Betty S. Feldman, active in theater and business, dies
A Bahai memorial service for Betty Sandler Feldman, who was active in theatrical and community work and had operated her own real estate business and a dress shop, will be held at 10 a.m. tomorrow at the Northwest Senior Center, 3101 Fallstaff Road.
Mrs. Feldman, who was 83 and had lived on Clarks Lane, died Nov. 25 of pneumonia at Sinai Hospital.
The former Betty Sandler, a native of Baltimore, was a graduate of George Washington University and the Dale Carnegie Institute of Human Relations. She also had received an honorary degree from Life Bible College.
Long active in the Bahai faith, she had been a member of the Spiritual Assembly of Baltimore and served on several of its committees.
She performed at nursing homes and other institutions as a clown called Bella Flowers, and she took part in productions of Ages on Stages and the Northwest Senior Center Prime Time Players.
She worked with talented speakers and actors among prisoners and former prisoners, helping them through her promotion company, Hope Enterprises, and arranging appearances.
In 1969, she was nominated for a national award from the National Council on Crime and Delinquency for her work with Wayward Sons, a quartet at the Maryland Penitentiary. Her other honors included a 1981 Baltimore mayor's citation, the James Swartz Medallion and the WBAL Radio Brotherhood Award.
Mrs. Feldman was on the boards of Boys Homes of Maryland, Safety First Club and Maryland Nursing Home Advocacy. She also belonged to the Women's International League for Peace and Freedom, the Radio Buffs and the Jewish Historical Society.
Her husband, Samuel Feldman, died in 1945 while serving as an officer in the Army.
She is survived by a brother, Louis Sandler of Boca Raton, Fla.
Margaret Matschulat
Former hospital worker
Services for Margaret Matschulat, a former employee of Sinai Hospital who had been a member of Zion Evangelical United Church of Christ in White Marsh for more than 50 years, will be held at 11 a.m. today at the Lassahn Funeral Home, 7401 Belair Road.
Mrs. Matschulat, 88, died Wednesday at Franklin Square Hospital of complications from diabetes.
A native of Bavaria, the former Margaret Finger moved to Baltimore at the age of 21 and was employed in the dietary department of Sinai Hospital. She also worked as a housekeeper in Baltimore and in Southern Maryland.
She was a flower and vegetable gardener who canned her own vegetables and fruits. As a cook, she specialized in German dishes.
She had learned needlework in Bavaria, and often made hand-embroidered gifts for friends and family members.
Her husband of more than 30 years, Harry Matschulat, died in 1961.
She is survived by five daughters, Gertrude Blevins of Parkville, Mary Ann Euler of Bowleys Quarters and Betty Allen, Helen Winterstein and Anna Sain, all of White Marsh; four sons, Paul, Charles, George and William Matschulat, all of White Marsh; 17 grandchildren and 12 great-grandchildren.
Olivia Davenport
Active in church work
Services for Olivia Davenport, who was long active in church work, will be held at noon today at St. Stephen's African Methodist Episcopal Church, 1601 Old Eastern Ave., Essex.
Mrs. Davenport died Monday of heart failure at her home on Back River Neck Road in Essex. She was 90.
The former Olivia Brown, a native of Essex, was the organist at St. Stephen's Church in the 1950s and had preached in African Methodist Episcopal churches.
Her husband, Moses Davenport, died more than 40 years ago.
She is survived by a niece, Mildred Hughes of Essex; three grandnieces; two grandnephews; a great-grandniece; and eight great-grandnephews.
Wilson S. Davis Sr.
BG&E; supervisor
Services for Wilson S. Davis Sr., a retired electrical construction supervisor for Baltimore Gas and Electric Co., will be held at 11:30 a.m. today at the Schimunek Funeral Home, 3331 Brehms Lane.
Mr. Davis, who was 80, died Thursday of cancer at his home on Cliftmont Avenue.
He retired 18 years ago after working for BG&E; for more than 40 years.
Born in Cambridge, he moved to Baltimore as a youth.
Mr. Davis was a member of the Essex Lodge of the Moose and traveled extensively in Europe, the Pacific and throughout the United States.
He is survived by his wife of 57 years, the former Margaret L. Jones; a son, Wilson S. Davis Jr. of Fallston; three grandchildren; and a great-grandson.
Gertrude Price
Baltimore minister
Services for the Rev. Gertrude Price, who was assistant pastor of Hour of Prayer Church on West Baltimore Street for 10 years before it closed nearly a year ago, will be held at noon today at Mount Hebron Baptist Church, 1016 W. North Ave.
The Greenspring Avenue resident died Tuesday at the Liberty Medical Center after a heart attack. She was 53.
Ordained as a minister of the Christian Community Church in 1975, she was an evangelical worker for many years -- preaching, singing and playing the piano in Baltimore churches.
The former Gertrude Shaw was born in Baltimore and was a graduate of Douglass High School. As a young woman, she worked as an X-ray technician for the Baltimore Health Department. She also had worked in a phonograph record manufacturing plant and in the dietary department of the now-defunct Hospital for the Women of Maryland.
She is survived by three sons, William A., Wade J. and Gregory K. Price; her mother, the Rev. Lucy Shaw; three brothers, George, Theodore and Leo Shaw; two sisters, Rachel Lewis and Barbara Washington; and two grandchildren. All are of Baltimore.
