Mary D. Stafford
Worked in family business
Mary Dorothy Stafford, who had been active in the family furniture business on West Pratt Street and was the mother of a Baltimore-born Catholic priest who is now archbishop of Denver, died Wednesday of respiratory failure at a Denver home for the elderly.
Mrs. Stafford, who was 94, moved to Denver when her son, the Most Rev. J. Francis Stafford, became archbishop in 1986. She and her husband of nearly 55 years, Francis Emmett Stafford, had moved from Catonsville to Memphis, where their son was bishop before gaining the Denver post. Her husband died in 1985.
She was born Mary Dorothy Stanton in Baltimore and was educated at St. Brigid's and St. Elizabeth's schools in East Baltimore.
For 25 years in the 1940s, 1950s and 1960s, she was office manager at Stafford Brothers Furniture Store, where her husband was vice president.
In 1983 at the investiture of her son as bishop of Memphis she said, "I feel like the queen for a day."
Her nephew, the Rev. James O. McGovern, described her and her husband as "warm hospitable people" and noted that their home on Montrose Avenue in Catonsville was always open to the people participating in the community's Fourth of July parade.
She was active at various times in St. Joseph's Passionist Monastery Parish in Southwest Baltimore and in St. Agnes and St Mark's parishes in Catonsville.
A Mass of Christian burial for Mrs. Stafford was to be offered at 11 a.m. today at St. Mark's Church, 30 Melvin Avenue, and another was offered Friday at the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception in Denver.
In addition to her son, she is survived by a sister, Winifred Lee of Towson; and 30 nieces and nephews.
Edward A. Szpara Sr.
Received 3 Purple Hearts
Edward Alexander Szpara Sr., who was awarded three Purple Hearts during World War II, died Thursday of a massive heart attack at his Parkville home. He was 77.
During World War II, Mr. Szpara fought in France and Germany and received two Purple Hearts for being shot and the third from a mortar shell blast injury. He left the Army with the rank of staff sergeant.
Mr. Szpara was a contract specialist at Edgewood Arsenal from the end of World War II until 1974. After retiring from the Army base, he was assistant manager of the Towne Plaza Apartments in Joppatowne for 15 years.
A Baltimore native, Mr. Szpara attended St. Stanislaus School and City College. In his teens, he was a tailor in Baltimore, then took an Army ordnance job packing ammunition at Curtis Bay until he was drafted.
A Mass of Christian burial was to be offered at 9 a.m. today at Immaculate Heart of Mary Roman Catholic Church, 8501 Loch Raven Blvd.
Mr. Szpara is survived by his wife of 45 years, the former Regina Lackman; a daughter, Jan M. Szpara of Baltimore; three sons, Edward A. Szpara Jr. of Towson, Kenneth F. Szpara of Baltimore and Mark D. Szpara of Parkville; a sister, Marie Lodanski of Baltimore; a brother, Walter Szpara of Perry Hall; and four grandchildren.
John Wesley Moore
Cook, truck driver
John Wesley Moore, a cook and truck driver at Parks Sausage Co. for four decades, died of pneumonia Tuesday at the Veterans Medical Center. He was 71.
Born in Jonesville, N.C., Mr. Moore served in the Army during World War II and briefly worked in the coal mines of Virginia before moving to Baltimore in the late 1940s.
He went to work for Parks shortly after his arrival and stayed
there for most of the next 40 years. He retired in 1985.
In 1948, Mr. Moore married Elsie Dalton of Walnut Cove, N.C. They lived in Northwest Baltimore.
Mr. Moore enjoyed fishing and was a member of the choir at Bible Way Baptist Church on Biddle Street. He helped arrange church trips.
A wake and funeral were to be held at 6:30 p.m. today at Mount Sinai Baptist Church in the 900 block of E. Preston St. In addition to his wife, Mr. Moore is survived by three daughters, Ida Martin of Jonesville, and Floria Phifer and Johnnie Mae Moore, both of Baltimore; two sons, Myles Moore and James Alfonzo Moore, both of Baltimore; a brother, James I. Moore of Jonesville; and nine grandchildren.
Jane F. Miller
Retired cook
Jane F. Miller, a retired cook who was active in Democratic politics, died Wednesday of chronic lung disease at her home in Essex. She was 72.
