Gilda D. Garrett
SSA supervisor
Gilda Delores Garrett, a retired Social Security Administration supervisor, died Jan. 18 at Good Samaritan Hospital of complications of cancer. She was 53 and lived in the Northwood area.
She retired last year after 30 years of federal service. She had worked for a short time for the Internal Revenue Service before moving to SSA.
The former Gilda Delores Jones was a Baltimore native who graduated from Western High School in 1959 and from what now is Morgan State University in 1963. She did graduate work at the Johns Hopkins University, Loyola College, American University and George Washington University.
She became a member of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority at Morgan in 1960 and later served as president of the sorority's Epsilon Omega graduate chapter, which presented her with its Vivian J. Cook Award.
She was also a former president of the Maryland League of Women's Club's, parliamentarian of the Baltimore County chapter of the National Association of Negro Business and Professional Women's Clubs, and a member of the boards of Planned Parenthood of Central Maryland and the Maryland Minority Contractors Association.
She was a member of Blacks in Government, the National Political Congress of Black Women and the National Black Women's Health Project, and the Strictly Social Club, the Connection and the Pinochle Pals social clubs.
Services were set for 10:30 a.m. today at Epworth United Methodist Chapel, Liberty Road and St. Luke's Lane in the Woodmoor area.
She is survived by her husband, Leon Marvin Garrett Sr.; a son, Leon Marvin Garrett Jr. of Baltimore; her father, Pythias A. Jones of Baltimore; two brothers, Alvin A. Jones Sr. of Baltimore and Dr. Pythias D. Jones of Cleveland; and two sisters, Ernestine Jones Jolivet of Randallstown and Verna Lynn Jones of Baltimore. Marion Steinmetz Grove Brown, a former teacher, died Sunday of cancer at Stella Maris Hospice. She was 60.
Since 1986, Mrs. Brown, who had lived in Catonsville and St. Michaels, traveled throughout the United States in her van, camping in state and national parks and staying with relatives.
She moved to Catonsville from Lansdowne, Pa., in 1957, and worked as a substitute teacher and sold real estate. In 1981, she moved to St. Michaels and occasionally worked as a waterman on crabbing and oyster boats.
The daughter of a Lutheran minister, she was raised in Sellersville, Pa. After attending Gettysburg College, University of North Carolina and Barnard College, she earned a bachelor's degree in 1957 from Temple University, where she became a member of Delta Gamma Sorority.
Her 1954 marriage to A. Douglas Brown ended in divorce.
A memorial service for Mrs. Brown, who donated her body to the Anatomy Board of Maryland, was set for 3 p.m. today at Catonsville Presbyterian Church, Frederick and Beechwood avenues, where she had been president of the Women's Association.
She is survived by three sons, Jeffrey L. Brown of Towson and Keith Douglas Brown and Kevin Scott Brown, both of Baltimore; two daughters, Elizabeth S. Brown of Catonsville and Jennifer R. Seitz of San Diego; a brother, Abram Grove of Rockaway, N.J.; and five grandchildren.
Memorial donations may be made to Stella Maris Hospice, 2300 Dulaney Valley Road, Towson 21204; or Catonsville Presbyterian Church, 1400 Frederick Road, Catonsville 21228.
Edward H. Crocker
fTC
Ships estimator
Edward H. Crocker, a retired ships estimator, died Jan. 20 of septicemia and Alzheimer's disease at a Columbia nursing home. He was 78 and had lived in the Poplar Springs area of Howard County.
He retired in 1984 as manager of estimating for Maryland Shipbuilding and Drydock Co., where he had worked for 20 years. Earlier, he had worked at Bethlehem Steel Corp.'s shipyards on Key Highway and in Quincy, Mass.; Ingalls Shipbuilding in Pascagoula, Miss.; and Jacksonville (Fla.) Shipyard.
Born in South Baltimore, he was reared on McCabe Avenue in Govans and was educated in city schools.
He served as an infantryman for a year before he was discharged in 1947, when he was given a deferment because his work as an estimator was considered vital to the national defense.
He was a member of the Maryland Marine Club, the Baltimore Propeller Club, the Society of Naval Architects and Marine Engineers and the Knights of Columbus.
