Towson United

Judge Austin W. Brizendine, who retired from the Baltimore County Circuit Court in 1985, died Dec. 29 of cancer at the health care center at the Blakehurst Life Care Community in Towson. He was 79.After he retired, he continued part time on the bench until February.At the time of his appointment as a judge in 1978, he was president of the Baltimore County Bar Association.Judge Edward A. DeWaters Jr., chief judge of the Baltimore County Circuit Court, described Judge Brizendine as "very down to earth, a very likable person who just enjoyed being with people.

Brian M. Benson Sr., a longtime administrator in the Montgomery County public school system, died of cancer Aug. 1 at his Towson home.Mr. Benson, who was 80, retired in 1974 after 22 years in the Montgomery schools, first as the director of finance and then as a federal legislative consultant. Earlier, he worked for six years as a supervisor of finance in the Maryland Department of Education.A native of Halethorpe, Mr. Benson graduated from the University of Maryland in 1937 with a bachelor's degree in business administration.

John A. EllinghausRetired machinistJohn A. Ellinghaus, a retired machinist who was active in church work, died Wednesday of cancer at the Highlandtown home in which he was born. He was 74.He retired in 1982 after 41 years as a machinist at Bethlehem Steel Corp.'s Sparrows Point plant.He was a graduate of Sacred Heart of Jesus School and the Polytechnic Institute. During World War II, he was a machinist's mate in the Navy.He was a former Commander of Post 821 of the Catholic War Veterans, moderator of the National Adoration Society and a member of the Baltimore Urban League.

John F. Toohey Sr.Real estate brokerJohn F. Toohey Sr., a real estate broker and appraiser, died Thursday of cancer at University of Maryland Medical Center. He was 50.In the 1970s, Mr. Toohey established Toohey and Associates Realtors, where he was president. He also was chairman of the board of Toohey Appraisals Inc. in Timonium.The Baltimore native grew up in Edmondson Village and was a 1961 graduate of Calvert Hall College. He served in the Maryland Air National Guard for a year before enrolling at the University of Baltimore.

Jack BarrashManaged bridal salonServices for Jack Barrash, a retired businessman and officer in the Maryland Defense Force, will be held at noon today at Sol Levinson Brothers funeral home, 6010 Reisterstown Road.Mr. Barrash died Friday of natural causes at his Pikesville home. He was 82.He worked in the family business, Becky's Bridal Salon on South Broadway, for 70 years, retiring as the manager in 1988.Mr. Barrash recently was promoted to the rank of lieutenant colonel in the Maryland Defense Force, a support unit for the Maryland National Guard based in Pikesville.

Services for Beverly Burgess Frankenfield, a former personnel officer at Anne Arundel Community College, will be at 11 a.m. tomorrow at Towson United Methodist Church, Hampton Lane and Dulaney Valley Road, Towson.Mrs. Frankenfield, who was 61 and had lived in Severna Park for the last 18 years, died at home Friday of cancer. She was a personnel officer at Anne Arundel Community College from 1979 to 1989.Born in Missoula, Mont., Mrs. Frankenfield earned a degree in speech therapy from the University of Montana in 1951.

When Doris Blottenberger came to Fort Meade to welcome her brother home from World War II, he stood alone by the roadside waiting for the family car.When she came again to welcome her granddaughter home from the Persian Gulf war, she was surrounded by several hundred people waiting to welcome the 290th Military Police Company.The company arrived yesterday, the first Army National Guard unit to come home from the war. It was activated in November from the Towson Armory. As part of a battalion, its mission was to construct a prison camp and guard enemy prisoners of war.Returning soldiers said the prisoner population peaked at 25,000 as Iraqis swarmed to surrender at the start of the ground war in February.

Some of the tens of thousands of Iraqi soldiers who have surrendered are likely to fall into the hands of the 290th Military Police Company from Towson, a National Guard unit that is part of a battalion specifically trained to guard prisoners of war.Families of the 290th soldiers said letters and calls home indicated the unit had built a prison camp close to the Kuwaiti border and that in the weeks leading up to the ground war they were guarding Iraqis who...

Services for Donald S. Laird, an architect and builder, will be held at 11 a.m. today at the Towson United Methodist Church, Hampton Lane and Dulaney Valley Road.Mr. Laird, who was 77 and lived on Melanchton Avenue in Lutherville, died Wednesday at Johns Hopkins Hospital after heart surgery.He retired in 1970 as president of Laird, Rock and Small, which developed and built homes in the vicinity of Dulaney Valley Road, including the Fox Chapel development and in the Hampton area.After his retirement, he continued working as an architect, designing and supervising the construction of homes in Maryland, Pennsylvania, Ohio and Florida.