Western Electric

Hilda O. Micari, whose career at Western Electric Corp. spanned four decades, died Feb. 13 of a cardiac arrest at the Charlestown retirement community in Catonsville, where she had lived for 20 years. She was 96. The daughter of a banker and a seamstress, the former Hilda Ott was born in Baltimore and raised near Patterson Park. After graduating from city public schools, she earned a bachelor's degree in 1938 from Washington College, where she was a charter member of Alpha Omicron Pi. Mrs. Micari worked briefly for the city Department of Public Welfare before taking a job with Western Electric in 1941, where she rose to chief of college relations and education programs.

Henry Herman Kayser, a retired telephone company engineer and technical consultant, died of cancer June 16 at Gilchrist Hospice Care of Towson. The Stoneleigh resident was 76. Born in Baltimore and raised on Regester Avenue, he was the son of Henry Kayser, a naval architect, and Julia Kayser, a homemaker, who were German immigrants. He was a 1953 Polytechnic Institute graduate and earned a physics degree from Loyola College. He also studied at the Johns Hopkins University. Mr. Kayser worked for 41 years at the old Western Electric Co. and at AT&T.

Anthony J. Rupp, a retired Western Electric supervisor, died of lung cancer Saturday at St. Joseph Medical Center. The Loch Raven Village resident was 73. Born in Baltimore and raised in Anneslie, he was a 1948 graduate of Loyola High School. He earned a degree in business administration from Loyola College. He joined the Point Breeze Works of the former Western Electric Co. in 1955 and worked there until its 1986 closing, when he was a benefits and medical department supervisor. He also was a member of the credit committee of the Point Breeze Credit Union.

Hilda O. Micari, whose career at Western Electric Corp. spanned four decades, died Feb. 13 of a cardiac arrest at the Charlestown retirement community in Catonsville, where she had lived for 20 years. She was 96. The daughter of a banker and a seamstress, the former Hilda Ott was born in Baltimore and raised near Patterson Park. After graduating from city public schools, she earned a bachelor's degree in 1938 from Washington College, where she was a charter member of Alpha Omicron Pi. Mrs. Micari worked briefly for the city Department of Public Welfare before taking a job with Western Electric in 1941, where she rose to chief of college relations and education programs.

William Heber Faust, a retired Western Electric Corp. engineer and former Rodgers Forge resident, died of cancer Tuesday at Charlestown Retirement Community. He was 91. Mr. Faust was born and raised in Baltimore and graduated from Polytechnic Institute. He worked for many years as an industrial engineer at Western Electric plants in Allentown, Pa., and at Baltimore's Point Breeze before retiring in 1978. A drummer and big-band fan, Mr. Faust had been a member of the Western Electric Band and several other area bands.

Services for Joseph D. "Bros" Heath Sr., a Western Electric maintenance employee for 38 years, will be at 11:30 a.m. tomorrow at the Duda-Ruck Funeral Home of Dundalk, 7922 Wise Ave.Mr. Heath, who was 67, died of respiratory failure Saturday at his home in Colgate, where he had lived for 39 years.Born in Baltimore, Mr. Heath began working for the old Western Electric Co. during World War II and in 1943 was drafted into the Army Air Corps. He served as a military policeman in China, Burma and India.

Services for Howard C. Brown, a retired electrical maintenance manager for the Western Electric Co., will be held at 10 a.m. today at the Leonard J. Ruck Funeral Home, 5305 Harford Road.Mr. Brown, who was 88 and lived on Stevenson Lane, died of pneumonia Sunday at St. Joseph Hospital after suffering a heart attack.The Baltimore native retired in 1967 after 36 years with the telephone equipment company.He was a member of the Point Breeze Chapter of the Telephone Pioneers of America and the Rosedale Square Club.

Joseph L. Blackwell, a retired Western Electric Co. machine operator and longtime member of New Shiloh Baptist Church in West Baltimore, died Thursday at Ruxton Health and Rehabilitation Center of complications from a fall. He was 90. Mr. Blackwell was born and raised in Lottsburg, Va., the son of a farmer. After graduating from local public schools, he moved to Baltimore in the early 1930s and took jobs as a hotel porter and in a restaurant. He then worked at Western Electric's Point Breeze plant for 34 years as a machine operator until retiring in 1977.

John Wesley Jackson, a retired Western Electric Co. employee who later worked as a courier and cabdriver, died of cancer Saturday at Mercy Medical Center. He was 71 and a resident of the city's Pen Lucy neighborhood. Born in Baltimore and raised on Mace Street, he was a 1952 graduate of Frederick Douglass High School and later studied education at what is now Morgan State University. He served in the Air Force from 1952 to 1956, attaining the rank of sergeant. He then worked for Western Electric at Point Breeze for 27 years before his retirement in 1983.

