Let's write about where my husband and I were married!

How nice to read about my home town parish St. Rita's in Dundalk Maryland, reported in the Catholic Review, by Priscila González de Doran:  Saint Rita's was established June 2, 1922, beginning as a mission church of St. Luke in Edgemere, Maryland.

My husband and I were married in St. Rita's Church. How time flies!

St. Rita reaches centennial anniversary.

When Peggy Shaffer took her 6-year-old son to Sunday school at St. Rita in Dundalk almost three decades ago, she wanted to help the parish while waiting for her son to complete religious education.

Saint Rita's Tabernacle at the church in Dundalk, Maryland

Shaffer approached Deacon George Evans, one of the first permanent deacons in the country who served St. Rita for 33 years, and said, “I’m going to be here for an hour, is there anything I can help you with?”

“He had this crazy look in his eyes and the next thing I know I’m teaching third-grade Sunday school,” she noted.

Shaffer has been a parishioner of St. Rita for 32 years and has volunteered at multiple ministries. As the Baltimore County parish celebrates its 100th anniversary, she is an example of the kind of hardworking people who have helped keep the faith community strong over the decades.

Front entrance at the Saint Rita's Roman Catholic Church in Dundalk, Maryland

St. Rita has been able to accomplish a century of parish life due to the love instilled from multiple generations and the commitment to leadership from parishioners, said Shaffer, who helped plan a series of festivities for the centennial celebration.

In its most recent years, the parish has struggled through a shortage of clergy and frequent changes in leadership.

Charlotte Locklear, who has been a parishioner for 47 years, recalls when a lay leadership core group of parishioners was formed in the early 2000s to keep the parish together and running smoothly at a time when the parish lacked a pastor for two years.

“Without this group of parishioners, we would not have been able to survive,” Locklear said.

When a local business closed in 1980, many people stopped at the parish office and asked the receptionist at the front desk for food. Parishioners gathered to discuss ways to help those hungry people and came up with a food pantry idea, which later evolved into a soup kitchen.

St. Rita Supper Table, a soup kitchen ministry instituted in 1980, has served 200 to 300 people weekly.

Mary Catherine Haines, who has been a parishioner for 75 years, and her parents were some of the early supporters and longtime leaders of the ministry.

“It never ceased to amaze me when we needed something and someone would come in the door to help,” Haines said. “There were many miracles along the way.”

Haines’ parents cooked and she was an active member of the ministry. When her parents died, she took the cooking role until she physically could not continue with it.

A teen who opened the door of the rectory to hungry people back in 1980 took over the ministry. Stacey Nagel was touched by the people asking for food at the rectory and decided to volunteer at St. Rita’s Supper Table.

“I think that’s where the love for the poor became a thing in my heart and in my mind,” she said.

David Nagel, her husband, volunteered at St. Rita’s Supper Table since he was a child, attended St. Rita School and was an altar boy at the parish.

The Nagels have been loyal parishioners of St. Rita for generations. David Nagel’s family has been in the parish three generations before him.

The parish downsized in 2018. The hall, home of St. Rita’s Supper Table, along with the school and convent buildings were emptied for potential sales.

St. Rita Supper Table became Soup for the Soul, an independent soup kitchen run by Stacey and David Nagel. Its location moved to Dundalk United Methodist Church and eventually to its current location on Willow Spring Road.

Saint Rita's Church campus in Dundalk Maryland, this Marian statue stood outside of the school and convent.

St. Rita Parish, made up of 626 registered families, continues with outreach ministries such as St. Rita’s St. Vincent De Paul Society, which has been active for the last 16 years in the parish and has eight core members. Debbie Bullington, president of St. Rita St. Vincent de Paul Society and parishioner for 20 years, said the ministry is “spiritual first.” She noted that volunteers pray before serving the people and before packing the bags. They also pray with the clients for their problems and needs in private, upon request.

“Sometimes people come to get the food and they are full of things to say,” Bullington said. “Praying and paying attention to those clients individually is what makes us unique."

The food pantry ministry continued operating constantly throughout the pandemic, serving approximately 70 people twice a month with options for pick up at the parish and home delivery.

St. Rita was established June 2, 1922, beginning as a mission church of St. Luke in Edgemere. Steady jobs at the Bethlehem Steel plant in Sparrows Point helped birth St. Rita’s parish. The first generation of parishioners cleaned the grounds and helped build the first wooden structure church in 1922.

By 1947, the parish had a second church built to accommodate the growing parish, which is the building still in use today.

