Someone to watch over you
When Alexandria, Virginia, resident Donna Marie’s father was suddenly hospitalized, she visited him, prayed with him, hugged him and said she’d talk to him in the morning. But he died hours later, alone in a sterile hospital room. “During a long period of grief, I experienced a lot of guilt because I left my dad alone in the hospital,” Marie said. “He kept asking me to stay,... READ MORE
Oriole Advocates change lives
On a sunny spring day, an orange-clad crowd flows through the iron gates of Camden Yards. Every now and then, someone joins the line dressed as a cow. It’s baseball season in Baltimore, and Birdland is ready for some fun. Most folks know the drill. As they approach a cheerful volunteer at the gate, fans reach out for the day’s freebie. Today, it’s bobbleheads. “Kids love the... READ MORE
Collectors are crazy about cars
Gil Dickens lives, sleeps and dreams Corvettes. The retired Air Force engineer owns and maintains five of them, chairs the Mid-Atlantic Chapter of the National Corvette Restorers Society and edits their newsletter. He’s the master of Corvette minutiae: He can identify spark plugs by year, explain which model had a triple deuce carburetor, and sing the praises of the father of the... READ MORE
Dolly Parton’s books for kids
Every month, when Eris Doweary’s 4-year-old daughter sees a book arrive in the mail, she “gets excited,” her mother said. “She’ll yell at me, ‘Mommy, I got a new book!’” said the D.C. resident. “It’s a treat for her when the books come into the house.” Doweary’s daughter, who has been receiving free books from Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library since she was... READ MORE
News man covers the county
In a world of disappearing small-town newspapers, a new source of news has emerged in Howard County. The Howard Courier is an independent, web-based news platform that endeavors to report on local happenings with integrity and without bias. Founded by Ricardo Whitaker, the Courier is less than a year old and has already provided Howard County and surrounding areas with information on... READ MORE
Football pro turns college coach
Football fans may be familiar with the name Jimmy Johnson, the former coach of the Dallas Cowboys. Now another Jimmie Johnson (no relation), a famous name in the NFL ranks, has come to Baltimore. Last year, the athletic department at Morgan State University hired Johnson as an assistant football coach. “I started playing football in Augusta, Georgia at age six. At 58, I’m still a... READ MORE
Gail Kohn makes connections
Capitol Hill resident Gail Kohn has always been somewhat of a matchmaker. Throughout her 40-year career in the aging field, she’s found ways to connect people — with a neighbor, plumber, mayor and even a future spouse. “I make a lot of connections,” said Kohn, who recently named her new limited liability corporation Linking Partners LLC as a nod to her superpower. “I know lots... READ MORE
Archaeologist uncovers shipwrecks
From the thousands of miles of waterways that crisscross Maryland to the murky depths of the Chesapeake Bay, Dr. Susan Langley knows an underwater museum waits to be discovered. There, she excavates the past, carefully studying each site and artifact, piecing together stories that time and tide have sought to erase. For more than three decades, Langley has served as Maryland’s State... READ MORE
Growing a nonprofit for kids
Just before the pandemic in 2020, Columbia resident Steven Porter was reading a book that mentioned a Baltimore organization called Threads — a nonprofit that connects at-risk high school students with adult mentors. It sounded to Porter like a success story of community involvement in an increasingly isolated society. Recently retired, he and his wife, Susan, had been... READ MORE
Local twins are soup-meisters
Keith and Kevin Mullaney started a soup business 25 years ago and are still stirring, selling and serving fresh, hot soup together. The identical twin brothers, 60, grew up in Mayfield in Northeast Baltimore. They started their company in California but came home in 2007 to be closer to their mother. In 2008, they opened a shop in Mount Vernon, and ever since, Soup’s On has... READ MORE
