Saleswoman

Frances A. Challmes, a former saleswoman and secretary for a variety of Baltimore businesses, died yesterday of heart failure at her Towson home. She was 79.A Mass of Christian burial for Mrs. Challmes will be offered at 10 a.m. Wednesday at St. Mary's Roman Catholic Church in Govans, 5502 York Road, where she had been a parishioner.Born in Baltimore, the former Frances Tiralla attended St. Martin's parochial school in West Baltimore -- but had to cut short her education after contracting tuberculosis and living for seven years at the old Mount Wilson Sanitorium.

Services for Nelda Jo Adamson Wilkinson will take place at the Singleton Funeral Home Chapel at 1:30 p.m. Jan. 27.Mrs. Wilkinson, 48,died Jan. 23 at her home.Born in Salina, Kansas, she graduated from Kansas State University in 1965.Mrs. Wilkinson worked for the Home Interior and Gifts Co. as a demonstrator and saleswoman. She was also a member of the First Christian Church of Glen Burnie and the Ladies Koinia.Her other interests included flowers, gardening and decorating, as both a career and a hobby.

Services for Mary Irene Nebel of Cape St. Claire will take place at 10 a.m. Dec. 19 at the Barranco and Sons Funeral Home.Mrs. Nebel,75, died Dec. 16 of a heart attack at Maryland Manor in Glen Burnie,where she had been living since August.Born and raised in Potomac, Mrs. Nebel worked as a retail saleswoman in the Washington area and later retired to become a homemaker.Her interests included sewing.Mrs. Nebel is survived by her husband of 59 years, William Nebel Sr.; a son, William Nebel Jr. of Lothian; a daughter, Joan Souders of Beallsville; a sister, Gladys Littleof Hyattsville; a brother, Albert Thompson of Gaithersburg; four grandchildren; and three great-grandchildren.

Services for Mary J. Palmisano, a retired department store saleswoman and 49-year resident of Hamilton, will be held tomorrow at Immaculate Heart of Mary Catholic Church, 8501 Loch Raven Blvd.Mrs. Palmisano, who was 81 and lived for the past two years in Towson, died Friday of cancer at Good Samaritan Hospital.She was a saleswoman at Hecht's in the Northwood Shopping Center for 10 years before retiring in the early 1980s. Earlier, she worked at the Stewart's department store on York Road in Towson until it closed in the 1970s.

Services took place for Glen Burnie resident Margaret Lyons Handschuh April 22 at Singleton Funeral Home.Mrs. Handschuh, 74, died April 18 at Harbor Hospital Center.A resident of Glen Burnie for 46 years, she was employed as a saleswoman at Hecht's department store for 19 years until her retirementin 1971.She was a member of North Glen Baptist Church.Her husband, John M. Handschuh, and her daughter, Doris E. Hein, preceded her in death.She is survived by three grandchildren and four great-grandchildren.

Services for former Hecht Co. saleswoman Marie Hern Hepner of Severna Park will take place at 11 a.m. today at the Barranco and Sons Severna Park Funeral Home.Mrs. Hepner, 84, died of cardiac arrest April 16 at the Meridian Nursing Home in Severna Park.Originally from Greenup, Ky., she worked for Hecht's for over 40 years before retiring in 1970. She had lived in the Glen Burnie Senior Citizens apartments before moving to the nursing home.Mrs. Hepner's interests included sewing, crocheting and cooking.

Closing arguments were expected today in the trial of a Baltimore couple charged with robbing and killing Valerie Brown, 30, a Philadelphia book saleswoman outside the victim's Westview motel room.Yesterday, taking the witness stand in her own defense, Donna Denson, 26, admitted that she used the victim's credit card to buy gasoline and cigarettes, but she said she didn't learn the woman had been killed until several days after the incident last Sept. 17.Asked how she thought her boyfriend, Rowland K. Hudson, 34, had obtained the victim's Visa card, Denson replied, "He might have snatched her pocketbook or something.

The murder trial of a man and a woman accused of slaying a Philadelphia textbook saleswoman last September was to resume today in Baltimore County Circuit Court in Towson.After opening statements yesterday, because the state had no witnesses to call to the stand, Judge John G. Turnbull recessed the trial until today.In his opening statement, Prosecutor Steve Bailey promised the jury of 11 women and one man that he would present evidence to prove that Rowland K. Hudson, 34, and his girlfriend, Donna Denson, 26, murdered Valerie Brown, the saleswoman, last Sept.

WHITE PEOPLE.Allan Gurganus.Knopf.252 pages. $21.95. In 1989, "Oldest Living Confederate Widow Tells All," an epifirst novel by Allan Gurganus, was published. Bridging roughly 140 years of Southern history, "Widow" told all with such sustained intensity and elan that one wondered what Mr. Gurganus possibly could have left in his creative coffers.That question is answered in "White People," a collection of short fiction written between 1974 and 1989. Although not without flaws, these 11 stories display much the same range in tone, theme and inventive storytelling found in the novel.

A Mass of Christian burial for Helen F. Lingelbach, a native of Baltimore and former shoe saleswoman, will be offered at 10 a.m. today at St. Mary of the Assumption Roman Catholic Church, 5500 York Road.Mrs. Lingelbach, who was 80 and lived on Birmingham Road in Parkville, died Tuesday at the Greater Baltimore Medical Center of complications from a broken hip.A resident of Govans for many years, she retired in 1980 after working about 26 years at the G. H. Gorsuch and Sons store on 20th Street near Charles.