Grace L. Burke
Morgan administrator
Services for Grace L. Burke, retired associate director of personnel at Morgan State University, will be held at noon today at Grace Presbyterian Church, Greenspring Avenue and Bannister Road.
Mrs. Burke, who was 81 and lived on Harpers Farm Road in Columbia, died Sunday at Howard County General Hospital after a long illness.
She retired from Morgan in 1978 after starting to work there in 1947 as secretary to the dean.
A member of the University Women at Morgan, she also headed its chapter of the Maryland Classified Employees Association in the 1950s. She served from 1957 until 1975 on the executive committee of the board of the association.
She was a deacon at Grace Presbyterian Church and a member of the Business and Professional Women's Club and the Daytimers, a social club.
The former Grace L. Hammond was a native of Plainfield, N.J., and a 1928 graduate of the Plainfield High School.
She had done secretarial work in Plainfield before she and her husband, Dr. James S. Burke, came to Baltimore in 1947. Dr. Burke had retired as a chiropractor before his death in 1985.
Mrs. Burke is survived by a son, James Sheldon Burke Jr. of Columbia; five daughters, Barbara A. Lightfoot of Absecon Heights, N.J., Janet A. Oskay of Baltimore, Jo-Ann D. Holly of Seabrook and Nancy B. Spencer and Marilyn B. Queen, both of Columbia; 13 grandchildren; and 10 great-grandchildren. A Mass of Christian burial for Alma A. Collins, a retired insurance company clerk who was an officer of auxiliaries of veterans' organizations, will be offered at 9 a.m. today at St. Clement's Roman Catholic Church, 2700 Washington Ave., Lansdowne.
Mrs. Collins, who was 74 and lived on Annapolis Road in Baltimore Highlands, died Tuesday at St. Agnes Hospital of pneumonia.
She retired almost 10 years ago after working for about 10 years for the Aetna Life and Casualty Co.
She was a former president of the August J. Ravio Unit of the American Legion Auxiliary and an officer in the auxiliary of the Veterans of Foreign Wars.
A member of the Senior Citizens Unit of the Glen Burnie Lodge of the Moose, she volunteered at bingo games sponsored by St. Clement's Church.
She was born Alma A. Parker in Baltimore and was educated at St. Jerome's School.
She is survived by her husband, William J. Collins; a daughter, Patricia A. Lau of Littlestown, Pa.; a brother, Walter E. Parker Jr. of Glen Burnie; and four grandchildren.
Jaime J. Austrich
Ran insurance firm
A Mass of Christian burial for Jaime J. Austrich, a former Baltimore resident who had operated an insurance company, will be offered at 10 a.m. today at Holy Family Roman Catholic Church in Dale City, Va.
Mr. Austrich, who was 69 and lived in Dale City, died Monday of pneumonia at a hospital in Alexandria, Va.
He retired about a year ago, selling the insurance business he had operated in Dale City for about five years.
He lived in Baltimore and worked for Maryland Casualty Co. from 1963 until 1968. He returned to Baltimore briefly before moving to Virginia 10 years ago.
Mr. Austrich worked for insurance companies in New Mexico, California, New York, Puerto Rico and Virginia.
He was born in Havana, graduated from the University of Havana and attended New York University. He came to the United States in 1960, first living in Miami.
He is survived by his wife, Pia Austrich; two sons, Jorge Austrich of Baltimore and James Austrich of Fairfax, Va.; two daughters, Lillian Bowie of La Plata and Susan Hatch of Los Angeles; six sisters, Maria del Carman Gonzales, Marta Austrich, Yleanna Carmona, Josefine Rivero and Pilar Rueda, all of Miami, and Thelma Austrich of Havana; two brothers, Carmelo Austrich of Miami and Ricardo Austrich of Boston; and seven grandchildren.
Donald L. Carter Jr.
Supervisor at Coppin
Services for Donald L. Carter Jr., a supervisor in the central receiving department at Coppin State College and an assistant manager at Ronald McDonald House, will be held at 11 a.m. today at St. Paul Baptist Church at 3101 The Alameda.
Mr. Carter, who was 36 and lived on Gwynns Falls Parkway, died Saturday of respiratory failure at the Homewood Hospital Center-South.
He had worked at Coppin since 1975 and began doing volunteer work at Ronald McDonald House in 1982. Added to the staff later, he became assistant manager in 1984.
