Nicholas Vrachos
Retired history teacher
Services for Nicholas Vrachos, who was a teacher in the Maryland and Colorado public schools for 30 years, will be held at 1 p.m. tomorrow at the Mitchell-Wiedefeld Home, 6500 York Road.
Mr. Vrachos, who was 63 and lived on East Baltimore Street, died Saturday of lung cancer at the Johns Hopkins Hospital.
He retired in 1985 after a teaching career that included more than 20 years at Dundalk High School. When he came to Baltimore in the late 1950s, he taught at Brooklyn Park High School. Earlier, he taught in Pueblo, Colo.
Mr. Vrachos was born in Gloucester, Mass., to parents who came to this country from Greece about 1900. He was a 1950 graduate of the University of Massachusetts at Amherst, where he majored in European history.
He was an officer in the Army during the Korean War. Later, he earned a master's degree in political science and did additional graduate work at the University of Maryland.
Mr. Vrachos liked opera and classical music. He also collected paintings, especially seascapes of the Atlantic Coast.
He traveled extensively in Greece, Italy, Spain, Mexico and South America.
In addition to the Teachers Association of Baltimore County and the Maryland State Teachers Association, Mr. Vrachos belonged the American Civil Liberties Union.
He is survived by two sisters, Sophia Miller of Baltimore, health and medical reporter for The Evening Sun, who writes under the byline Sue Miller, and Frances Vrachos of Gloucester; two nieces, Carola Bruflat of Vienna, Va., and Kathryn E. Levy of San Diego; and a grandnephew.
The family suggested contributions to the American Cancer Society.
Services for James L. Smith Sr., a retired lieutenant at the Patuxent Institution, will be held at 11 a.m. today at the Loring Byers funeral home, 8728 Liberty Road.
Mr. Smith, who lived in Pikesville, died Saturday at Baltimore County General Hospital of complications after surgery on his leg. He was 71.
Born in Flintstone, he left school at an early age to help out with the family's businesses, a farm and a lumber mill.
Mr. Smith served in the U.S. Army with the 29th Division, 116th Infantry, during World War II. He was awarded the Purple Heart for wounds he sustained while in Germany.
After his discharge from the Army in 1945, he worked as a game warden in Washington County until 1952. He then moved his family to Pittsburgh and worked as a maintenance man with the Pennsylvania Railroad.
Mr. Smith returned to Maryland in 1955 and began work as a correctional officer at Patuxent.
He suffered injuries there twice during his 27-year career, including a stab wound during an inmate riot in the early 1970s. He retired in 1982.
He enjoyed fishing, hunting and Louis L'Amour's western novels. He was a fan of the Pittsburgh Pirates and Steelers.
He is survived by his wife of 49 years, the former Florence L. Harmon; four sons, James L. Smith Jr. of Baltimore, Gary L. and Michael L. Smith of Pikesville and Patrick L. Smith of Randallstown; a brother, Charles Smith of Cumberland; a sister, Betty Umble of Smithfield, Pa.; two grandsons; and a great-grandson.
The family suggested memorial donations to the Diabetes Association of Maryland or the American Heart Association.
Louis A. Kramer Sr.
Worked at Koons Ford
A Mass of Christian burial for Louis A. Kramer Sr., a retired parts clerk for an automobile dealer, will be offered at 9 a.m. today at Holy Trinity Roman Catholic Church, 7436 Baltimore-Annapolis Blvd.
Mr. Kramer, who was 67, died Saturday at his home on Main Avenue S.W. in Glen Burnie.
He retired three months ago from Koons Ford of Baltimore, where he had worked in the parts department for about 12 years.
Earlier, he was a deliveryman in in Towson for Royal Dunloggin Dairy and worked during World War II for the Westinghouse Electric Corp.
A native of Ellicott City, he graduated from St. Mark's School in Catonsville and from Mount St. Joseph High School.
He later managed a youth baseball team at St. Mark Church.
His son, Battalion Chief Louis A. Kramer Jr. of the Baltimore County Fire Department, died seven months ago.
Louis A. Kramer Sr. is survived by his wife of 44 years, the former Frankie Gaylord; a brother, John Kramer of Eastpoint; two sisters, Margaret and Helen Kramer, both of Bowleys Quarters; and two grandchildren.
Howard W. Miller
Harford civil engineer
Services for Howard W. Miller Jr., a civil engineer for Harfor County, will be held at 2 p.m. tomorrow at the Little Britain Presbyterian Church in Peach Bottom, Pa.
Mr. Miller, who was 60, died Saturday at his home in Pylesville after a long illness.
He went to work for the Public Works Department in Harford County after retiring in 1986 from the Army Corps of Engineers in the Baltimore office. He had worked for the corps as a civilian employee for 30 years.
He also worked part time for West Lampeter Township in Lancaster County, Pa.
Born in Clark Summit, Pa., he earned bachelor's and master's degrees in civil engineering at Pennsylvania State University and served in the Army during the Korean War.
He was a registered surveyor and a member of the American Society of Civil Engineers.
The former president of the Wakefield (Pa.) Lions Club was a member of the Fulton Grange and the Highland Presbyterian Church in Street and had been an adult leader in the Boy Scouts.
He is survived by his wife, the former Ione Groff; two daughters, Christine Frost of Lampeter, Pa., and Amelia Miller of Pylesville; two sons, Gregory Miller of Dallastown, Pa., and Kent Miller of Pylesville; and six grandchildren.
Heningham George
Riderwood developer
Services for Heningham Fulton George, who developed real estate in Riderwood, where she lived for many years, will be held at 10:30 a.m. tomorrow at the Episcopal Church of the Good Shepherd, Boyce and Carrollton avenues in Ruxton.
Mrs. George, who was 66, died Sunday at the Greater Baltimore Medical Center after an asthma attack. She lived on Thornton Ridge Road.
She retired about two years ago after developing property in the Riderwood area for about 20 years. She was an agent with the real estate firm of O'Conor, Piper and Flynn for about 10 years.
The former Heningham Lyons Fulton was a native of Baltimore and a graduate of the Bryn Mawr School. She attended Vassar College and later obtained a bachelor's degree from the Johns Hopkins University.
Her interests included American history, especially that of Virginia, the home of her mother's family.
For about 30 years, she marched in Towson's annual Fourth of July parade.
She was a former president of the Bryn Mawr Alumnae Association and her memberships included the Johns Hopkins and Elkridge clubs.
In 1944, she married Woodruff T. George, who died in 1984.
She is survived by three daughters, Heningham George Kennedy of Chevy Chase, Josephine E. G. Worthington of Glyndon and Jane C. G. Millspaugh of Arlington, Va.; three sons, Woodruff T. George Jr. of Baltimore, Peter L. C. George of Woodbrook and Arthur C. George of Riderwood; and nine grandchildren.
The family suggested memorial contributions to the Church of the Good Shepherd.
Deaths elsewhere
John H. Costello Sr., 76, publisher of The Sun in Lowell, Mass., one of the country's oldest family-run newspapers, died Sunday while at his Miami vacation home. The Lowell native and Dartmouth College graduate played professional hockey with the Boston Olympics, but naval service in World War II interrupted his career. After the war, he returned to Lowell and worked at the newspaper founded in 1878 by his grandfather, John H. Harrington. In 1987, he became the paper's sole owner.
Gene Hoyer, 50, a lawyer in Charleston, W.Va., and former campaign manager for U.S. Sen. Jay Rockefeller, was killed Sunday in Renwick, W.Va., when a rifle he was carrying accidentally discharged. He was campaign manager for Mr. Rockefeller's successful 1976 gubernatorial campaign.