Woodworking

In the Harford County development of Stone Ridge, Wayne and Mollie Goddard's home is graced with stately white columns, Palladian windows and a portico. Occupying a corner lot, the two-story Georgian home has 4,100 square feet. It had one flaw two years ago when the couple bought the home for $429,000. "We bought a white house," says Mollie Goddard, referring to the interior. "And I hate white." The couple knew what had to be done. They spent an estimated $20,000 on paint, woodworking, molding, fabric and landscaping.

The roar of electric saws and sanders filled the wood shop at Florence Bain Senior Center in Columbia on Tuesday, but Jim Koury and Jim Bowen were deep in conversation. Bowen, of Columbia, was offering suggestions on Koury's wooden bowl, made by spinning a block of wood on a lathe and trimming it with a long metal tool. "It's the first woodworking I've ever done," said Koury, of Ellicott City, who recently retired from teaching philosophy at the Community College of Baltimore County and signed up for Bowen's bowl-turning class.

Lee Mace Willey, a retired electrician and woodworker, died of cancer Sunday at Westminster Nursing and Rehabilitation Center. He was 70 and lived in Granite. Mr. Willey was born and raised in Dundalk, and was a graduate of Dundalk High School. He served as an Army cook in Korea from 1953 to 1956. He worked for more than 40 years as an electrician at the Sparrows Point plant of Bethlehem Steel Corp., retiring in 1997. Mr. Willey enjoyed making furniture and carving miniature scenes featuring buildings, interiors and people inspired by the Old West.

John Michael Steven Yost, a machine-parts salesman and an accomplished woodworker, died of cancer Monday at his Rodgers Forge home. He was 44. Mr. Yost was diagnosed with CUPS - Cancer of Unknown Primary Source - about a year ago, family members said. "John fought for a year after having been diagnosed with CUPS," said a sister, Deborah E. Tewey of Wiltondale. "This type of cancer affects less than 5 percent of all cancer patients, and the source of his cancer was never found." Born in Baltimore and raised in Towson, Mr. Yost was a 1977 graduate of Towson High School.

Five-year-old Mairin O'Connell was pleased with her first foray into art competition at the Howard County Fair yesterday. "I won a ribbon, I won a ribbon," she told her parents, Brendan and Debbie O'Connell of Dayton, hopping up and down and pointing to the third-place ribbon attached to her drawing. She said she has participated in the pretty animal contest before, but "I wanted to enter a new contest." She made her crayon drawing of deer, trees, hill and a "magic river" the day entries were due. That enthusiastic response is exactly what organizers like to see in the Home Arts Department as they seek to entice more people to compete in hundreds of food preparation, art, craft and baking categories for ribbons and prize money.

In a metal warehouse at the edge of Westminster, Glenn James roams through stacks of hewn wooden beams. He urges visitors to touch the centuries-old craftsman's marks: the evenly spaced adz marks on a beam or the hand-chiseled notches that demonstrate the basics of mortise-and-tenon wood joinery. "That's a great stick," he says, stopping by a favorite chestnut log. "I was told it dates from 1702, from a Hereford Methodist church." James is a practicing timber framer, and he has collected these old beams over the years from around the country to reuse in new buildings built in the old way. His beloved wood reveals tidbits of natural and human history: the distribution and diseases of different trees, or how the Old World construction techniques changed to meet the demand for quick shelter for pioneers in the American West.

William H.M. Finney, a retired neurosurgeon who was known not only for his technical expertise, but for his commitment to public health, died Thursday after an apparent heart attack while driving near his home in Towson. He was 79. Dr. Finney was an expert on back injuries and performed hundreds of disc operations during his career. He also helped start Shepherd's Clinic, a low-cost treatment center for Baltimore's working poor. "He was one of the last of the old breed of doctors, who gave their lives completely to the field," said his longtime friend and colleague, Union Memorial Hospital surgeon Dr. William Howard.

Daniel Henry Solloway Sr., a retired Baltimore & Ohio Railroad flagman and accomplished woodworker, died of lung disease Jan. 18 at his Pasadena home. He was 82. Born in Baltimore and raised in the city's Brooklyn section, he attended public schools. He worked as an usher at the now-demolished Century Theater and as an ordinary seaman before joining the B&O as a brakeman in 1939. Throughout his 42-year career, he worked as a rail yard foreman and yard master. At the time of his 1981 retirement, he was a passenger train flagman.

Henry C. Shade Sr., 68, mechanic, woodworker Henry C. Shade Sr., a retired automobile mechanic and woodworker, died of a heart attack Thursday at Northwest Hospital Center in Randallstown. He was 68 and lived in Granite. Born in Baltimore and raised in Locust Point, Mr. Shade graduated from Southern High School. He began his career as a mechanic in the 1950s working for Jerry's Chevrolet, first in Govans and later after the dealership relocated to East Joppa Road in Towson. In 1978, he purchased Wagner's Service Center on Liberty Road in Randallstown, which he operated until retiring in 1997.

Thomas Y. Ingram, a Maryland state trooper known for the 1991 capture of a Canadian fugitive wanted for shooting a Toronto police officer and shooting at two Maryland troopers, died Dec. 30 of cancer at Heritage Harbor Health and Rehabilitation Center. He was 69. A trooper for 30 years until his retirement in 1992, he received several commendations and served for a decade on the security force that protected Govs. Marvin Mandel and Harry R. Hughes. But he became known for an arrest he made while off duty.