Western Electric

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.

JUNE C. TUDOR, 77, a recent resident of the Lutheran Village in Salisbury, Md. and formerly of Balto. died Sunday, February 16, 2003 at Peninsula Regional Medical Center in Salisbury. Mrs. Tudor was a daughter of the late Walter and Louise Callahan of Balto. She was preceded in death by her husband William in 1983 and a brother Ron Callahan in 2002. She is survived by a sister, Eleanor Fanara of Balto., a son Ed Tudor and his wife Louise and granddaughter Rebecca of Bishopville, Md., a daughter, Cindy Stamm and grandson Jason Stamm of Balto.

Gordon A. Thomas, a lifelong Dundalk resident and retired millwright, died of lung cancer Jan. 12 at his home. He was 65. Mr. Thomas attended grade school and remained a parishioner at Sacred Heart of Mary. He was an active member of the Dundalk High School Class of 1955, which he served as treasurer, and of the Dundalk Heritage society. After high school graduation, Mr. Thomas served six months of active duty and six years in the Army Reserves, and worked for 30 years as a millwright at Western Electric Co. He belonged to the Dundalk Athletic Club, the Knights of Columbus Dundalk Council, the Omega Club and American Legion Post No. 38. A Mass of Christian burial was offered Friday at Sacred Heart of Mary.

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.

Robert Lewis Miller Sr., an engineer who helped create a plastic clip now used on nearly every telephone, fax machine and home computer in the country, died Friday of complications of pulmonary disease at Johns Hopkins Hospital. The Hampden resident was 65. Working at Western Electric Co.'s Point Breeze plant on Broening Highway in the 1960s, he was asked to find a way to mass-produce a wired plastic clip the size of a pencil eraser. It was to hold four telephone wires and replace an older technology.

Francis W. Wallace, 81, Western Electric supervisor Francis W. Wallace, a retired Western Electric Co. supervisor and assistant state adjutant of the Veterans of Foreign Wars, died of a stroke Jan. 19 at Levindale Hebrew Geriatric Center and Hospital. He was 81 and lived in Randallstown. Mr. Wallace, a machinist, began working at Western Electric's Point Breeze plant in 1946. He was supervisor of the company's wire department before retiring on a medical disability in 1982. Born in Baltimore and raised in Northwest Baltimore, he attended Douglass High School and earned his high school equivalency while serving in the Navy during World War II. He was a machinist and maintained fighter planes at Pearl Harbor.

A PLANNED community of diverse working-class homes, with a broad avenue, parks, waterfront facilities and a modern shopping center. Host to world-renowned aviators Lindbergh, Earhart and Doolittle. Home of the Jeep and the Liberty Ship, lifeblood of the Bethlehem Steel mills and shipyards. That was Historic Dundalk. The past cannot be restored, but that rich history could be key to redevelopment and revitalization of the aging community that lies between East Baltimore and North Point Peninsula.

Fred Wright, 88, president of manufacturing company Fred Wright, former president of a company that manufactures picture frames and architectural moldings, died of a heart attack Saturday while vacationing in Sarasota, Fla. The Timonium resident was 88. Mr. Wright joined Milton W. Bosley Co. in 1946. The Glen Burnie business had been founded in 1913 by his father-in-law. Mr. Wright later became its president and retired in 1977. Born and raised in Irvington, Mr. Wright was a 1932 graduate of Polytechnic Institute.

Marjorie Anne Sinton, 71, registered nurse Marjorie Anne Sinton, a retired registered nurse who worked for the Baltimore County Health Department for 20 years, died Sunday of pancreatic cancer at Gilchrist Center for Hospice Care. The Towson resident was 71. Mrs. Sinton retired in 1999 from the county department's Division of Child Health, where she had worked since 1979. Marjorie Anne Rupp was born in Baltimore and was a 1948 graduate of Eastern High School. She graduated in 1953 from Union Memorial Hospital's Johnson School of Nursing and was a member of its faculty from 1954 to 1956.

Claude Yelverton, 84, BGE laborer, food vendor Claude Yelverton, a retired Baltimore Gas and Electric Co. laborer, died Saturday of a circulatory ailment at Genesis Eldercare in Catonsville. He was 84 and lived in Edmondson Village. Mr. Yelverton retired in 1985 after 41 years at BGE. Known as "The Egg Man," he sold vegetables, eggs and soft drinks from a truck, serving high-rise residences for senior citizens in Baltimore. Born in Goldsboro, N.C., he attended public schools there. He enjoyed bowling, fishing and caring for his dog. In 1965, he married Annie Freeman, who survives him. Funeral services will be held at noon today at Cornerstone Church of Christ, 4239 Park Heights Ave., where he was a member of the senior usher board, the Woodhouse Memorial Ministry and the Men's Empowerment Class.