Remembering some of those we’ve lost
Death comes for all of us in the end, and whatwemake of our lives until then is what really matters. It’s a simple truth that bears repeating as we reach the end of 2020, a year that will be remembered for the deaths caused by the coronavirus pandemic.
Each year at this time, news organizations try to look back atsomeof the lives lost that made difference. Frankly, it is a task beyond us this year, with the toll from COVID- 19 atop 300 in this county, 5,000 in Maryland, 267,000 in the United States and 1.7 million globally.
So, today we offer this brief summary of some of the passingwe have noted this year. It is an incomplete list, limited by our ability to capture lives short and long, celebrated and anonymous with only words at our disposal.
December
■ Paul Rusko, Anne Arundel County coordinator of physical education and athletics from1970 to1991, left behind a legacy of devotion to students, to athletics, and to the values of sportsmanship and fair play.
■ Adrian “Ace” Johnson, 40, was a longtime Anne Arundel County youth sports coach who co- founded Glen Burnie- based Team AIP, which stands for Anything is Possible.
■ Midshipman First Class John Johnson, 22, of Chapel Hill, North Carolina, drowned in Park City, Utah.
November
■ William “Bill” McCarthy Davis, district public defender for Anne Arundel County for 13 years, was a zealous advocate for underprivileged clients.
■ Donna Hole, 75, of Annapolis, invented the job of chief of historic preservation, working as the first to hold the position for the City of Annapolis from 1992 until her retirement in 2007.
■ BobHough, 46, of Pasadena covered high school sports for The Capital andMaryland Gazette as a full time sports reporter and editor for six years until taking buyout in early 2020.
■ Sean Hetrick, a popular Annapolis musician and lead singer of his band Sean Hetrick and The Leftovers, was a wellknown activist in the recovery community. Hewas 33.
■ OfficerReynoldsPeelewas with theAnne Arundel County Police Department for only two years before his diagnosis with cancer, but his fellow officers remembered him for courageous service to country and community.
October
■ AnneC. Chamberswas a career educator who co- founded Indian Creek School in AnneArundel County. The former Annapolis and Den ton resident was 80.
■ Geoff Ewenson, 50, was a renowned professional sailor from Annapolis who was a key crew member for a slew of highprofile big- boat racing programs competing on the grand prix circuit. The husband of Spinsheet publisher Mary Ewenson, and was considered a behind- the- scenes contributor to the publication.
■ Louis Carter was one of Maryland football’s all- time greats and spent four seasons in the National Football League. The longtime Laurel residentwas 67.
■ NavyAdm. CarlisleTrost, 90, was aNaval Academy graduate whowent on to serve as the 23rd chief of naval operations.
■ Laurance Allen Leonard, 89, was a renowned Annapolis entrepreneur, best known as the longtime proprietor of Eddie Leonard’s Sporting Goods.
■ John “Jack” T. Schofield Jr. of Annapolis was a member of multiple halls of fame for his accomplishments as a lacrosse player. Hewas 76.
■ Dr. Hilary O’Herlihy, 90, of Severna Park was a cardiologist instrumental in the creation of North Arundel Hospital ( now University of Maryland Baltimore/ Washington), where the cardiology wing is named after him. Chief of medicine for 36 years, he admitted the first patient at the hospital in Glen Burnie and served as President of Anne Arundel CountyMedical Society; Med- Chi and helped formHospice of Chesapeake in1979.
September
■ John C. Kozenski Jr., longtime president of the Anne Arundel County Fair, was a Meyer Seed Co. manager known for his extensive knowledge off lower and vegetable raising. The Glen Burnie residentwas 56.
■ Fred Hecklinger, one of the founders of Eastport Yacht Club, was a renowned seaman and a larger- than- life figure in the Annapolis sailing community. Hewas 84.
■ Longtime Maryland Gazette columnist Kathleen “Kathy” Anne Shatt, 60, of Glen Burnie cared about her family and community.
August
■ Robert Eades, 63, was a lifelong Annapolis resident who gained a reputation as as a fierce advocate for the city’s Black community. He was known to admonish officials for not helpingwith outlying problems and would advocate for better living conditions.
■ As a greenskeeper and superintendent of the golf course at Crofton Country Club for 54 years, William E. Dorsey Sr. ofGambrills left behind a large family. Hewas 76.
■ Leon Fleisher, 92, of Baltimore was a musical force for more than eight decades that included years as an early musical director for the Annapolis Symphony Orchestra and 60 years as an instructor at the Peabody Institute of the Johns Hopkins University.