Mrs. Miller retired in 1990 after several years at Old Philadelphia Inn and about 20 years at Wilhelm's Steak House on Wilson Point. She and her husband, George F. Miller, had owned a restaurant in Morgantown, W.Va.
She was born Jane F. Berry in Louisa, Ky. She came to the Baltimore area during World War II to be a welder for the Maryland Shipbuilding and Drydock Co. Later she was a practical nurse and truck driver.
She was corresponding secretary for the United Democratic Women's Club of Baltimore County, the United Democratic Women's Club of Maryland and the 15th District Democratic Club, of which she also was a director.
She was a charter member of Christian Community Church in Chase, where memorial services were held Saturday. .
In addition to her husband, she is survived by two sons, Larry Walcott of Arlington, Texas, and Carl Walcott of Essex; two daughters, Jane Franshaw of Farmville, Va., and Debbie Culver of Essex; 10 grandchildren; and two great-grandchildren.
Irvin W. Johnson
VTC
Church organist
Irvin W. Johnson, who worked nearly 30 years in the Baltimore Fire Department before retiring in 1985 and was a church organist, died Feb. 19 after a heart attack at his Northwest Baltimore home. He was 65.
For the past 11 years, Mr. Johnson was the organist for New Metropolitan Baptist Church and earlier played at Bethel Temple Pentecostal Church. He also was an organist at Elizabeth L. Phillips Funeral Home and had played the organ or piano at other funeral homes, at weddings and other events. In the 1970s, he directed the Baltimore Youth Choir.
The Baltimore native was a graduate of Carver Vocational
Technical High School and served in the Army as a medical corpsman during the Korean War. He received the Purple Heart for a gunshot wound to a leg.
Services for Mr. Johnson were held Saturday at New Metropolitan Baptist Church, McCulloh and Mosher streets.
Survivors include his mother, Ethel Johnson of Baltimore; seven sisters, Artreel Diggs, Thelma Spencer, Shirley Georgie, Ethel Cooper and Dorothy Jones, all of Baltimore, Mary Palmer of Columbia and Beverly Jefferson of Los Angeles; and a brother, Herman Johnson Sr. of Lochearn.
D. Schwartztrauber
Baltimore resident
Dawn Michelle "Missy" Schwartztrauber, a Baltimore resident, died Feb. 20 of cancer at Stella Maris Hospice. She was 29.
A former resident of Pennsylvania, Miss Schwartztrauber graduated from Upper Marion High School in Upper Marion, Pa. in 1983.
A private cremation ceremony was held Feb. 22. A memorial service is being planned.
She is survived by a son, Michael Gregory Schwartztrauber; a daughter, Vanessa Rae Collins; her mother, M. Alice Gillan; two sisters, Kimberly Gillan and Tammy Schwartztrauber; two brothers, Charles Gillan IV and David Shaw, all of Baltimore; and her grandmother, Irene M. Frederick of York, Pa.
Memorial donations may be made to Stella Maris Hospice, 2300 Dulaney Valley Road, Towson 21204, or to the American Cancer Society.
Avron Douglis, 76, professor emeritus of mathematics at the University of Maryland College Park and an authority on partial differential equations, died Feb. 15 of cancer at his home in Silver Spring.
He was as an economist in Washington for the Department of Agriculture before serving in the Army Air Forces during World War II. After the war, he switched his specialty to mathematics, earning a master's degree and doctorate at New York University, then serving as an Office of Naval Research fellow at the California Institute of Technology before starting his teaching career. He wrote a textbook and other professional books and papers. He joined the University of Maryland faculty in 1956, retiring in 1988.
He headed the Phi Beta Kappa chapter at Maryland in the early 1980s, was a visiting professor at Oxford University and at the University of Newcastle-Upon-Tyne and was a member of the Federation of American Scientists, the American Mathematical Society and the Mathematical Association of America.
Services were private.
Dr. Douglis is survived by his wife, the former Marjorie Bergmann, who also holds a doctorate; a son, Dr. Franklin Douglis of Houston; a daughter, Carole Douglis of Washington; a sister, Darthea Purvin of Columbia; and two grandchildren.