Saleswoman

Helen W. Potter, a former saleswoman and homemaker, died Saturday of pneumonia at Keswick Multi-Care Center. She was 106.Mrs. Potter worked at Hutzler's department store in Baltimore from 1940 to 1962 when she retired. Earlier, she had taught school in Trappe.Mrs. Potter resided in the 3500 block of Greenmount Ave. from 1919 to November 1988 when she broke a hip and eventually moved to Keswick.Her grandson, Gilbert Potter of Baltimore, said she didn't ascribe her longevity to anything in particular.

Troyce Gray Smith, 86, NSA analystTroyce Gray Smith, a retired National Security Agency analyst, died of a stroke April 5 at Franklin Square Hospital. She was 86 and, since last year, lived at Oak Crest retirement community in Baltimore County.Previously, she lived in Heritage Harbour community in Annapolis for 16 years.She worked for NSA for about 25 years and retired in 1970.The Louisiana native grew up in New Orleans and attended Tulane University.In 1944, she married Roderick Lowell Smith, who worked for the U.S. Department of State.

IT'S A FINANCIAL decision.It's my second wedding and Montgomery's first. Since we're paying for it ourselves, with just a little help from our parents, we're very budget-conscious. So in choosing a wedding dress, the cheaper the better, within reason. First stop, my parents' house, where the possibility of a free bridal gown awaited.It's a sentimental decision.Every woman dreams of carrying on the female legacy, walking down the aisle in my mother's wedding dress. I tried on Mom's gown from her November, 1953, wedding.

Anna H. Leatherwood, who as a sales associate at the Children's Bookstore helped youngsters discover the world of books, died Sunday of breast cancer at her home in Hunt Valley. She was 52.She had worked at the store on Deepdene Road in Roland Park from 1987 until she was diagnosed with cancer in 1992."It was curious how I came to hire her," said JoAnn Fruchtman, owner of the bookstore, which was founded near the Cross Street Market in the late 1970s and moved to Roland Park in 1986."Our children were at Park School together and she came by my home one day and asked about my collection of children's books.

M. Belle Holt has gone from riches to rags, and she couldn't be happier.After 30 years of selling Gucci and Armani at Miller Bros. in Baltimore, Ms. Holt is turning "trash into cash" at the Rescue Mission store in Westminster. These days, the only designer labels she sees are faded and dangling from a discarded dress.Ms. Holt, 71, once the sales leader at the expensive North Charles Street shop, is now the purveyor of donated castoffs at a store that draws the needy and the persnickety to Westminster.

THE SALESWOMAN arrived after I'd met several students in my office and had more waiting. She shook my hand and gave me her card."We have the most multicultural American literature textbook on the market, professor," she said."

The Annapolis City Council's finance committee agreed yesterday to extend for two months the work of three city employees whose jobs were cut from the budget for the fiscal year that begins today.Miguel Ferrer, the economics development coordinator; Tom Roskelly, the public information officer; and Anne Mannix, a public information specialist, would be allowed to stay on.The finance committee's recommendations will be presented to the entire council July 11, but the employees will continue to receive their pay in the meantime.

Gladys E. Harris, a retired fur saleswoman at the downtown Hutzler's store, died Tuesday of heart failure at the Pickersgill retirement home in Towson, where she lived for nearly a decade. She was 90.She retired about 25 years ago after working at the department store for more than 30 years.The former Gladys E. Derry was born and reared in the Baltimore area. Her husband, C. Leslie Harris, died 30 years ago.Services were set for 11 a.m. today at the A. Alan Seitz Funeral Home, 3818 Roland Ave., Baltimore.

An elderly man with a pistol robbed the Piece Goods Shop at Crossroads Square Shopping Center of an undisclosed amount of money Sunday evening after threatening two employees, Westminster police reported.A saleswoman told police that the man entered the store in the 600 block of Baltimore Blvd. about 5:30 p.m. and asked for help picking out a piece of fabric.After selecting the material, the man paid for the fabric, then pointed a small handgun at the cashier, police said.The assailant motioned to a second saleswoman to get behind the counter, then demanded money.

SEATTLE -- Here in its hometown, shopping at Nordstrom is virtually a religious rite. The company is as much a source of civic pride as fine coffee and fresh salmon.After all, how can you not love a place that will sell you a size 9 left shoe and a size 10 right shoe, at no extra cost, if that's what your feet need? Where a cup of coffee still costs 25 cents in the lunchroom? Where salespeople smile at you -- and seem to actually mean it?From modest beginnings as a downtown shoe store, Nordstrom has grown to a retail powerhouse that rang up $664 million in annual sales last year, about half at its 25 California stores.