July
■ Annapolis resident Peter McGrath, 76, was an award- winning journalist who covered the collapse of the Soviet Union and the first Persian GulfWar and spent a lifetime performing bluegrass.
■ Camarin Wallace, 14, was shot and killed near the playground in Annapolis Gardens. He is the city’s youngest homicide victim.
June
■ Myrtle Lorraine Scott Johnson, 89, of Annapolis was a retired nurse and family historian.
■ Mark Murphy, 71, of Annapolis was a past commodore of Eastport Yacht Club and one of the most respected sailboat race officers in theUnited States.
■ William M. Kaufman, a licensed clinical psychologist, noted author and accomplished harpist from Annapolis, he worked extensively with incarcerated teenagers at the Jennifer Road Juvenile Detention Center in Annapolis.
May
■ Ora Snowden, 104, lived through a century of change, not just for Black Americans like her but all Americans. Raised on a farm in Davidsonville, she later married William Snowden and moved to Annapolis. There she took care of her 11 children, a doting mother intent on making the best for her family, including longtime civil rights activist Carl Snowden.
■ Maria Priola, 81, oversaw Maria’s Sicilian Ristorante& Cafe in Annapolis for 40 years, raising a family and charming thousands of customers, from governors to athletes to movie stars.
■ F. CarvelPaynewas the former director of the Maryland Department of Legislative Reference. The former Severna Park residentwas 77.
■ John ThomasMorgan, 91, of Annapolis served as a legislative fellow in Congress and worked for 30 years as a senior government relations officer with the Communications Workers of America.
April
■ Fred Stauffer, 80, of Millersville worked as the athletic director at Annapolis High from 1971 through 1999, a mentor to generations of athletes and coaches.
■ Stevensville resident John H. Wilson Jr., 74, was an Eastern Shore developer whose projects included the Chesapeake Bay Beach Club and the purchase and renovation of Easton’s historic Tidewater Inn.
■Ma eve Kennedy T owns endMcKe an ,40, and 8- year- old Gideon Joseph Kennedy McKean died after the two were playing kickball near a cove on formerMarylandLt. Gov. Kathleen Kennedy Townsend’s property and one of them kicked the ball into the cove. While trying to retrieve it in a canoe, they “somehow got pushed by wind or tide into the open bay,” McKean’s husband wrote in Facebook post. They are the daughter and grandson of the former lieutenant governor.
March
■ Marilyn Bruette Abercrombie, 90, of Shady Side was a world traveling photo journalistwhosework appeared inNational Geographic Magazine, Time- Life, Aramco World, Encyclopedia Britannica. Her book, “Traveling the World for National Geographic,” came out in 2010.
February
■ Barbara H. McCord helped create The Coordinating Center, which helps those with complex medical issues that exist in the community rather than a hospital. The longtime Annapolis residentwas 75.
■ Deborah Rosen McKerrow, 72, of Annapoliswas a community activist, political candidate, communications professional and businesswoman who charmed those who knew her.
■ Sherod M. Cooper Jr. built a career as a University of Maryland, College Park English professor butwas equally knownfor his volunteer work on the Liberty ship S. S. JohnW. Brown and his book chronicling its WorldWar II voyages. Hewas 93.
■ Naval Academy Midshipman Duke Carrillo, a 21- year- old sophomore, collapsed during the semi- annual physical readiness test. Carrillo was majoring in quantitative economics, and earned high marks including a 4.0 grade- point average in the last semester.
■ David Forney, a first class midshipman at the Naval Academy, was died of cardiac arrest and natural causes in his Bancroft Hall dormitory room. The 22- year- old Walkersville resident was an offensive lineman on theNavy Football team.
January
■ Walter “Gregg” Meade, 72, was the area director for Special Olympics Anne Arundel County and known for his passion and dedication to the program. Days before his death, he was awarded the Jimmy Myrick Jr. Governor’s Courage Award.
■ Karen Lisa Feldman, 66, co- founded Seeds4Success, a tutoring programfor girls only at first and later included boys in 2012.
■ Arthur Fratantuono, 83 and known to most as “Otts Fratt,” co- owned the Sunset Restaurant in Glen Burnie with his sons, running it for decades. His sonswould close the business later in the year.
■Irene E. New house, a community activist fromLinthicum, was the first director of the Anne Arundel County Office on Aging led theway in making the Pascal Senior Center. Shewas 94.
■ Marion Hopkins was a lifelong Annapolitan who loved her city and her husband Mayor AlHopkins. She was 93.
■ Russ Ward was a radio journalist who covered Washington for NBC News through seven presidential administrations. The former Edgewater residentwas 93.