Walter D. Johnson
Boilermakers unionist
Walter Donald Johnson, a retired member of Boilermakers Local 193, died of cancer Thursday in his Arnold home. He was 62.
After joining the boilermakers union at 16, Mr. Johnson worked on projects throughout Maryland and neighboring states, including helping to build the Three Mile Island Nuclear Power Plant in Pennsylvania. Cancer forced him to retire in October 1991.
A Baltimore native, he was an avid fan of the Orioles and the old Baltimore Colts. He liked to hunt deer and rabbit.
Services were to be held at 10 a.m. today at Barranco and Sons Severna Park Funeral Home, 495 Ritchie Highway. The family asked that donations be made to the American Cancer Society.
Survivors include his wife of 32 years, the former Helen Agnes Raivel; a son, Donald William Johnson of Pasadena; his stepfather, Joseph Beagel of Pasadena; two stepsons, William M. Stumpf of Fort Lauderdale, Fla., and Dennis Lee Stumpf of Jarrettsville; and 10 grandchildren.
George Gerard Voith
R. A. Siegel executive
George Gerard "Jerry" Voith, a retired vice president and general sales manager at R. A. Siegel Co., died Sept. 19 of leukemia in an Atlanta hospital. The Baltimore native, 72, was a graduate of Washington College and an all-state basketball player.
Mr. Voith is survived by his wife of more than 45 years, the former Gee Gee Buschman; two sons, George Gerard "Jerry" Voith Jr. and Christopher Voith, both of Atlanta; two daughters, Kerren Merritt of Atlanta and Susan Voith of Denver; a sister, Doris Tegges of Baltimore; and five grandchildren.
A memorial reception was held Thursday in Atlanta. The family asked that donations be made to the American Red Cross.
Allen H. Vessells
Postal manager
Allen Harrison Vessells, one of Baltimore's first black postal substation managers, died of heart failure Thursday at the Liberty Medical Center. He was 79.
Born and reared in Northeast Baltimore, Mr. Vessells worked for the U.S. Postal Service about 30 years. He retired about 1980 as manager of a substation in the Waverly area.
After graduating from Frederick Douglass High School in 1931, Mr. Vessells attended Virginia Union University in Richmond, where he earned a bachelor's degree in education in 1935. He then served in the Army, teaching literacy classes at several posts, including Fort Holabird in Baltimore.
For several years, Mr. Vessells was an insurance agent in Baltimore for the North Carolina Mutual Insurance Co. before joining the Postal Service about 1950.
A lifelong member of the Trinity Baptist Church, Mr. Vessells was chairman of the Trustees Ministry and the Building Fund and president of the Progressive Men's Ministry.
He belonged to Alpha Phi Alpha fraternity, working with children and providing scholarship money for students wishing to go to college.
He was married more than 30 years to the former Francis Male, who died in 1983. He recently had lived at Granada Nursing Home.
Services were to be at 11 a.m. today at the Trinity Baptist Church, 1601 Druid Hill Ave. The family asked that donations be made to the Debt Retirement Fund of the church.
Survivors include two sisters, Ada C. Veney and Mabel J. Hawkins, both of Baltimore; and a cousin, Edna Bradford Hale of Richmond. Graveside services for Madeline L. Johnson, a native of Baltimore who died Sept. 20 at a hospital in Cottonwood, Ariz., near her home in Sedona, will be at 10 a.m. tomorrow at Parkwood Cemetery, 3310 Taylor Ave. The family was to receive friends from 2 p.m. to 4 p.m. today at the Mitchell-Wiedefeld Funeral Home, 6500 York Road.
Grace Hubbard
Housekeeper, bookkeeper
Grace C. Hawkins Hubbard, a retired housekeeper and bookkeeper, died Sept. 19 of heart failure at Sinai Hospital. The Northwest Baltimore resident was 79.
"She was of the old school and just wonderful. She had gentleness and compassion," said Helen V. Dixon, for whose family Mrs. Hubbard worked for nearly 50 years until she retired in 1984. "We felt so close to her."
Caroline H. Dixon said her sister "knew so much about the families and history of Roland Park and enjoyed talking about it. She was just a grand lady."
Mrs. Hubbard was reared on Evans Chapel Road in Hoes's Heights and later moved to Cross Keys, two of Baltimore's early black communities. The homes in the Cross Keys neighborhood where she lived were torn down when the Poly-Western High School complex was built on the site in the 1960s.
She attended St. Francis Catholic School and was a 1932 graduate of Frederick Douglass High School. She went to work as a housekeeper. She learned bookkeeping from her father and had private customers over the years.
She and Lorenzo A. Hubbard were married in 1946 and lived on West Cold Spring Lane. Mr. Hubbard died this year.