St. Rita School served the community from 1926 to 2006. The parish became part of a pastorate with Sacred Heart of Mary in Graceland Park and Our Lady of Fatima in Baltimore in 2017 under one pastor.

St. Rita has been served by 12 pastors and three pastoral life directors. (When I grew up in the Saint Rita's parish, the pastor was Monsignor Weindham (? sp), but the priest in charge was Father Muth.)

The faith community celebrated its 100th anniversary throughout the year starting June 2, 2021. The parish held two healing Masses, movie nights and a Christmas concert. A basket was placed near a St. Rita statue inside the church, where parishioners could leave Mass petitions related to the anniversary and for revitalization of the parish. Parishioners prayed a novena to St. Rita May 13-22, accompanied by several activities including a St. Rita festival, dedication of a tree in memory of departed clergy, talks about St. Rita and a living rosary. Eucharistic adoration and confessions were offered to the community May 13-21. The culmination of the anniversary was a Mass and dinner May 22.

“St. Rita will always be our home,” Stacey Nagel said. “We hold our faith very dear and near, and we hope to pass it on to future generations.”

Email Priscila González de Doran at pdoran@CatholicReview.org

Let's write about a remarkable physician

Dr. Theodore C. Patterson, a Dundalk Maryland, family physician who was my late mother’s doctor. 

He died at 86 years old in Maryland. He grew up in the neighborhood where Henrietta Lacks lived.

By JACQUES KELLY in the Baltimore Sun

JUL 12, 2019 AT 12:50 PM

Reporter Jacques Kelly came to the Evening Sun as a summer intern in 1969 and later joined The News American. He’s been with The Baltimore Sun since 1986. As a local columnist and reporter, Jacques writes about neighborhoods for readers who like learning more about their city. He also writes local obituaries.

Obituary- Dr. Theodore C. Patterson, a retired physician who practiced in Dundalk and was called as a beloved community figure, died of Parkinson’s disease complications on July 9, 2019, at his Annapolis home. He was 86 years old.

“Dr. Patterson represented the epitome of good hard work and academic success,” said former U.S. Presentative Kweisi Mfume. “As a young person, in my formative yeaers, I sat in awe of him. He went on to become a friend and mentor. As a physician, he was a counselor to the many families he treated. He had a comforting spirit about him,”

Born in Sparrows Point, he was the son of Doward B. Patterson, Sr., a Bethlehem Steel Corporation foreman and his wife Louie Marshall, a homemaker. According to a biography prepared by his family, Dr. Patterson spent his youth in a house on J Street, one of the first at Turner Station to have indoor plumbing.

Dr. Patterson graduated from Sollers Point High School, in 1949, which ws then a segregated black institution. “But, the Class of 1949, accustomed to race-based barriers, didn’t give segregation mush thought,” said a 1999, Baltimore Sun article about a reunion. “You persevered,” said Dr. Patterson, recalling his high school years. He said that his classmates went on to careers in medicine, teaching, architecture, manufacturing and government.

“We’ve never really had a reunion. This is more of an anniversary,” said Patterson who co-organized that reunion.

He earned a pre-med degree at Morgan State University, and as an ROTC second lieutenant, he served as a training officer at Fort Dix, New Jersey for two years.

His family biography said that on a visit to New Orleans with a friend, the late Joe Thomas, Dr. Patterson me Sylvia Tureaud*, his future wife. They married on July 14, 1956.

He and his wife settled in Dundalk and raised their children. Dr. Patterson commuted by train daily to graduate school at Howard University in Washington, DC.. In 1958, he was accepted to the University of Maryland Medical School. Upon graduation he interned at Sinai Hospital. In 1965, he started his family practice in Turner Station. He later practiced in an office in the Logan Village Shopping Center.

“He was very friendly and jovial, and everyone loved Dr. Patterson,” said Dr. Willarda V. Edwards, with whom he practiced until his retirement in 1993. “He really was a true family physician. People brought all their relatives to him and they in turn told others about him. At Christmas, his office would be filled with the cakes and candies people brought him.”

His family said he made house calls evenings and weekends. He also called on patients when they were hospitalized and stopped in their rooms to say hello and offer support.

Dr. Patterson remained active in Dundalk and Sparrows Point community affairs and participated in events that promoted local history.

“It has been a close-knit community,” said in a 1973 Evening Sun article. “You rarely locked your doors and always went to your neighbors’ houses uninvited.” He said that he grew up not going into Baltimore City much, maybe two or three trips a year.

