Volunteer Work

Susan Lee Marr, a legal assistant and an active volunteer, died Saturday of ovarian cancer at her home in the Arcadia-Beverly Hills neighborhood of Northeast Baltimore. She was 55. Susan Lee Neukam was born in Baltimore and raised in Dundalk, where she graduated in 1976 from Patapsco High School. She earned an associate's degree in legal studies in 1978 from what is now the Community College of Baltimore County in Essex. She later earned a bachelor's degree in the 1990s in theological studies from Maryland Bible College and Seminary.

In a pair of working gloves with the Ravens logo emblazoned on the front, San Francisco Mayor Edwin M. Lee painted broad brush strokes at a West Baltimore police station Friday to make good on a bet. Had the Ravens lost to the 49ers in Super Bowl XLVII, Baltimore Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake would have traveled to the West Coast to complete a day of service, which was the wager she and Lee made on the February game. "I think San Francisco is a lovely city, but I am glad I did not have to go there in payment of a debt," said Rawlings-Blake, who traded in her signature high heels for a pair of wedge booties for the day of activities.

Rosalea Della, a retired Baltimore Gas and Electric worker who was recognized by President George H.W. Bush for her many hours of volunteer service, died of a pulmonary embolism Tuesday at St. Agnes Hospital. She was 93 and had lived in Pasadena. She was born Rosalea Muriel Streckfus in Baltimore and lived her early years in Canton. Several years ago she wrote a memoir of her life in which she recalled her family's basement kitchen: "The black iron range was always kept burning hot in the winter.

When I read the letter critical of the pro-life movement ("Pro-life sanctimony," March 10), I felt the need to respond. The author claims that the only concern pro-lifers have is the delivery of live babies, but they have no programs to help with the situation. Pro-lifers care very much about the care and well-being of the mother and her child. As one who has done volunteer work with my local pregnancy center for almost 30 years, I can attest to this fact from many years of experience.

Carolyn Perry of Glen BurnieVolunteer Work: Ms. Perry has been a volunteer with the Salvation Army for two years, performing an assortment of tasks, including helping the Monday night youth group that meets at the Glen Burnie office and most recently staffing the donation kettle at Harundale Mall.Volunteer's comment: "I've always done volunteer work, even when I was a child. I've done volunteer work for other places like the Marley Glen School, but the most reward has come from doing work for the Salvation Army.

Volunteer's work: Vy Lynch calls on skills she sharpened as a legal secretary when she volunteers in the office of the Anne Arundel County Department of Aging's Retired Senior Volunteer Program (RSVP).Ms. Lynch, a longtime Glen Burnie resident, works in the office about once a week for several hours performing tasks such as record-keeping, filing and letter-writing.In addition to her office duties, she is the treasurer of the RSVP advisory council.The volunteer program provides opportunities for seniors to use skills and experience -- developed throughout their careers -- in volunteer work.

Donna Bannon, an administrative assistant with the Department of Inspections, Licenses and Permits, has been chosen as Employee of the Month for June. Bannon, an eight-year employee with Harford County Government, was nominated by Debbie Sickenberger, Cindy Lykens and Suzanne Wentzel from the law department. Bannon was nominated for designing an exercise program for county employees. The three nominators stated that by participating in the exercise program, they have all reaped the rewards of fitness with better health and increased energy.

Name: Viola Parks of Brooklyn.Volunteer work: At 90, Viola Parks is still doing what she has done for the past 30 years at Harbor Hospital -- volunteering.Next month, Ms. Parks will be honored during the hospital's annual volunteer luncheon for having completed more than 20,000 hours of volunteer service.Although she has cut back on the hours she serves each week, she has worked up to 40 hours a week as a volunteer.She's watched the facility expand and the number of volunteers increase, but the nature of her work has never changed -- helping others and trying to make people smile.

At the last minute, her friend couldn't come along. But Sarah Koteen went ahead with her plans - even if the idea of heading off by herself for several weeks to volunteer at a camp for underprivileged children from New York was a little bit intimidating. That experience last summer is just one item on a resume that includes hundreds of hours of volunteer work, participation on her school's track, soccer and softball teams, and a 3.63 grade-point average. Now Koteen, a 16-year-old junior at Owings Mills High School, has been named Baltimore County's Young Woman of the Year.