Mr. Crocker was an avid sports fan. "Our whole courting period was spent in some sports arena. That's been the story of our whole life," said his wife of 46 years, the former Marguerite Cusack.
A memorial Mass was to be offered at 11 a.m. today at St. Michael's Roman Catholic Church, St. Michael's Road, Poplar Springs.
Other survivors include two sons, Michael E. Crocker of Jessup and Timothy R. Crocker of Poplar Springs; two daughters, Claire A. Crocker of Mount Airy and Martha "Ria" Crocker of Poplar Springs; and a sister, Margaret "Dot" Funk of Sykesville.
Memorial donations may be made to the Alzheimer's Association, 1730 N. Market St., Frederick 21701.
S. Edward Smith
Political activist
S. Edward Smith, a political activist who helped elect the first black woman to the Maryland legislature, died Jan. 21 of complications from diabetes at Anne Arundel County General Hospital. The Annapolis resident was 79.
He was a founding member of the Greater New Frontier Democratic Club and through that organization helped the late Verda F. Welcome get elected to the House of Delegates from West Baltimore's 4th District in 1958.
A Mass of Christian burial was offered Tuesday. He is survived by his wife of 21 years, the former Ann Pisula; a son, Carl E. Smith of Mitchellville; a daughter, the Rev. Dr. Vashti M. McKenzie of Baltimore; two stepsons, Thomas Brown of Thousand Oaks, Calif., and Dr. Torrence Brown of Hershey, Pa.; three stepdaughters, Sally Brown of Montana, Rosey DeBor of ** Eden, Vt., and Kathy Chung of Lexington, Mass.; a sister, Jessie S. Henderson of Chicago; 17 grandchildren and three great-grandchildren.
Memorial donations may be made to St. Mary's Catholic Youth Organization, 109 Duke of Gloucester St., Annapolis 21401. Mabel Moler Molloy, a homemaker, died Wednesday of cancer at Hillhaven Nursing Center in Virginia Beach, Va. She was 96.
Born in Frederick, she moved with her family to Belt Street in South Baltimore when her father, a conductor for Baltimore and Ohio railroad, was transferred. She graduated from Eastern High School.
She was an avid gardener and a volunteer for many years at Bon Secours Hospital.
In 1918, she married Charles Joseph Molloy and the couple resided on Augusta Avenue in Southwest Baltimore. He died in 1961.
Services were set for 1 p.m. today at G. Truman Schwab Funeral Home, 5151 Baltimore National Pike.
She is survived by four sons, Richard Molloy of Baltimore, Charles J. Molloy and Robert K. Molloy, both of Virginia Beach, and Laurence P. Molloy of Myrtle Beach, S.C.; 13 grandchildren, 11 great-grandchildren and a great-great-grandchild. Sterling A. Herbst, a retired building inspector, died Dec. 9 of a respiratory illness at the Harford Gardens Nursing Center. The longtime Hamilton resident was 80.
He retired in 1969 from Alexander and Alexander, after 35 years as an inspector of commercial and industrial buildings and other facilities.
During World War II, the Baltimore native served in the Navy as an electrician aboard the USS Claxton, a destroyer escort in the Pacific. He was awarded a Purple Heart for injuries received when his ship was struck by a Japanese shore battery in the Solomon Islands.
A memorial service was set for 1 p.m. today at the Mitchell-Wiedefeld Funeral Home, 6500 York Road.
He is survived by two brothers, Lewis Herbst of the Milford Mill area and Earl Herbst of Parkville; a sister, Bernice Herbst DeVos of Baltimore; seven nieces and a nephew. Charles N. Long, a telecommunications specialist for the Social Security Administration, died Tuesday at St. Agnes Hospital after suffering a heart attack at his Catonsville residence. He was 45.
He had worked at SSA headquarters in Woodlawn since 1990. He had served in the Air Force for 21 years and retired as a master sergeant in 1990.
Born and reared in Peekskill, N.Y., he was a graduate of schools there.
Graveside services will be held Monday in Peekskill. Services were held yesterday in Baltimore.
He is survived by his fiancee, Deborah Carter of Baltimore.
Memorial donations may be made to New Fellowship Baptist Church, 346 N. Dennison St., Baltimore 21229.