Dr. Patterson went on to be the first African American president of the Gilman School Parents’ Association during 1978-1979. He was a member of the Board of the Patapsco Federal Savings and Loan Association, the County Planning Board, a member of the Dundalk Community College Advisory Board, the Dundalk Jaycees and was a past president of the Dundalk Optimist Club.

From 1969 to 1970, he served as president of the American Medical Association, Baltimore County Chapter. He was also first African American to hold the post. He group awarded him its Physicians’ Community Service Award in 1993.

Entry in Dr. Patterson’s obituary guestbook (below) describes the way I remember how others in the community would remember him:

“Mr. Alvin and Diane Lewis and family from 5471 Moores Run Drive, wrote on Jul. 13, 2019: On behalf of Christ The King Church of Turner Station: I had the pleasure of seeing Dr. Theodore Patterson and his family attending church there for many years as a little girl. My grandfather and grandmother The late Sidney and Maggie Small, Mr. and Mrs. Mary Branch, The Howard family and Mrs. Good and Mrs. Moore attended the same church. Dr. Theodore Patterson left a Legacy for his family, his community and friends serving us all. We had a saying during church service "Peace be with you" telling one another. Dr. Theodore Patterson aka (cousin Teddy) in my words will be greatly missed by all who knew him. Earth has lost a great and good man but Heaven has gained a true and faithful Angel. We are keeping his dear wife and family in our prayers for days to come. Love Always Mrs. Diane Moss-Lewis and family

*Alexander Pierre "A. P." Tureaud, Sr. (February 26, 1899 – January 22, 1972) was an African-American attorney who headed the legal team for the New Orleans chapter of the NAACP during the Civil Rights Movement. With the assistance of Thurgood Marshall and Robert Carter from the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, A. P. Tureaud filed the lawsuit that successfully ended the system of Jim Crow segregation in New Orleans. That case paved the way for integrating the first two elementary schools in the Deep South. (From Wikipedia).

Obituary of a high school friend

This obituary was published in Fredricksburg.com and is echoed in the Let's Write blog, as a tribute to  the life of Nancy Panzer McHugh.  In the narrative, we read a creative example about how a person's life review can become a role model for others. This obituary is recommended reading, because it is a fresh perspective about how to write with love and respect about others. Nancy was one of my high school classmates. Rest in peace, dear Nancy.  Certainly, your obituary raises us up to want to aspire to bring the joys you shared with so many people, into our own lives. Kudos to the person who wrote this obituary.  I suspect Nancy had a say in how the author reported about her life's story.

FREDRICKSBURG, Virginia - Nancy J. McHugh, 74, of Fredericksburg, passed away on Sunday, May 12, 2019 at Mary Washington Hospital. 

Nancy was born and raised in Dundalk, Maryland, the daughter of George and Jackie Panzer. She was a loving, generous, and fiercely independent lady. 

After graduating from Dundalk High school in 1963, she became a radiologic technologist in 1965, a profession in which she excelled for 48 years. During her career, she worked at Union Memorial Hospital, as a practice manager and x-ray technician for Dr. Jack Gordon, and at St. Joseph's Medical Center, from which she retired in 2013. Wherever she went, she set the standard for dedication to her patients, her profession, and her colleagues. 

Nancy will be forever remembered at St. Joseph's for "Chocolate Mondays" in the emergency x-ray department, for never forgetting a birthday, and for making sure that anyone who was experiencing financial difficulties got the first chance at overtime hours. Nancy was devoted to her friends and family, and her days were filled with spending time with the people and pursuits she loved. An irrepressible teller of jokes and dropper of puns, she brought uproarious laughter to any gathering, whether a casual lunch with friends or a formal holiday dinner. Her friends and family knew well that little grin that meant she was brewing a good one. From holidays and special occasions at Thelma's, to the annual cousins' party at Bruz's, to many "Happy Hours" shared with the "Old-Timers" of St. Joe's, to gatherings of neighbors on front porches in summer, her humor and her heart made her company a pleasure to all. Nancy loved holidays, and celebrated every one with themed gifts and a complete changeover of her household décor, including the shower and window curtains. 