Michael A. Kolessar
Of Corps of Engineers
A funeral liturgy for Michael A. Kolessar, retired chief of the Project Planning Branch in the Baltimore office of the Army Corps of Engineers, will be offered at 11 a.m. today at Patronage of the Mother of God Byzantine Catholic Church, Linden and Highview avenues in Arbutus.
Mr. Kolessar died Wednesday at his home on Drummond Road in Catonsville of complications after surgery. He was 71.
He retired in 1980 after 12 years as chief of the planning branch after joining the Baltimore District of the Corps of Engineers as a civilian employee in 1946. Between 1965 and 1968, he organized its Chesapeake Bay Study. He coordinated the design and construction of the model of the bay on Kent Island.
The native of Buck Mountain, Pa., was employed by the Pittsburgh District of the Corps of Engineers after earning a bachelor's degree in civil engineering in 1941 from Pennsylvania State University.
In 1943, he joined the Army and became a member of the corps itself, helping to build airfields in the Southwest Pacific. He left the Army with the rank of captain in 1946.
A fellow of the American Society of Civil Engineers and an honorary life member of its Maryland Section, he was named Civil Engineer of the Year in 1979. Among his other honors were election to the Corps of Engineers Baltimore District Gallery of Distinguished Employees, the Meritorious Civilian Service Medal
of the Department of the Army and the Notable Achievement Award and the General George W. Goethals Medal of the Society of American Military Engineers.
He is survived by his wife of 41 years, the former Audrey Bast; two sons, Earl Austin of Catonsville and Robert Austin of Carlisle, Pa.; and five grandchildren.
Howard W. Wright
Accounting professor
Howard Wilson Wright, a retired professor of accounting and former head of the accounting department at the University of Maryland at College Park, died Jan. 18 of cancer at a nursing home in Bethesda.
Dr. Wright, who was 76 and lived in College Park, retired in 1976 after more than 30 years with the university. He began teaching at extension campuses in Europe while still in the Army and joined the College Park faculty in 1946.
He served as department chairman in the 1960s.
An assistant to the deputy controller in the Defense Department in 1951, he was a consultant on defense-contract accounting. He also wrote three books on the subject.
After his retirement, he started the Cost Accounting Principles Institute, a lobbying organization, from which he retired in 1981.
The Glenolden, Pa., native was a graduate of Temple University. He earned a master's degree in accounting and a doctorate in economics at the University of Iowa.
Before serving with the Army in France and Germany during World War II, he worked for Arthur Anderson & Co. in New York.
His wife, the former Marian Lybbert, died last March.
He is survived by two sons, Craig Wright of New Haven, Conn., and Brian Wright of Chester; a daughter, Constance Wright Murray of West Chester, Pa.; a sister, Edna Wright Schofield of Jenks, Okla.; and six grandchildren.
No service is planned, but the family suggested that memorial contributions could be made to the American Cancer Society.
James Danza
Poultry farmer
Graveside services for James Danza, a retired Anne Arundel County poultry farmer, will be held at 11 a.m. today at Glen Haven Memorial Park in Glen Burnie.
Mr. Danza, known as Jack, died Jan. 10 of a heart ailment at the Holmes Regional Medical Center in Melbourne Beach, Fla. He was 85.
He grew up in the Little Italy section of East Baltimore and left school at 14 to work in construction.
Later, he and his brother, Charles, worked together for several years at the old Clement and Ball Shoe Co. factory on Front
Street near their home.
In 1938, Mr. Danza bought a farm on Quarterfield Road in Severn and for the next 40 years worked as a poultry farmer. He sold the farm in 1978 and moved to Florida.
Mr. Danza loved music and played drums. When he was a young man he was in a band on local radio. With his brother on saxophone, he later played in a small jazz band. In Florida he played drums with several senior citizens' groups. He also enjoyed fishing and gardening.
Mr. Danza's first wife, Ruth, died in 1969. In 1971, he married Mabel Day of Melbourne Beach.
In addition to his wife, his survivors are three brothers, Charles Danza of Severn, Joseph Danza of Camp Hill, Pa., and Angelo Danza of Middle River; a son, Robert Danza of Indialantic, Fla.; a daughter, Shirley O'Hara of Millersville; a stepson, Steve Day of Argillite, Ky.; eight grandchildren; and seven great-grandchildren.
Jennie M. Standiford
Black & Decker retiree
A memorial service for Jennie Myrtle Standiford, a longtime Govans resident who retired more than 30 years ago as a clerk with the Black and Decker Manufacturing Co., will be held today at 2 p.m. at the Johnson Funeral Home, 8521 Loch Raven Blvd.
Mrs. Standiford died Sunday of cancer at the Meridian Nursing Center-Loch Raven. She was 96.
She began working for Black and Decker in 1937. Earlier, she worked for a business machine company in Baltimore.
The former Jennie Myrtle Frederick was born in Parkton and was a graduate of Sparks High School.
Her husband, Frank C. Standiford, died in 1937.
Mrs. Standiford was a member of the American Legion Auxiliary and the Govans Democratic Club.
She is survived by a son, Frederick F. Standiford of Towson; a daughter, Eleanor Shepard of Eustis, Fla.; a sister, Frances Thacker of Silver Springs, Fla.; a brother, John Frederick of York, Pa.; and four grandchildren.