United Church

Catherine M. "Kay" Regier, a homemaker and longtime Hereford resident, died Friday of renal failure at Sinai Hospital. She was 85. Catherine Meedel, the daughter of a lumberyard owner and a homemaker, was born and raised in Blue Hill, Neb., where she graduated from high school. During World War II, she studied at Hastings College in Hastings, Neb., while also working at the Hastings Naval Ammunition Depot. After earning a bachelor's degree in business in 1947, she moved to Minneapolis when she took a job at Dayton's department store.

Joseph Charles "Shorty" Thompson, a retired printer who had been an active member of Centennial-Caroline Street United Methodist Church for more than 60 years, died Feb. 9 of complications from gastric surgery at Greater Baltimore Medical Center. He was 79. The son of a truck driver and a homemaker, Mr. Thompson was born and raised in East Baltimore. When he was 14, he was hit by a streetcar, which caused a loss of hearing in one ear and partial amputation of a foot. "He made many trips to the hospital and went through a lot. However, he'd run and play with his sisters and brothers and never let it become an impediment to him," said a daughter, Joanne Thompson Kess of Woodlawn.

F. Duncan Cornell, a retired lawyer who had served on the Board of Child Care of the United Methodist Church for nearly 50 years and was also a longtime Maryland General Hospital board member, died Friday of pneumonia at St. Joseph Medical Center. The Lutherville resident had celebrated his 94th birthday last month. Frank Duncan Cornell, the son of a psychiatrist and a homemaker, was born in New York City and raised in Menands, N.Y., a suburb of Albany. Mr. Cornell, who was known as Duncan, was a 1934 graduate of the Milne School in Albany.

Bishop Monroe Randolph Saunders Sr., who was founder and senior pastor of the First United Church of Jesus Christ Apostolic, now Transformation Church of Jesus Christ, died Friday of cancer at his Ashburton home. He was 89. Mr. Saunders, the son of farmers, was born and raised in Florence, S.C. He was high school valedictorian and earned a scholarship to Virginia State College for Negroes, now Virginia State University, in Petersburg. After the death of his eldest brother, he left college and moved to Baltimore to help his sister-in-law raise their four children.

On December 21, 2007, KENNETH A. IMES. Friends may visit at the family owned MARCH FUNERAL HOME WEST INC., 4300 Wabash Avenue on Friday after 8:30 A.M. The family will receive friends on Saturday at United Church of Jesus Christ, 934 Gorsuch Avenue at 11:30 A.M., followed by funeral service at 12 noon.

On November 13, 2007, ROSENA (nee Rossmark) of Manchester, MD; beloved wife of the late John Gilbert Fornaro; devoted mother of sons and daughters-in-laws, John and Dianna Fornaro of Hanover, PA, Joseph and Kimberly Fornaro of Manchester, Ross and Tara Fornaro of Hanover, PA and daughter and son-in-law Janice and Gary Pohlner of Perry Hall; devoted grandmother of Ashley Dillon, Michael Sophia, Maya and Ryan. Services at Lazarus United Church of Christ, 5101 S. Church St., Manchester, MD, Friday, November 16, at 11 a.m. Friends may call at 10:15 until time of Service.

On September 24, 2007, ROSE MARIE BRADLEY. Friends may call at the FAMILY OWNED MARCH FUNERAL HOME WEST, INC., 4300 Wabash Avenue on Saturday, from 8:30 am to 6 p.m. Family will receive friends on Monday, at The United Church of Jesus Christ, 934 Gorsuch Avenue at 11 a.m. followed by Funeral Service at 11:30 a.m.

For nearly 100 years, a certain wood frame building in Hampden was a house of worship, the place where people came to celebrate many of life's rituals and rites of passage. Now that building is undergoing transition, from a church to a learning center for "at-risk adolescents." The one-time confines of the Hampden Trinity United Church of Christ, a Victorian Gothic structure at 1234 W. 36th St., will be renovated and enlarged to become a new home for Learning Inc., a community-based educational program for youths ages 14 to 18. Directors and supporters of the nonprofit organization gathered this month to mark the beginning of a $1.6 million construction project that will enable Learning Inc. to increase its enrollment from 50 to 100. It makes Trinity the second church in Hampden to be converted to a new use in the past six years.