Johnny A. Venditti
Clothing store manager
A Mass of Christian burial for John A. "Johnny" Venditti, 88, a retired clothing store manager and ring announcer for boxing and wrestling matches, will be offered at 11 a.m. today at St. John the Evangelist Roman Catholic Church, Wilde Lake Interfaith Center, 10431 Twin Rivers Road in Columbia.
A Little Italy native and Columbia resident since 1969, Mr. Venditti died Wednesday at Howard County General Hospital of a bacterial infection.
A Baltimore City College graduate, Mr. Venditti had been active in city Democratic Party politics. After serving as a precinct executive for the 27th Ward, he was rewarded with a job as an assistant boxing inspector, beginning a part-time career with the State Athletic Commission of more than 45 years.
In 1940, he moved up to a higher-paying ring announcer's job for two fights a week.
"It is my night out on the town," Mr. Venditti said of his work in the ring during a 1980 interview.
"I make it pretty plain, and I don't use a lot of big adjectives like some do. The spectators don't like a lot of baloney," he said.
Mr. Venditti retired from announcing in 1985.
He began work in the clothing trade as a tailor and later became manager of Bond clothing stores in Mondawmin Mall and the Montgomery Mall, Bethesda.
In his early career as a clothes cutter and designer, Mr. Venditti was active in the labor movement, particularly with the Amalgamated Clothing Workers of America.
During World War II, he used his pattern-cutting skills to make templates for Liberty and Victory ships built at the Curtis Bay Shipyard.
Survivors include his wife of 66 years, the former Mary Aiello; a son, John M. Venditti of Bethesda; two sisters, Palma Senf of Miami, Fla., and Violet Young of Orlando, Fla.; a brother, Raymond Venditti of Orlando; three grandchildren; and a great-granddaughter.
The family suggests contributions to the St. John the Evangelist Renovation Fund, 10431 Twin Rivers Road, Columbia, Md. 21044.
Melvin Leroy Carter
Steel worker
Services for Melvin Leroy Carter, a steel worker for 36 years, will be held at 1 p.m. today at the Burgee-Henss Funeral Home, 3631 Falls Road.
Mr. Carter, a lifelong Remington resident, died Thursday of a heart attack behind the W. 28th St. house he had lived in for 76 of his 78 years.
He worked for 36 years at the Dietrich Bros. steel company, starting by inspecting and cutting steel for orders and retiring in the early 1980s as manager of shipping and receiving.
In the mid-1940s, he married the former Bettie R. Hiltner, who died in 1987.
In the late 1920s and early 1930s, he was secretary of the Key Memorial Methodist Church Sunday school in Remington. He was also a charter member of the Cresmont Social Club in Remington.
He is survived by a daughter, Barbara A. Fosnaught of Hamilton; two brothers, Maurice E. Carter of Cockeysville and Walter J. Carter of the Anneslie section of Baltimore County; a sister, Mildred S. Karr of Towson; and two grandchildren.
Nollie E. Rogers
Church teacher
Services for Nollie E. Rogers, an East Baltimore seamstress and devoted churchgoer, will be held at noon today at Faith Baptist Church, 833 N. Bond St.
Mrs. Rogers, who was 82, died Thursday of pneumonia at Church Hospital.
Mrs. Rogers was born in Hampton County, S.C., and attended schools there. In 1927, she moved to Miami with her mother, the late Amelia Smart, and attended night school while working first as a cook and then as a hotel maid.
In 1930, she married Richard R. Rogers. The couple moved to East Baltimore in 1943 with four daughters and a son.
Mrs. Rogers worked as a seamstress at Butler Brothers shirt factory on Gay Street and cleaned East Baltimore schools while continuing her education. In 1948, she received her high school dTC diploma and seamstress degree from Dunbar High School.
That year, Mrs. Rogers and her husband bought a rowhouse in the 1300 block of N. Broadway in the Oliver neighborhood.
"We were one of the first black families to move on Broadway," saida daughter, Doris M. Rogers.
Mrs. Rogers retired from the school system job in 1971.
She had been a member since 1943 of Faith Baptist Church, where she taught Sunday school and vacation Bible school.
She was a member of Faith Baptist Church's Golden Age Group and Flower Circle. She was a member of the Maggie C. Upshur and St. John's Court chapters of the Order of the Eastern Star.
In addition to her husband and her daughter, Doris, she is survived by three other daughters, Barbara L. Moore of Wilmington, Del., Verdell Taylor of Miami and Gloria Brown of New York City; a son, Robert C. Smart of Macon, Ga.; four brothers; three sisters; seven grandchildren; nine great-grandchildren; and five great-great grandchildren.
Beth Goertemiller
Medical technician
Services for Beth Ann Goertemiller, a medical technician, will be held at 10 a.m. today at the Ruck Funeral Home, 5305 Harford Road.
Mrs. Goertemiller, an Ellicott City resident for 11 years, died Thursday of liver cancer at her parents' home in Parkville. She was 39.
Born in Paulsboro, N.J., she was reared in Parkville and graduated in 1970 from Parkville High School, where she played field hockey, basketball and lacrosse and was named women's athlete of the year in 1970.
In 1974, she received a bachelor's degree in history from the University of Maryland.
The former Beth Ann Thompson was married in 1980 to Timothy Goertemiller, a marine biologist at the Smithsonian Institution.
Mrs. Goertemiller worked for 16 years for the Marshall Medical Associates, where she was an electroencephalography technician. She also worked with her husband on coral reef research, first in 1983 in the Caribbean, and again in 1987 along the Great Barrier Reef off Australia.
Besides her husband, she is survived by 9-month-old twins, Adam Rader Goertemiller and Sara Christine Goertemiller; her parents, Gordon R. and Betty W. Thompson of Parkville; and two sisters, Myra Kay Thompson of Gardenville and Gail Rae Huber of Cross Roads, Pa.
The family suggests contributions to a trust fund for Mrs. Goertemiller's children, c/o Nadine Thomas, 2515 Boston St., Apt. 503, Baltimore, 21224.