Watkins

On September 6, 2009, AQUILA AARON WATKINS; beloved husband of Bernice Anna Watkins. Devoted stepfather of Douglas Hall (Brenda). Survived by sister Priscilla Rogers; 12 grandchildren, and a host of other family and friends. Friends may call the WYLIE FUNERAL HOME P.A. OF BALTIMORE COUNTY, 9200 Liberty Road, on Sunday from 1 to 4 PM. On Monday, service will be held at the address mentioned above 12 PM Wake, 12:30 PM Funeral. Interment following. Inquiries www.wyliefh.com

On June 17, 2009, ELLA L., devoted wife of Jerry J. Watkins. Friends may visit the FAMILY OWNED MARCH FUNERAL HOME EAST, 1101 E. North Avenue on Wednesday after 8:30 a.m., where the family will receive friends on Thursday at 11:30 a.m. Funeral services will follow at 12 noon.

On June 9, 2009, SELMA J. PAYNE, beloved wife of the late John Harvey Payne; also survived by one brother Judd Watkins (Naomi) and a dear goddaughter, Jacqueline Alexander and her husband James. Viewing at the Joseph L. Russ Funeral Home, P.A., 2222-26 W. North Ave., on Sunday from 2 to 6 p.m. Family Hour at Ames UMC, Carey and Baker Streets, on Monday from 11 to 11:30 a.m. when funeral service will begin.

Ruth N. Watkins, an outspoken Howard County activist for seniors whose advocacy also centered on the visually impaired, died of a heart attack Friday at Howard County General Hospital. The longtime Ellicott City resident was 84. Ruth Naomi Herring, the daughter of a florist and a homemaker, was born in Baltimore and raised on Sinclair Lane. After graduating from Eastern High School in 1942, she worked in accounting at International Harvester on East 25th Street. While working at International Harvester, Mrs. Watkins met her future husband, Roland Eugene Watkins, who had been a major in the Army during World War II and later returned as the company's inventory supervisor.

A federal judge sentenced Nancy Jean Siegel to 400 months in prison Thursday in the killing of an elderly Reisterstown widower and stuffing his body in a steamer trunk - the culmination of a decades-long gambling addiction that led her to con friends and family out of hundreds of thousands of dollars, even spending the dead man's Social Security checks for years after his death. Siegel, 61, held fast to her declaration of innocence. Addressing the court for the first time, her 5-foot frame drowning in a yellow prison jumpsuit, she apologized for the pain she had caused but denied killing anyone.

A federal jury in Baltimore convicted Nancy Jean Siegel yesterday of murdering a Reisterstown man 30 years her senior after conning him out of everything he owned as part of a decades-long scheme that had dozens of victims, including her daughters and husbands. The verdict was returned after about seven hours of deliberations in U.S. District Court. The jury found Siegel guilty on 20 of 21 counts, including mail, wire and bank fraud; identity theft; and witness tampering by killing 75-year-old Jasper Frederick "Jack" Watkins in 1996 to keep her financial crimes from being discovered.

On January 25, 2009, CURTIS NEWTON WATKINS. He leaves to cherish his memory his devoted wife Delphine, daughters Tonika and Tiara and a host of other relatives and friends. The family will receive friends on Monday, February 2, 2009, from 3 to 8 P.M. at Howell Funeral Home, 10220 Guilford Rd.,, Jessup, MD. Funeral service will be held on Tuesday at Reid Temple AME Church, 11400 Glenndale Boulevard, Glenndale, MD. Wake 11 A.M. to 12 noon. Service will follow. Interment Crownsville Veterans Cemetery on Wednesday, February 4, 2009.

On November 23, 2008 MR. WATKINS Visitation at 2140 N. Fulton Ave. on Friday, 4P.M.-8P.M. The family will receive friends at 1st Mt. Calvary Baptist Church, 1140 N. Fulton Ave., on Saturday at 10A.M. Funeral at 10:30A.M.

Marc Hayes has been in the mortgage business for 19 years, but these days he often feels more like a therapist. With all the uncertainty in the economy, buyers are looking for reassurance about their home purchases, Hayes says. "There's a lot more hand-holding - a lot more coaxing," he says. As another disappointing real estate year nears an end, experts have various theories about what is shaping the mindset of sellers and what is holding back buyers, whether it's gloomy economic news or urban legends about the million-dollar estate to be had for $250,000.