Turners Station

Emanuel Milford Sr., a retired steelworker and longtime Turners Station resident, died Thursday of esophageal cancer at Franklin Square Hospital Center. He was 80. Mr. Milford was born and raised in St. Stephen, S.C., and began working in the foundry at Bethlehem Steel Corp's Sparrows Point plant after moving to Turners Station in 1952. He retired in 1989. Mr. Milford, who was known as "Manny," enjoyed taking daily walks around his neighborhood, watching Westerns on television and taking family vacations.

I'M NOT surprised that Kweisi Mfume surfaced quickly as a possible candidate for mayor of Baltimore. Mfume is a gifted orator who possesses political know-how and the ability to inspire people.I didn't realize how good Mfume is at working a crowd until I attended a get-out-the-vote rally in Northwest Baltimore just before the gubernatorial election. Some of the state's top Democrats, including Parris N. Glendening, William Donald Schaefer and J. Joseph Curran Jr., were there, but it was Mfume who energized the crowd.

Dr. Eugene Dewey Byrd Sr., a Baltimore dentist, had an infectious smile that belied his indomitable spirit and tenacity.The Alabama-born son of a steel worker, who became an effective champion of many causes, died Thursday after a brief illness. He was 84 and resided at North Oaks retirement community in Reisterstown.Dr. Byrd "was one of the most focused individuals that I ever knew -- he broke barriers, persisted," said Dr. Sidney O. Burnett Jr., a longtime friend and dentist with an office at 1318 N. Caroline St. in East Baltimore.

When the covers were pulled away, Kweisi Mfume could hardly believe it: KWEISI MFUME COURT, proclaimed the two signs that were posted high on the sides of two townhouses in the southeast Baltimore County community where he lived as a child."

They filled Mount Olive Baptist Church on a windy, wintry November night, warming the sanctuary so much that white-gloved ushers had to crack open windows and pass out cardboard fans bearing images of Jesus Christ and Martin Luther King Jr. There were hugs and kisses and handshakes and tears, a feeling of reunion, old friends greeting each other for the first time in years, or just a few days.Turners Station is a small community -- an unincorporated town, really -- down Sollers Point, just past Dundalk, at the end of Broening Highway.

James Camp, a barber whose four-chair shop in Turners Station attracted an array of people daily to discuss politics, lack of money, wayward fashions, sports and other topics, died Wednesday of cancer at Joseph Richey Hospice in Baltimore. He was 84.Some of the people who went to Jimmy's Barber Shop on Oak Street even got a haircut, but they often seemed the minority."People would sometimes go there all day just to sit and talk," said Jim Barnes, for many years a customer of Mr. Camp and a longtime friend.

A 31-year-old woman lay near death from cervical cancer when a Johns Hopkins research doctor made a stunning observation about a pea-sized tumor biopsy section surgically removed from her body. It was a discovery that would make her immortal.It was the early fall of 1951, and for the first time in scientific practice, human cells were living outside the body in a glass tube. The cells of this Turners Station mother of five could be tested, treated and studied, opening up whole avenues of biological research.

Osceola Smith, a longtime baseball organizer and coach in Turners Station who taught the game to former National Football League great Calvin Hill and NAACP President Kweisi Mfume, died Wednesday of heart failure at Northwest Hospital Center in Randallstown.Mr. Smith, 85, known as "Mr. Smitty," coached hundreds of youths in and around Turners Station for more than 40 years, telling friends and relatives that being involved with the youngsters was his "ministry."Mr. Mfume said Mr. Smith "never got the headlines, but he taught us all how to act like men."

Kathryn Major, 48, health services workerKathryn Major, a health services worker and longtime Turners Station resident, died of a heart attack Saturday at home. She was 48.Since 1966, she worked in various medical and health services capacities, most recently as an adult day care provider at the Rosewood Center in Owings Mills.Born in East Orange, N.J., she moved to Turners Station in eastern Baltimore County as a child. She graduated from the old Sollers Point High School in 1966 and went to work as a medical technician at what now is Johns Hopkins Bayview Medical Center.

CATONSVILLE -- A night school student shot to death outside Western School of Technology and Environmental Science was identified yesterday as Kevin M. Fulton, 29, of the 700 block of N. Kenwood Ave. in East Baltimore.Police said Mr. Fulton left an adult education sheet-metal class about 7: 30 p.m. to answer his pager. A school employee reported finding Mr. Fulton's body on the parking lot about 40 tTC minutes later. Police said he had been shot several times in the upper body, and his pager was missing.

Iris E. Manning, a neighborhood activist and former member of the Baltimore County Human Relations Commission, died of congestive heart failure Sept. 20 at her Turners Station home. She was 86. Iris Elizabeth Dodd, the daughter of a Norfolk & Western Railway worker and a homemaker, was born and raised in Roanoke, Va. After graduating from Lucy Addison High School in Roanoke in 1939, she moved to Baltimore and went to work as an assembly line worker at the old Glenn Martin Co. plant in Middle River, where she worked until the 1960s.

