Mary E. Gales, a retired cook and housekeeper, died of a heart attack Feb. 16 at Harbor Hospital. The Linthicum resident was 77.

Mary Etta Dailey was born at home and raised in Dorsey. She attended Anne Arundel County public schools.

A self-taught cook, she worked in the kitchen of the old General Electric Co. facility in Columbia during the 1970s. She was a housekeeper at the Red Roof Inn in Linthicum for eight years before she retired in the 1990s.

"She loved cooking and entertaining her family and friends. One of her specialties was her crab cakes and potato salad," said a daughter, Denise Howard of Glen Burnie. "She also made wonderful baked bread."

Mrs. Gales enjoyed collecting antiques and attending flea markets and yard sales. She also liked traveling with her family.

She was a member of the old Andover United Methodist Church and was an active member of St. Mark's United Methodist Church in Dorsey, where she enjoyed helping prepare food for church suppers.

Her husband of 44 years, Nathaniel Gales, a truck driver, died in 1992.

Services were held at her church Thursday.

Also surviving are two sons, Nathaniel Gales Jr. and James Gales, both of Linthicum; four other daughters, Joyce Montgomery of Baltimore, Carolyn Harris of Severn, and Judy Gales and Sharon Akes, both of Linthicum; three brothers, Thomas Dailey of Baltimore and Alfonso Dailey and Robert Dailey, both of Severn; two sisters, Helen Eldridge of Glen Burnie and Rita Eldridge of Hanover; 18 grandchildren; and 25 great-grandchildren.