Christmas at her house was an all-out festival of beautiful lights, an extravagantly decorated tree, and exquisitely wrapped gifts for everyone she loved. It was her favorite holiday from the time she was a little girl, awakening on Christmas morning to find a tree, hung with tinsel strand by strand, that hadn't been there the night before. Her Christmas cookies were legendary, each batch baked with love and packaged like the crown jewels they were. If you ever received a package of Christmas cookies from Nancy, you felt like a national treasure and in her heart, you were. Nancy loved to travel, and did so extensively, but her heart belonged to Ocean City. The consummate Marylander, she was at her happiest with sand in her toes, sun on her face, a little Old Bay still sticking to her fingers, defending her Thrasher's fries from marauding seagulls while waiting in line for a bucket of caramel corn from Dolle's to take home, and she never left without a custard from Dumser's. Nancy taught her daughter and grandchildren how to make a "beach in a bottle" to bring home, so they'd never be too far from the ocean, and was always looking forward to her next trip to hear the crash of the Atlantic Ocean on the sand. Nancy's gardens at home were always immaculately tended. She loved hydrangeas, azaleas, hostas, and forsythias, and had a flair for getting pachysandra to stay where she wanted it. Her birdfeeders were always filled with the perfect blend of seed to attract the most colorful songbirds, and she particularly delighted in seeing bright red cardinals when the trees were bare for winter. If you chanced to call her while she was sitting on her porch, you were likely to get a running commentary on the feathered visitor population, along with some invective, directed at raiding squirrels. 

Nancy Panzer McHugh

She was an ardent conservationist as well, devoted to preserving the Chesapeake Bay and its watershed. Nancy's greatest loves, though, were her daughter, son-in-law, and grandchildren. From the nights in a two bedroom apartment playing Scrabble or watching movies on a VCR rented from Greetings and Readings, to being the first person who got to hold her first grandchild, Nancy's presence and influence were constant and profound. Nancy taught her daughter about all the things that really mattered, and then helped teach her grandchildren that authentic love doesn't always look like shiny paper and pretty ribbons. Often, and at its best, love gets dirt under its fingernails, and sometimes it bleeds. From Disney movies and 80s music to her absolute belief that there is no job beneath any person's dignity, Nancy shared the best of herself with her family. Nancy was small in stature, but that just meant she was concentrated awesomeness, and her loss leaves a very large hole in a great many lives. 

She leaves to carry on her legacy a daughter and her husband, Kelly and Emmanuel Lucia, and grandchildren Jacqueline, Dorothy, George, Salvatore, and Donatello Lucia, along with a great host of beloved friends and relatives. There will be neither a funeral nor a memorial service, at her vehement insistence. Nancy wanted those who loved her to celebrate her life instead of grieving her death, and the celebration she wanted will take place later in the summer. 

If you would like to honor her in the meantime, you could contribute to Doctors without Borders, Meals on Wheels, the Wounded Warrior Project, the Chesapeake Bay Foundation, or the Kitchen Fund at St. Jude Catholic Church in Fredericksburg, VA, all of which were dear to her and received her regular contributions. 

Online guest book at covenantfuneralservice.com.

Remembering Easter at Aunt Mary's House

Easter in Dundalk at the Dundalk Maryland Shopping Center

On Easter Sunday, Aunt Mary's house on Peachtree Street in Watersedge looked like Santa's North Pole chocolate factory. She purchased every seasonal candy confection available in the
Dundalk Read's Drug Store and beyond.

We visited Aunt Mary Ash every Easter because, franky, that's where the Easter Bunny lived.

Every sort of Easter variety candy and "peep" known to exist wound up in Aunt Mary's buffet display.
Especially enticing were the hollow milk chocolate eggs with little Easter scenes inside and our names
written in icing on the outside.

I have no idea how long it took Aunt Mary to consume all that cand,y because even with two adolescent
nieces and a nephew visiting, there was enough left over to open a candy retail outlet. 

She and Uncle Joe didn't have children of their own, so we were extra special.

God Rest Her Soul, my Aunt Mary Ash made Easter into more of a cholcolate, rather than a religious, holiday. Indeed, if heaven doesn't serve chocolate, then it's likely she isn't going to be there.

Honestly, Baltimore enjoys some of the most beautiful Easter retail exhibits as anyplace I've ever
been, and I've been to a few places. At least, I recall when we were growing up in Baltimore, the Easter
offerings were as varied as the colors in a jelly bean factory.

Easter at Aunt Mary's cannot be replicated or duplicated, but the memories she created for us will always be appreciated. Happy Easter to all the Aunt Mary's and Uncle Joe's among us, who created family memories, with or without draining the entire chocolate inventory at the historic Dundalk Read's Drugstore.