Born in Baltimore, Boo Boo, as he became known in his childhood, was a 1973 graduate of Northern High School and attended the Community College of Baltimore. He also held a certificate in computer programming from the Data Processing Institute.
Before starting at Coppin, he worked in the meatpacking plant of the Schluderberg-Kurdle Co. and, while in high school, as a cashier and delivery man at the Rex Pharmacy.
For many years, he was a member of the Leadenhall Baptist Church.
He is survived by his parents, Lillie and Donald L. Carter Sr. of Baltimore; two brothers, Andrew Jock Carter and Eric Brock Carter, both of Baltimore; two sisters, Christine D. Causion and Belinda Y. Bowie, both of Baltimore; and his grandparents, Deacon Andrew Hopkins and Evangeline Hopkins, both of Shuqualak, Miss., and Lewis Jones, Roxie Woolridge and Elizabeth Jones, all of Baltimore.
The family suggested that memorial contributions could be made to Ronald McDonald House. Elmer C. Kreisel, who retired in 1982 as a research machinist for science departments at Towson State University, died March 28 at the Francis Scott Key Medical Center after a massive stroke.
Services for Mr. Kreisel, who was 77, were held Monday at the EvansFuneral Chapel in Parkville.
He had been hospitalized for the past four months at St. Joseph Hospital after suffering kidney and heart failure.
At the university, Mr. Kreisel researched equipment for the biology, physics and chemistry departments. From the 1940s through the 1960s, he worked as a patternmaker and machinist for Koppers Co., a South Baltimore heavy machinery parts manufacturer.
The Baltimore native lived in Parkville for 29 years.
He graduated from the Polytechnic Institute in 1931 and briefly studied architecture at Maryland Institute College of Art.
He was a member of the Liberty Lodge Masonic Order, where he served as master in the early 1960s. He also was a 30-year member of the Tall Cedars of Lebanon.
Mr. Kreisel loved opera, built grandfather clocks and painted duck decoys.
His wife, the former Bess Hunter, died seven years ago.
He is survived by a son, Elmer C. Kreisel Jr. of Middle River; two brothers, Walter Kreisel of Baltimore and Earl Kreisel of Florida; two grandsons; and a granddaughter.
The family suggests memorial contributions to the Baltimore Opera Company.
Melvin L. Gobrecht
Retired Sun mailer
Services for Melvin L. Gobrecht, a retired mailer at The Baltimore Sun, will be held at 11 a.m. today at the Kirkley Funeral Home, 421 Crain Highway South, Glen Burnie.
Mr. Gobrecht, 61, died Wednesday of cancer at his home on Caswell Avenue in Ferndale.
He retired in December from The Baltimore Sun, where he had worked since 1947. He spent much of his time on the night shift.
He served in the Marine Corps in the Korean War.
The Baltimore native attended the Mergenthaler Vocational Technical High School and was a member of the Howard Lodge of the Masons.
He is survived by his wife of 37 years, the former Doris Fern Wehnert; two sons, James William Gobrecht of Severn and Thomas Marion Gobrecht of Baltimore; and four grandchildren.
Beatrice C. Wilson
Active in church
Services for Beatrice C. Wilson, who was active in church and community groups, will be held at 7:30 p.m. today at St. John's Baptist Church, 2929 Dupont Ave.
Mrs. Wilson, who was 89 and lived on Cylburn Avenue, died Tuesday at Sinai Hospital after a long illness.
At St. John's Baptist Church, she was a member of the usher board and was the oldest active member according to her family.
She was cited for work in the auxiliary of a Forest Park youth baseball league and was a member of a senior citizen's group at the James E. Gross Recreation Center.
She was born Beatrice C. Snead in Essex County, Va., and reared in Baltimore, where she graduated from Douglass High School.
She worked in a Continental Can Co. plant during World War II.
Her husband, Manning C. Wilson, who had retired as a staff sergeant in the Army and as a Red Cap at Pennsylvania Station, died in 1971.
Mrs. Wilson is survived by three sisters, Florence Williams, Elizabeth Quille and Vivian Snead, all of Baltimore; 11 nieces; nine nephews; 29 grandnieces and 18 grandnephews; and 13 great-grandnieces; and 14 great-grandnephews.