On June 27, 2009, PIERCE H., beloved husband of Clarice E. Jones, and devoted father of Pierce Jones, III and Jacqueline Bennett. He is also survived by two grandchildren, Chesiree Walton and Nicholas M. Jones; one great-grandchild, Sevyn Walton; two brothers; nieces; nephews; a host of other relatives and friends. Friends may visit the JAMES A. MORTON & SONS FUNERAL HOMES, INC., 311 Main Street, Turners Station, MD, Wednesday 3 to 7 PM. On Thursday, Mr. Jones will lie in state at Mt. Olive Baptist Church, 651 Mt. Olive Road, Turners Station at 11 AM. The family will receive friends 1:30 to 2 PM. Funeral immediate followings.

Friends may visit the JAMES A. MORTON & SONS FUNERAL HOMES, INC., 311 Main Street, Turners Station, Wednesday 2-7 p.m. Services Thursday at St. Matthew's United Methodist Church, 101 Avon Beach Road. The family will receive friends 10:30-11 a.m. Funeral Service immediately following.

Dozens of Turners Station residents, newcomers and long-timers both, arrived with ideas that ranged from adding new amenities to preserving the cultural roots of the 188-acre enclave that is one of the country's oldest African-American communities. The residents were helping to launch an intensive planning process, organized by Baltimore County, to revitalize a neighborhood that was established back in 1888 for workers at Sparrows Point and their families. To do that, though, they had to look not backward but forward.

Baltimore County police identified Monday a man shot to death Sunday in the 600 block of Peach Orchard Lane in the Turners Station neighborhood. Sylvester Eric Brown, 22, of the 4100 block of Coleman Ave. in Baltimore was shot in the upper body about 3 a.m. and pronounced dead at Johns Hopkins Bayview Medical Center, according to police. A woman walking with Brown was also shot. Police said Theresa Bunk, 21, of the 400 block of Avondale Road in Dundalk was shot several times and taken to Maryland Shock Trauma Center with life-threatening injuries.

On April 10, 2009, FRANCES J. WILLIAMS, beloved wife of the late Deacon Leslie A. Williams, and cherished mother of Carolyn Bryant and Cheryl Moore. Viewing at the JOSEPH L. RUSS FUNERAL HOME P.A., 2222-26 W. North Avenue, on Thursday from 3 to 8 PM, with the family receiving friends from 4 to 7 PM. Wake at First Gospel Tabernacle Apostolic Church, 206 Balnew Avenue - Turners Station, on Friday from 6:30 to 7 PM when funeral service will begin.

Attention must be paid: A kid from Turners Station had a hand (and his Yamaha YBL-613H) in a Grammy last week. Thanks to Dwight Weems, the longtime and still-frisky front man for one of Baltimore's most popular party bands, Gazze, for pointing out the name of Douglas Purviance (Purr-vy-ance) in the music awards - specifically, in Category No. 49, Best Large Jazz Ensemble Album. The award went to Vanguard Jazz Orchestra; Purviance plays bass trombone (the Yamaha YBL-613H, in fact) with the band, and he's the orchestra's business manager.

On July 13, 2008, RUDOLPH; beloved father of two sons, Derrick and Rudolph; two daughters, Janice and Angela. He is also survived by eleven grandchildren and other family members and friends. Services will be held on Friday 7P.M. Visitation at Union Baptist Church of Turners Station, 105 Main Street. Inquiries at www.wyliefuneralhome.com

On July 10, 2008, MACFARLANE DAILEY. Survived by devoted wife, Rosalind. Son, MacFarlane Jr., daughter, Kelley, brothers, Maceo Jr, of TX., and Melvin of MD., sisters, Myra Lunsford, Millicent Boone, Marcella Fisher and Mitzi Dailey all of MD., and a host of other family and friends. Friends may call the family owned WYLIE FUNERAL HOME P.A. OF BALTIMORE COUNTY, 9200 Liberty Road Wednesday from 6 to 8 P.M. Services Thursday at the Union Baptist Church, 105 Main Street in Turners Station, MD 10:30A.

Bettie S. Coleman, a retired music educator who taught piano and vocal music, died Saturday of heart failure at her Edgemere home. She was 77. Bettie Statham was born in Sparrows Point, the daughter of a steelworker. "There were seven children in the family, and six of us played piano," said a brother, Calvin H. Statham, who directed the Statham Gospel Singers. "Our parents also insisted that we go to college and get both a bachelor's and master's degree, and we all did." Mrs. Coleman was a 1947 graduate of Bragg High School in Sparrows Point and earned a bachelor's in music from what is now Morgan State University in 1951.