She enjoyed doing crossword puzzles, watching television and entertaining relatives and friends.
A Mass of Christian burial was to be offered at 10 a.m. today at St. Francis Xavier Roman Catholic Church, 1501 E. Oliver St., where Mrs. Hubbard was a member.
She is survived by a son and daughter-in-law, Lorenzo C. and Lelia B. Hubbard; and three grandsons. All are of Randallstown.
Patricia A. Liptrap
Fallston resident
Patricia A. Liptrap, a Fallston resident who held several jobs at Baltimore County companies and home-based businesses, died Tuesday at Fallston General Hospital after an apparent stroke.
Mrs. Liptrap, who was 55 and had been known as "Duke" since infancy, retired about six years ago after working as a cashier at the Ames store in Timonium, as an assistant manager at the Starting Gate Inn in Jacksonville and as a teller at Mercantile Bank in Towson. She also had worked at home as a cosmetologist and an interior designer.
She was born Patricia A. Richardson in Baltimore and graduated from Towson High School. About 25 years ago, she was an infielder and manager of a women's softball team in the Fallston area.
Survivors include her husband, Richard A. Liptrap Sr., a painting and paperhanging contractor; a son, Richard A. Liptrap Jr. of Littlestown, Pa.; her mother, Bessie Richardson of Martinsburg, W.Va.; and a brother, Sonny Richardson of Martinsburg.
Services were held Saturday.
Shirley B. Dogoloff
Teacher
Shirley B. Dogoloff, a former teacher in the Baltimore Public School System who also operated a summer day camp, died yesterday of cancer at her Upper Park Heights home. She was 76.
From 1940 to 1946 and later from 1960 to 1975, Mrs. Dogoloff taught English, French and Latin at Garrison, General Henry Lee and Northern Parkway junior highs.
From 1950 to 1960, she owned and operated "Camp Merrily" in Marriottsville.
Born and reared in Baltimore, Mrs. Dogoloff was a 1935 graduate of Western High School and received a bachelor's degree in education from the Johns Hopkins University in 1939. She was an officer in the Baltimore Hebrew Congregation Sisterhood and the United Order of True Sisters.
Services are scheduled for 3 p.m. today at Sol Levinson & Bros., 6010 Reisterstown Road.
Surviving are her husband of 51 years, Sylvan A. Dogoloff; a daughter, Chaya D. Wexler of Owings Mills; a brother, Gilbert L. Barron of Pikesville; and a granddaughter.
James S. O'Hare
Surgeon
Dr. James Stewart O'Hare, 72, a Baltimore-born surgeon who attended to victims of the 1961 Bowie train wreck, died Thursday at a medical center in Conroe, Texas.
pTC Reared in Baltimore on Guilford Avenue, he was a 1939 graduate of Loyola High School. He graduated from Loyola College and the University of Maryland School of Medicine, and served in the Navy's Second Marine Division at Camp LeJeune, N.C., during World War II.
He was an intern at what is now Mercy Medical Center and did his residency in surgery at Lutheran Hospital. He had lived on Broadmoor Road in Homeland and maintained a private practice on Madison Street.
The year before his move to Texas, Dr. O'Hare was called to the scene of the Pennsylvania Railroad wreck outside the Bowie Race Course on Feb. 2, 1961 -- one of the state's worst railroad accidents, with six people killed and 243 injured.
Until his retirement several years ago, he had been a physician with the state's Department of Criminal Justice in Huntsville, Texas, where he lived.
His first wife, the former Rita Shane, died in 1971.
Survivors include his wife of 20 years, the former Hilda Byers; eight children, among them a daughter Kathleen McNeel of Columbia; a brother, William Stewart O'Hare of Towson; and 13 grandchildren.
NB A Mass of Christian burial was offered Saturday in Huntsville.
Charles H. Churn, 54, founder and pastor of the Prayer Palace Inspirational Baptist Church in Brooklyn, N.Y., died Sept. 17 of a heart attack at Sinai Hospital. The son of a minister, he was born in Camden, N.J., and reared in Philadelphia and Baltimore. He was a 1958 graduate of Frederick Douglass High School and earned a bachelor's degree in 1962 from Morgan State University. He established the Brooklyn church in 1975 after holding posts at churches in White Plains, N.Y., and Bayonne, N.J. He lived in Englewood, N.J. Surviving are his wife of 34 years, the former Ramona Farley; and their five children, all of Englewood. Among his other survivors are a brother, the Rev. Gabriel P. Churn of Baltimore; and three sisters, LaVerne Lee of Towson, and Violet Churn and Jewel Churn, both of Baltimore. Memorial donations may be made to the Union Temple Baptist Church Scholarship Fund, 100 W. North Ave., Baltimore 21217.