirement village at stadium will be a national modelBy choosing our affordable retirement community to redevelop the Memorial Stadium site, Baltimore's leadership is setting an excellent example for the nation on two scores. ("Memorial Stadium's last Memorial Day?" May 30).First, the mayor is setting a precedent by using a residential model to replace a stadium in a residential neighborhood. Second, the project makes Baltimore the first city in the nation to develop an affordable retirement community.

The senior citizen retirement community option is now the choice of two of the five community groups helping decide what fate befalls the storied Memorial Stadium and its 30-acre site.In a vote held Wednesday by the Better Waverly Community Organization, the Govans Ecumenical Development Corp. (GEDCO) plan for a retirement community received 32 votes, compared with 11 for a research technology park and five for a proposal including retail stores, housing and a skating rink.Nearly 200 residents in the Ednor Gardens/Lakeside community association voted along similar lines last week.

As more and more cities build glitzy sports palaces, a new problem arises: What should be done with the old stadiums and arenas that are left behind?As the first to construct side-by-side stadiums downtown for baseball and football, Baltimore has gained widespread recognition for demonstrating how sports facilities can help draw people back to the city while invigorating the surrounding area.Now the city is in a position to lead the way again as it evaluates proposals from three local groups seeking rights to redevelop Memorial Stadium, former home to the Orioles and Ravens, the major league teams that moved to separate stadiums in Camden Yards.

Fairhaven Retirement Community has made one more pitch to its Sykesville neighbors, hoping to win support to build a $3.5 million corporate headquarters in town.For Fairhaven to proceed, the town must change the residential zoning on the property to business, an action residents vehemently opposed during two lengthy public hearings. A third hearing is to be held at 7 p.m. today at the Town House.The Town Council is expected to vote on the rezoning after the hearing.Fairhaven administrators held out several carrots, including $1.2 million in road improvements and land for a town pool, to an audience of about 100 attending an information session Thursday at Fairhaven.

Warren E. "Libby" Mitzel, a retired physical-education instructor who taught in city public schools, died of cancer Oct. 22 at the Charlestown retirement community. She was 94. Warren Elizabeth "Libby" Mitzel, the daughter of a Pennsylvania Railroad freight conductor and a homemaker, was born at home on Keswick Road in Hampden. She was raised on a family farm in Baltimore County and in 1929 returned to Hampden with her family. To help support her family during the Depression, Miss Mitzel dropped out of school and went to work for Stieff Silver Co., where she became an engraver.

C. Robert Varndell, a former partner of the Baltimore engineering firm of Rummel, Klepper and Kahl, died of cancer Tuesday at the Hospice of Charleston in Charleston, S.C. The former longtime Catonsville resident was 85. Mr. Varndell, the son of an accountant and a school teacher, was born in Uniontown, Pa., and raised in Scenery Hill, Pa. After graduating fron Uniontown High School, he earned a bachelor's degree in civil engineering in 1946 from the...

David Allen O'Donoghue, a retired E. J. Korvette warehouse manager, died Sunday of liver failure at Charlestown retirement community. He was 86. Mr. O'Donoghue was born in Frederick and raised in Emmitsburg, where he graduated from Emmitsburg High School. He attended the Maryland Institute College of Art. During World War II, he served in the Navy as a chief petty officer aboard the aircraft carrier USS Bennington in the Pacific. He was discharged in 1946. The former Westview Park resident went to work in 1963 for the now-defunct Korvette's, a discount department store, and managed the company's furniture and carpet warehouse in Jessup until 1977.

Ruth H. Williams, a retired Baltimore County postal worker who enjoyed painting and sewing, died of congestive heart failure Monday at the Glen Meadows Retirement Community. She was 93. Ruth Houck, the daughter of a salesman and homemaker, was born in Baltimore and raised on Belgian Avenue. After graduating from Eastern High School in 1934, she went to work in the payroll and executive offices of Hochschild Kohn & Co. "She had studied fashion design at the Maryland Institute and had won a full scholarship to William & Mary to study art but couldn't because of the Depression," said a daughter, Christine Williams Bennett of Baldwin.

James P. "JP" Libertini Sr., a decorated World War II veteran and Small Business Administration official who earlier had owned a construction company, died of a heart attack Aug. 15 at the Charlestown retirement community. The former Elkridge resident was 86. Born in Baltimore, the son of Italian immigrant parents, Mr. Libertini was raised at Eden and Preston streets. He was a 1940 graduate of Polytechnic Institute and earned a bachelor's degree in engineering in 1944 from the Johns Hopkins University, where he had been a member of the ROTC.

Patrice Brown and Jerry Bannister don't know each other, but they're on opposite sides of an economic canyon that divides young from old and makes this recession different from any other in the last six decades. Even as employers lay off millions and unemployment soars, more people 55 and older hold jobs today than did a year ago. Folks such as Bannister, 67, the maintenance director at Mays Chapel Ridge retirement community, are working longer than they once expected because of disappointing pensions, stock-market losses or the need for health insurance.

After years of delays in getting Fort Howard redeveloped as a retirement community for veterans, the Department of Veterans Affairs on Wednesday scrapped those plans and said it will seek a new partner for the project. Fort Howard Senior Housing Association had signed a 75-year lease with the VA in 2004 to build what would have been the nation's largest continuing-care community for veterans. But the project, Bayside at Fort Howard, had become enmeshed in disputes over building permits, zoning regulations and taxes.

John E. Hentschel, former head of the city's real estate office who later worked for the Department of Public Works, died June 12 of cancer at the Pickersgill retirement community in Towson. He was 91. Mr. Hentschel, the son of a machinist and a homemaker, was born in Baltimore and raised near Aisquith and Eden streets. When he was 14, he joined the Marianists, and later worked as a schoolteacher in San Francisco and Dayton, Ohio, where he earned a bachelor's degree from the University of Dayton in 1944.

Nancy D. Rowe, a bird watcher and conservationist who led the way in beautifying the grounds of a Baltimore County retirement community, died of complications from a stroke Tuesday at the Broadmead retirement community in Cockeysville. She was 92. Nancy Dulaney was born in Baltimore and raised in Roland Park. She was a 1934 graduate of Roland Park Country School and earned a degree in psychology from Goucher College in 1938. She was married in 1940 to Joshua Wilson Rowe, a civil engineer, who was then a lieutenant colonel in the Army Air Forces.

On Tuesday, March 17, 2009, MARGARET (nee Matthews) COOPER, age 93 of Pickersgill Retirement Community, beloved wife of the late Dr. Donald D. Cooper for 63 years. Also survived by nieces and nephews. A private burial service will take place in the Dulaney Valley Memorial Gardens. Family and friends are invited to attend a memorial service to be held at the Pickersgill Retirement Community on Sunday March 22 beginning at 3 P.M. In lieu of flowers memorial donations may be made in Margaret's name to the Gilchrist Hospice, 555 W. Towsontown Blvd, Towson, MD 21204.