It's only natural that J. Scott Wilfong, president and CEO of SunTrust Bank for the Greater Washington/Maryland area, would want to give back to the American Heart Association. After all, heart disease runs in his family. His wife, Susan, suffers from dilated cardiomyopathy, a condition in which the heart weakens and becomes enlarged. Her brother died at the age of 13 and her father at the age of 61 from the same condition. Their daughter, Sarah, 29, has a defibrillator and his sister-in-law has had a heart transplant.

A dozen neighborhood volunteers will spend their Presidents Day turning around a former city recreation center that new sponsors envision reborn as an education and community center. After 32 years, the Barclay Recreation Center shut down in August, a victim of budget cuts in the city's Department of Recreation and Parks. Neighborhood advocates believe the 7,500-square-foot facility, constructed immediately adjacent to the Barclay Elementary/Middle School in the 300 block of E. 29th Street, can find a new life on its own. They picture a location where both students and residents can have a town hall meeting, a safe after-school spot or a place to hold a birthday party or take a yoga class.

Susan Lee Marr, a legal assistant and an active volunteer, died Saturday of ovarian cancer at her home in the Arcadia-Beverly Hills neighborhood of Northeast Baltimore. She was 55. Susan Lee Neukam was born in Baltimore and raised in Dundalk, where she graduated in 1976 from Patapsco High School. She earned an associate's degree in legal studies in 1978 from what is now the Community College of Baltimore County in Essex. She later earned a bachelor's degree in the 1990s in theological studies from Maryland Bible College and Seminary.

Dorothy V. Perry, former owner of a Towson travel agency, died Jan. 16 of a heart attack at her daughter's Lutherville home. She was 90. The daughter of a streetcar conductor and a homemaker, Dorothy Wertz was born in Baltimore and raised on 30th Street. A 1940 graduate of Eastern High School, Mrs. Perry worked as a secretary at Commercial Credit Co. and did volunteer work. After World War II, she married Urner "Bo" Perry, who had served in the merchant marine and later became a Westinghouse Electric Corp.

Edward V.C. Nicol, a retired Social Security Administration public affairs representative who earned the name of "Mr. Meals on Wheels" for his more than three decades of volunteer work, died Jan. 13 of pneumonia at the Presbyterian Home of Maryland in Towson. The longtime Rodgers Forge resident was 96. The son of Presbyterian missionaries, Edward Van Cleve Nicol was born in Minneapolis while his parents were on furlough from their mission work in Beirut. In 1918, Mr. Nicol and his family returned to Beirut, where he graduated from the American Community School in 1934.

As a volunteer with Notre Dame Mission Volunteers, Sarah Kennedy, 23, works full-time for Alternative Directions, a Baltimore nonprofit that helps people who are in prison or leaving prison. She runs a program called CHIP, which mentors children of incarcerated parents, and she helms a transitional program for women coming out of prison. "I see so much injustice and inequality in our country," she said. "I think if you're not actively working against it, you're supporting the status quo. " This is Kennedy's second year with the volunteer organization, which was founded in Baltimore and is part of AmeriCorps.

As a volunteer at the Arundel House of Hope, Phil Bailey doesn't get paid for his services — for doing dishes, doing laundry or performing any of his other duties. After 20 years of working at the facility that provides shelter, health care, food, case management and more to the homeless, Bailey was finally recognized for making a difference in the lives of the people he serves. The Ravens honored Bailey as a "community quarterback" during a ceremony at M&T Bank Stadium before the team's game against the Oakland Raiders on Nov. 11. He was among three finalists who were thanked for outstanding service to their respective communities.

Lynly Safran McCoog, a homemaker who was a Lutherville school volunteer, died of breast cancer Nov. 13 at the Gilchrist Center for Hospice Care in Towson. She was 43 and lived in Lutherville. Born Lynly Safran in Toms River, N.J., she was the daughter of Robert Safran Sr. and Kathryn Nicholl Safran. She was raised in York, Pa., and was a 1987 graduate of York Suburban High School. She earned a bachelor of arts in English at Indiana University of Pennsylvania. She met her future husband, Kevin J. McCoog, a graduate of Loyola University Maryland who works in software sales.

As J.C. Barbely looked at Assateague Island in his rearview mirror Saturday night, he was pretty sure his seaside home away from home wouldn't escape Sandy's fury. But Wednesday morning, the assistant manager of the Maryland Park Service's biggest money-maker readied to reopen the park for day use before the week was out. Bulldozers plugged ragged holes in the dunes with sand washed into the parking lots, inspectors checked buildings, bridges and walkways, and crews gathered debris and counted wild ponies.