School In Baltimore

Baltimore police have identified a man who was shot and killed early Sunday as Ryan L. Parke, 18, of the 5500 block of Whitby Ave. in East Baltimore. Parke was in his Acura Legend in the 2300 block of Homewood Ave. when he was shot about 1 a.m., police said yesterday. Police released few other details about the crime. Robin Parke, the victim's mother, said her son had begun to "hang out with the wrong crowd." "I don't know what he could have been doing," she said. "He was in the wrong place at the wrong time."

State schools Superintendent Nancy S. Grasmick announced yesterday that her alma mater, Western High School in Baltimore, is among six Maryland Blue Ribbon Schools this year. Also named were Seventh District Elementary in Baltimore County, Southern High in Anne Arundel County, Hammond Middle in Howard County, Highland Elementary in Montgomery County and Stephen Decatur Middle in Worcester County. The schools were selected based on high achievement, significant improvement or both. They will represent Maryland in the national Blue Ribbon Schools competition.

Angeleke D. Siganos, former owner of several Baltimore County beauty salons, died of heart failure Jan. 8 at Greater Baltimore Medical Center. The Timonium resident was 64. She was born Angeleke Demos in Anderson, S.C., and moved with her family to Clinton Street in Baltimore. She was an Eastern High School graduate and studied cosmetology at the Dor-Rick School in Baltimore. She was married in 1956 to John K. Siganos, a painter for the Klicos Painting Co. Since 1968, they had made their home in Timonium.

Pauline Owens, a retired elementary schoolteacher, died Thursday of complications of diabetes at Gilchrist Center for Hospice Care. She was 76 and lived in North Baltimore. Before her retirement 26 years ago, she taught at Alexander Hamilton and Elmer A. Henderson elementary schools and the former J.H. Lockerman Elementary School in Baltimore. Born in Philadelphia and raised in East Baltimore, Pauline Kendrick McDonald was a 1942 graduate of Paul Laurence Dunbar High School. In 1946, she earned a degree from what is now Coppin State College.

An autopsy was being performed today on a Baltimore elementary school student who died early yesterday, possibly of meningitis.Meanwhile, city health officials asked families of all the boy's classmates to bring their children to his school -- Yorkwood Elementary in Northeast Baltimore -- for treatment with antibiotic medication.Deborah A. Ross, a city Health Department spokeswoman, said that there were no plans to call others, but that anyone concerned about having had contact with the boy should call the department's School and Adolescent Health Services, 396-4452.

Gladys Powell Curtis, a former French teacher who wasactive in volunteer work, died Monday of cancer at her home on York Court. She was 89.A memorial service for Mrs. Curtis was being held today at Second Presbyterian Church, 4200 St. Paul Street.She had volunteered at the School of the Chimes, of which her husband was a founder; at the Day Care Workshop of the League for the Handicapped; and at the old City Hospitals, where she was an arts and crafts teacher for the Red Cross.The former Gladys Powell, born in Baltimore, was a 1921 graduate of Western High School and a 1925 graduate of Goucher.

Katherine "Cooki" Pitt, a retired advertising account executive who was active in community volunteer work, died Aug. 31 of pulmonary disease at her Catonsville home. She was 80. She was born at her parents' home on Cooks Lane in West Baltimore - a road that was named for Ms. Pitt's grandfather. The Cook family raised and cultivated roses, palms and other plants for distribution to Baltimore area greenhouses and floral wholesalers. The family also had a retail floral shop on North Charles Street.

Elizabeth G. Smith, a retired Baltimore City schoolteacher, died of lymphoma Wednesday at her son's Bel Air home. She was 82. Born Elizabeth Gerhart O'Connor in Baltimore and raised in Sparrows Point, she attended schools in Sparrows Point, Carney and Baltimore. Known as Betty, she left Eastern High School in her senior year to join the Marines' women's division during World War II. Because she had asthma, she was never able to serve in the military and worked at Bethlehem Steel's Sparrows Point plant during the war. During the late 1960s, she passed her General Education Development test and earned a bachelor's degree at Towson State University.

State education officials named nine public middle and high schools yesterday "Maryland Blue Ribbon Schools of Excellence." The schools, which include four in the Baltimore area, receive $1,000 and Maryland Blue Ribbon flags to hang at their buildings. "These schools stand as models for Maryland," said state schools Superintendent Nancy S. Grasmick. Schools apply for the statewide honor. They are judged in such areas as student performance, instruction, parent and community involvement, and teacher training.

HOLLY WOERNER, 16, daughter of Paula and Preston Woerner of Forest Hill Road in Eldersburg.School: Junior at the Seton-Keough High School, an archdiocesan Catholic girls' school in Baltimore.Honored for: Placing among the top six at the state finals for the Baltimore Catholic Forensics League recently at Loyola High School in Towson. The league, which includes public as well as Catholic schools, encourages the art of public speaking.Holly, with classmate Corinne Chellis of Baltimore County, will go to the National Catholic Forensics League competition in Oshkosh, Wis., May 26-30.