GHS75 - Paul Staton RIP

Fellow alumni Susi Martinsen informed me that she learned in summer of 2011 that  our friend  and fellow alumni circa class of '75 Paul Staton  passed away in the 90's. I remember Paul, and as time allows I'll   try to confirm the actual date of his passing in the SSDI,   though I feel  slim chances of  finding his his actual obit 2 decades ex post facto.  I knew Paul  as a stand up guy along with several  others who expressed similar sentiment on Fb.  RIP Paul.

GHS72 - Sandy Young RIP

I'm very sad to say I just found out today our fellow friend and Gaithersburg alumni  class of '72 graduate Sandy Young  lost his battle against  Hepatitis C related liver cancer at the age of 57 in Harpers Ferry, WV at 12:05 AM on Wednesday March 28, 2012. RIP Sandy

GHS - Jeff M Ferrell

I think I grew up  in Deer Park  with this Ferrell family, and if, yes,  I  knew Jeff Ferrell. I'm sad to say I heard Jeff passed March 15, 2012, and his obit is here. If you knew  knew Jeff please tell me what year he graduated or attended Gburg.  RIP

GHS-Faculty Principal Thomas Watts Stevenson, RIP

Thomas Watts Stevenson, 89, Chambersburg, PA, passed away Sept. 20, 2011 at The Shook Home in Chambersburg, PA. He was the son of the late John Stevenson and Vava (Head) Stevenson. He was born on a farm near Loch Lynn, Maryland, and was raised in Mountain Lake Park, Maryland. He was a resident of Garrett County, Maryland, until 1956. He was a 1938 graduateof Oakland High School and a 1942 graduate of Washington College in Chestertown, Maryland. He studied at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, Maryland, and was awarded a Master of Education degree from the University of Maryland at College Park. He was a veteran of World War II, having served with the Army Air Corps from 1943-1946.

He taught for Garrett County Public Schools from 1946-1955, and then ultimately settled in Montgomery County, Maryland, where he was a teacher, administrator, and principal at Poolesville High School and Gaithersburg High School. He retired from Montgomery County Public Schools in July, 1975. He moved to Pennsylvania in 1988.
In his leisure time he enjoyed camping, hiking, fishing,spending time on the C&O Canal, and attending plays at the Kennedy Center, the Totem Pole Playhouse in Pennsylvania, Shady Grove Music Fair in Maryland, and the Garrett County Playhouse. He was a member of the Trinity Episcopal Church in Chambersburg, Pennsylvania. He was active in the C&O Canal Association and Civil War Roundtable. He was a member of the American Legion in St. Thomas, Pennsylvania, and a past member of the Lions Club of Laytonsville, Maryland.
Survivors include his wife, Barbara (St. Clair) Stevenson; one son, Thomas Watts Stevenson, Jr., husband of Betty (Wynkoop) Stevenson, Greencastle; one daughter, Vava Claire (Stevenson) Schroeder, wife of Willard John Schroeder, Jr., Las Vegas, Nevada; four step-daughters, including Kimberly Shifler, wife of Jeffrey, Middletown, PA; Judith Snyder, wife of David, Chambersburg, PA; Cynthia Betz, wife of Terry, Chambersburg, PA; Amy Diehl, wife of Tony, Chambersburg, PA; one brother, Robert Head Stevenson, husband of Martha, Damascus, Maryland; four grandchildren; three great-grandchildren; twelve step-grandchildren; and eleven step-great-grandchildren. He is preceded in death by his two sisters,Kathryn (Stevenson) Helbig and Dorothy (Stevenson) Stahl; two brothers, Mahlon Stevenson and John Stevenson; and one step-grandchild, Lauren Betz.
Services were private. Memorial contributions can be made to the C&O Canal Association, P.O. Box 366, Glen Echo, MD, 20812; or the Garrett County Historical Society, 107 S. Second St., Oakland, MD 21550

GHS73 - Larry Federline RIP

It was the summer of 1964,  when we were in 4th grade,  that I actually  met and got to know Larry Federline; I'd  been caught &  busted by the nuns at St.  Martin's  for lighting a candle in the church for somebody who I'd heard on TV had  been wounded in Vietnam, all the while Larry got away with chugging the sacramental wine in the sacristy and he didn't even get caught. :-) After that Larry  wanted me to go into the church at recess with him almost daily. Sometimes he'd  bring the bottle into the basement  bathroom and try to talk me into doing a  belt, but I was too scared.
Larry and I remained friends on through grade school and on into high school after that.  It was  a good while out of high school that  I ran into Larry again  and he was still running wild. I always thought Larry had pretty progressive tastes  in music and he followed me around to local  clubs I gigged at.  With a heavy heart I share with you today that  I learned my  grade school friend Larry passed away in Vermont suffering from emphysema back on September 26, 2005. Larry is interred at Parklawn Cemetery. RIP Larry

GHS-Faculty John E. Erdlitz RIP

John E. Erdlitz, GHS Biology Teacher, an  Army Air Corps veteran, retired to Florida, and  passed at his home there, in 1999 at age 80. His wife, Mary Erdlitz, taught Home Economics at GJHS for 25 years, retired in  1980, and passed in 2005, also in Florida.

GHS64 - Elinid Erdlitz Apostolik RIP

Elinid Erdlitz Apostolik, GHS alumni class of '64, passed  away in 2000. Ms. Apostolik  graduated from Hood College in Frederick, Maryland. She was a writer and editor with the Athens Banner-Herald and Daily News, and with the Carl Vinson Institute of Government at the University of Georgia.

Survivors included her husband, Charles Apostolik, two sons, Paul and Jon, and a granddaughter, Crimson Ivy Bauer, all of Athens, GA. Other survivors included her mother, Mary Erdlitz, her sister Elaine E. Duncanson, and her brother, John M. Erdlitz.  Funeral services were held at Saint Joseph Catholic Church.