Veronica Murray
Sold subscriptions
Veronica Murray, who processed subscriptions to The Sun and was active in church affairs, died Dec. 25 of heart failure at her Parkville home. She was 48.
Since 1989, she had worked for Alleghany Circulation Sales Inc. of Towson, selling and processing subscriptions to The Sun.
She also served as the recording secretary for the Philadelphia Church of Christ, where her husband, the Rev. Daniel F. Murray Sr., is pastor. The church is moving from its longtime West Baltimore location to new quarters on Greenmount Avenue.
The former Veronica Haskins was a Baltimore native. She graduated from Carver High School in 1965 and attended Baltimore City Community College. She worked briefly until 1967, when she married Mr. Murray, her high school sweetheart. After the birth of their first child, she became a homemaker.
Services were set for 9:30 a.m. today at March Funeral Home East, 1101 E. North Ave., Baltimore. Burial will follow at King Memorial Park, Woodlawn.
Other survivors include her mother, Geraldine Haskins of Baltimore; three children, Daniel F. Murray Jr. of Takoma Park and Shanon D. and Brian T. Murray of Parkville; seven brothers, Jerry E. Haskins of Warner Robbins, Ga., Floyd E., Gregory, Dennis A., Ronald T., Donnell and Dwayne Haskins, all of Baltimore; six sisters: Carolyn Covington, Brenda D. Lawson, Diane L. Saffore and Joyce E., Kathleen D. and Wendy Haskins, all of Baltimore; and many nieces and nephews. E. Sheldon Blades Jr., who was chairman of the board of Talbot National Bank in Easton and who in 1978 became the only Eastern Shore resident to have served as president of the Maryland State Golf Association, died Tuesday at Memorial Hospital at Easton after a heart attack. He was 72.
A brother, F. Harrison Blades, 69, also of Easton, died the same day of heart failure after a lengthy illness.
Born in Queen Anne, Mr. Blades became a resident of Easton in 1935. He worked at the Farmers & Merchants Bank there until World War II when he joined the Navy and served in the Panama Canal Zone. In 1946, he returned to the bank, which later became Easton National Bank and even later Maryland National Bank.
He retired from Maryland National Bank in 1978 as a regional vice president. He then joined Talbot National Bank in Easton, where he became executive vice president and later president and chairman of the board. He retired as president in 1993 but retained the position of chairman of the board.
He was a member and past treasurer of St. Mark's United Methodist Church in Easton, where memorial services were set for 2 p.m. today. Burial will be at Woodlawn Memorial Park.
Survivors include his wife, the former Eleanor Whiteley, whom he married in 1946; two sisters, Florence B. Layton of Easton and Barbara B. Dryden of Ocean City; and a brother, Robert E. Blades of Easton.
Memorial donations may be made to the Memorial Hospital Foundation, P.O. Box 1846, Easton, Md. 21601.
Frank J. Pagliara
Project manager
Frank J. Pagliara, a retired project manager for the Baltimore Bureau of Construction Management, died of cancer Monday at his Essex home. He was 68.
He worked on municipal projects that included restoration of the Carroll Mansion and Babe Ruth Museum and construction of Dunbar Senior High School, Festival Hall and police headquarters.
Born and reared in Little Italy, he moved to Baltimore County from there about 12 years ago. He was educated in public and parochial schools in the city and took courses at the Maryland Institute.
A Mass of Christian burial was to be offered at 9 a.m. today at St. Clare's Roman Catholic Church, Myrth Avenue, Essex.
Survivors include his wife of nearly 50 years, the former Palma Susio; two daughters, Margaret Ann Pagliara and Mary P. Rifkin, both of Baltimore; a brother, Angelo Coluzzi of Baltimore; and a grandson.
John G. Lesnick
USW official
John G. Lesnick, a steel worker and union official who was captured while serving in World War II at Anzio, Italy, died Saturday at his Rosedale home of complications from several strokes. He was 74.
He was shot in the neck at Anzio and lay paralyzed in a field for two days before he was discovered and taken prisoner by German soldiers. He was operated on in Rome, and part of the bullet was removed; the rest remained lodged in his spine. He spent six months in a German POW camp before he was freed in a prisoner exchange.
Mr. Lesnick, who was awarded a Purple Heart, grew up in Canton. He attended parochial school until the eighth grade and then spent a year at a vocational school. He worked for the Armco Steel Corp. and was a staff representative for the United Steelworkers of America.
Services were held Wednesday.
He is survived by his wife of 45 years, the former Leona F. Myers; two sons, the Rev. John F. Lesnick and Al Lesnick; and a daughter, Patricia M. Lesnick, all of Baltimore.
Isabel W. Burkhardt
Civic activist
Isabel Willis Burkhardt, a civic activist, died Saturday of lung cancer at Meridian Healthcare Center at Franklin Woods in Essex. The longtime Towson resident was 79.
As a member of the Charter Board of Baltimore County, she was one of the authors of the county's home-rule charter that was approved by voters in 1956.
During the 1950s, she had also been president of the Maryland League of Women Voters.
The native of Washington moved with her family to Towson in 1923. She earned a bachelor's degree in education from what is now Towson State University in the 1930s.
Her husband, the late Walter E. Burkhardt, whom she married in 1941, died in 1977.
Services were held Wednesday.
She is survived by a son, Walter E. "Rush" Burkhardt Jr.; and a brother, James B. Laubheimer, both of Towson.
Memorial donations may be made to the American Cancer Society.