Riderwood

THE winter newsletter from the Ruxton-Riderwood-Lake Roland Improvement Association startled and delighted me. The lead headline announced: "Light Rail Station Opens March 1st." My exhilaration was based on three decades of hope for commuter service to my community, now finally and seemingly realized.As a television and later newspaper editorial writer, I had campaigned since 1959 for restoration of rail service to Ruxton, Riderwood and the corridor of the old Northern Central Railroad. In 1960, I wrote a half-hour television documentary promoting this.

Woodruff Tabb George Jr., who worked in production for a Baltimore social service agency, died of a seizure Saturday at his Woodlawn apartment. He was 41.He worked for The Chimes Inc., a Baltimore-based agency that )) provides services for people with mental retardation and developmental disabilities. He also had been a kitchen helper.Mr. George, known as Woody, was born and raised in Riderwood. He attended the Ridge School, Camp Devereaux in Philadelphia and Zuni Presbyterian School in Virginia.

A 38-year-old Harford County man killed Sunday night in East Baltimore was shot during an apparent robbery attempt outside his girlfriend's rowhouse, but detectives have not made an arrest, police said yesterday.Lance Anthony Lopez of the 300 block of Stevens Circle in Aberdeen was shot three times by one of three men who accosted him and his girlfriend about 9: 30 p.m. in the 800 block of N. Montford Ave., police said. Lopez was pronounced dead at 10 p.m. at Johns Hopkins Hospital.Police said the assailants demanded money and the woman's purse, then opened fire.

THORNTON ROAD IN Riderwood is a suburban juxtaposition: It's home to split-level heaven, while also a strategic -- yet dangerous -- commuter shortcut between Joppa and Seminary roads.The extra-wide, two-lane road, designed and built in the late 1940s, is traveled by close to 900 vehicles at peak rush hours, many of which race along the street at speeds close to 50 mph. A horrific fatal accident last year led neighbors to declare, "Enough."And some of those neighbors have connections in high places.

Bertna F. Weldon, 73, actress from RiderwoodBertna F. Weldon, who acted professionally and in community theater groups, died of heart failure Oct. 29 at St. Joseph Medical Center. She was 73 and a Riderwood resident.Known professionally as Wendy Weldon, she made her debut on Broadway in 1944 when she played the role of a reporter in "Three Men on a Horse."Locally, she performed with the Vagabonds, Johns Hopkins University Playshop, Cockpit in Court Summer Theater and the Jewish Community Theater.

The star of "East of Eden" is causing a stir west of Towson.Ever since promotion of the new James Dean stamp started at the Riderwood post office last week, patrons have been asking for the life-size poster of the '50s teen idol that stands in the post office lobby."

Beverly H. Gill, 60, longtime church organistBeverly H. Gill, organist for 47 years at Hunt's Memorial United Methodist Church in Riderwood and a longtime hospital volunteer, died Tuesday of cancer at Greater Baltimore Medical Center. She was 60.Mrs. Gill was honored last month by WJZ-TV for her 5,000 hours of volunteering at GBMC. She also played the organ in the hospital's chapel.The former Beverly Howard, a lifelong Riderwood resident, was a 1953 Towson High School graduate. In 1956, she married her childhood sweetheart, Charles E. Gill, who lived next door.

Richard Aitken, a pianist whose mellow music graced Baltimore cocktail lounges for nearly four decades, died Wednesday of cancer at his Riderwood home. He was 68.He played at some of the city's finest restaurants and clubs, including the Prime Rib, the 13th Floor at the Belvedere, the Chesapeake Restaurant, the Eager House and Danny's.His last night at the piano was five weeks ago at McCafferty's Restaurant in Mount Washington."Was he ever popular," said Don McCafferty, owner of the restaurant.

E. Bartley Green, whose Towson luncheonette fed two generations of lawyers, judges, detectives, police officers, politicians, bankers and journalists, died Monday of a massive heart attack at St. Joseph Hospital. The longtime Lutherville resident was 77.Mr. Green sold the Towson House restaurant at 42 W. Chesapeake Ave. late last year after operating the popular eatery and gathering place for 40 years."I've known Bart for 35 years," said Ronald Emmons, president of Towson Stationers Inc. "Almost every morning for 33 years at 6:15, I've arrived there for breakfast.

Riderwood, the placid little village eight miles north of Baltimore, has not been so shaken by an event since Lt. Col. Harry Gilmor and his Confederate raiders galloped through in 1864, in hot pursuit of Union cavalry.The arrival of the MTA's Glen Burnie-to-Hunt Valley Central Light Rail line in the early 1990s polarized the residents of both Riderwood and neighboring Ruxton as concerns about crime, impact on land values, a potential station site, noise and safety swept through the communities.