Margaret Jeanette Kurlick, a retired Western Electric Corp. employee and former South Baltimore resident, died of cancer Sunday at her Hagerstown home. She was 82. Born Margaret Jeanette Rohrback in Keedysville, she was a 1939 graduate of Brunswick High School. In the early 1940s, she married Nicholas Kurlick, an ironworker at Maryland Drydock Co. He died in 1988. Mrs. Kurlick, a longtime Covington Street resident, worked for 18 years at the Point Breeze plant of Western Electric Corp.

Gerhardt W. "Gus" Strohsacker, a retired Western Electric Corp. manager and Korean War veteran, died Aug. 10 from complications of dementia and Parkinson's disease at Brighton Gardens, a Towson assisted-living facility. The longtime Homeland resident was 80. Born in Philadelphia, Mr. Strohsacker was the son of an Ocean City hotelier and a homemaker. He was raised in Berlin, where he graduated from Buckingham High School. After graduating from Washington College, where he earned a bachelor's degree, he served in the Marine Corps from 1951 to 1954.

George J. Panzer, a retired Western Electric cable specialist and jeweler who was a decorated World War II veteran, died of complications from lung disease Saturday at Oak Crest Village. The former Dundalk resident was 91. Born in Baltimore, he was the son of a pickle and sauerkraut maker and grew up near Patterson Park. He was a 1931 graduate of St. Michael's Parochial School and attended the Marianist Brothers Preparatory School in Beacon, N.Y. He was a bicycle messenger for Western Union and the Radio Corp.

Levi H."Lee" Manchester, a retired Western Electric Corp. division chief, died of cancer at Gilchrist Hospice Care on Aug. 11. The former West Towson resident was 91. Mr. Manchester was born and raised in Tiverton, R.I., and graduated from B.M.C. Durfee High School in 1935. He was an apprentice machine and tool and die maker at General Electric Co.'s Providence Base Works plant in Rhode Island. In 1941, he moved to Baltimore and took a job with the old Glenn L. Martin Co. plant in Middle River, and then joined Western Electric working on radar and other high-tech equipment at the company's former Point Breeze Works in Southeast Baltimore.

Kenneth Ray Carson, a former Western Electric Corp. telecommunications installer who had lived in Halethorpe and Relay, died of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and cancer July 24 at Hernando-Pasco Hospice in Hudson, Fla. He was 74. Mr. Carson was born in Tarentum, Pa., and moved with his family in 1945 to Sergeant Street in South Baltimore. He was a 1951 graduate of Southern High School and served in the Army as a Teletype operator in Japan from 1953 to 1955. Mr. Carson worked installing switchboards and telecommunications equipment for Western Electric for 21 years until retiring in 1973.

ROBERT F. "Hymie" WILHELM, 72, died Thursday July 3, 2008 in York. He was the husband of Marlene D. [Brown] Wilhelm to whom he was married for 50 years. Born August 17, 1935 in Baltimore, a son of the late John R. Wilhelm and the late Hedwig [Inbierowicz] Rominski, he had worked for Western Electric and then retired from AT&T in Arizona. He was a member of St. Joseph's Catholic Church - Dallastown; Loyal Order of Moose, Grunwald Club, Quo Vadis Club, and the American Legion. He was also active in the Pioneers civic club through Western Electric.

William R. Carter, a retired Chesapeake & Potomac Telephone Co. supervisor and a decorated World War II veteran, died Wednesday of heart failure at Bonnie Blink, the Maryland Masonic Home in Hunt Valley. He was 86. Mr. Carter was born and raised in Northeast Baltimore. He was a 1940 graduate of Polytechnic Institute. He worked at Western Electric Corp. before enlisting in the Army in 1942. He served as a staff sergeant with the 3rd Signal Company of the 3rd Infantry Division in Europe.

Charles Gillis "Max" Maxwell, a retired Western Electric Corp. machine operator, died of a stroke Friday at a Hanover, Va., hospital. The former Dundalk resident was 62. Mr. Maxwell was born and raised in Baltimore and graduated from Our Lady of Lourdes Parochial School. He served with a Marine Corps infantry unit in Vietnam from 1963 to 1967. He attained the rank of corporal, and his decorations included the Marine Corps Rifle Sharpshooters Badge. After being discharged from the Marine Corps, he joined Western Electric's Point Breeze plant, where he worked as a quality-control inspector until transferring to the Hanover, Va., plant in 1983.

Louis E. Martino, a retired Western Electric Corp. auditor and accomplished musician, died Saturday at Gilchrist Center for Hospice Care of complications from open-heart surgery. The longtime Timonium resident was 83. Mr. Martino was born and raised in Newark, N.J., and graduated from Barringer High School in 1940. During World War II, he enlisted in the Coast Guard and was assigned as lighthouse keeper at Mount Desert Rock near Frenchboro, Maine. Mr. Martino later joined the attack transport USS Joseph T. Dickman, which transported troops as part of the invasion of Okinawa.