Things are missing from the library at Riderwood Elementary. Things like a tornado in a container and a clock with backward numbers. Things like marble mazes, windup toys and a weird eyeball that seems to elude description. But for parents, students and teachers at the Towson school, the most important thing missing is their witty media specialist and unofficial in-house musician, Bob Hallett. Hallett, who has worked in the county for more than three decades and at Riderwood for much of that time, was recently diagnosed with a rare form of leukemia, and has been at the University of Maryland Medical Center since July, for surgery and treatment.

Arline Theofiles Memorial Talk Saturday, July 18, 2009 at 2 P.M. Kingdom Hall of Jehovah's Witnesses, 1518 Riderwood Lutherville Drive, Lutherville, MD 21093

John C. "Jack" Fallon, a retired lawyer and insurance company executive, died Aug. 27 of progressive supranuclear palsy at Stella Maris Hospice in Timonium. The Riderwood resident was 77. Mr. Fallon, who was born in Cincinnati, grew up in Mount Washington. He was a 1949 graduate of Calvert Hall College High School, where he had been an outstanding athlete. He was named to the All-Maryland football team his junior and senior years, and also was voted the Unsung Hero in 1949. He received a football scholarship to Georgetown University, and after the school discontinued its football program, he transferred to Loyola College in Maryland, where he was a member of the wrestling and lacrosse teams.

On December 23, 2007, JENANNE PORTER passed away at her home in Silver Spring, MD of complications of cancer. A Celebration of her Life will be held at The Riderwood Village Chapel at 11AM on January 5, 2008.

A secluded pocket of green hills and trees just outside of the northern boundary line of Baltimore, Ruxton is a conveniently located and surprisingly rural neighborhood. Once an industrially driven town that supported Bellona Powder Supply -- which provided 20 percent of the country's gunpowder during the War of 1812, according to the Ruxton-Riderwood-Lake Roland Area Improvement Association -- the area is now almost entirely residential. Ruxton, a neighborhood rooted in tradition, is a wholesome place to raise a family, said Fran Anderson, the association's president.

SILVER SPRING -- President Bush, working yesterday to allay public anxiety about the new Medicare drug benefit, ruled out extending the May 15 deadline for seniors to sign up and said "now is the time" to enroll. Bush acknowledged the confusion sown by the program in its early months and told Maryland seniors he is working to address their doubts. "People got on the computers and saw a lot of different options, and said, `Whoa, this may be a little more than I bargained for,'" Bush said at Riderwood Village, a gated retirement community in the Washington suburbs.

On August 28, 2005, FREDERICK G. SMITH, JR., beloved husband of Rachel S. Smith (nee Sutton); devoted father of Fred Smith III, Anne S. Capitman and Pam S. O'Hara; loving grandfather of Eddie, Gray, Rachel and Patrick; great grandfather of Nick, Leif, Serena and Naomi; brother of Polly Easley. Friends are invited to a memorial service on Saturday, September 17, 2005, at 11:30 A.M. at Hunt's Memorial United Melthodist Church, Joppa and Old Court Roads, Riderwood, MD. Those desiring may make contributions to the Hunt Memorial United Methodist Church, 1912 Old Court Rd., Riderwood, MD 21139.

Charles M. Armetta, president of a Lutherville insurance agency whose interests included vintage cars and rock 'n' roll, died of a heart attack Tuesday at his Riderwood home. He was 58. Mr. Armetta was born in Baltimore and raised in the Hillendale section of Baltimore County. He graduated from Towson High School in 1962, and began his career that year as an underwriter for Northwestern National Insurance Co. in Baltimore. During the next 12 years, he was also a claims adjuster and field representative with Northwestern, then joined H. Thomas Grimes, an independent insurance broker, in 1974.

The former Riderwood station sits just north of Joppa Road, obscured from view by trees and houses that have grown up around it over the years, concealing a structure with more than a century of rich railroad and community history. However, with the sale of the property in May, the first change in ownership in 40 years, and the decision last month by the Baltimore County Council to name the building a historic landmark, the station is back in the spotlight. Other railroad stations in the county have been razed, such as the Ruxton station in 1961.

A federal grand jury in Baltimore returned indictments yesterday against seven people and a financial services company on charges including fraud and money laundering in a telemarketing operation that allegedly defrauded at least 27,000 people of more than $3.3 million. According to prosecutors, the operation employed purchased listings of names and telephone numbers of people with poor credit histories who were called through a computer-programmed dialer to hear a recorded message suggesting it was from a credit-card issuer.