Obituaries

Carolyn Purdy BakerCIA Employee

Carolyn Purdy Baker, 73, a retired CIA analyst, died March 13 at her home in Oak Ridge, Tenn. She had myelodysplastic syndrome, a bone marrow disorder.

Ms. Baker was born in the District and graduated from Woodrow Wilson High School in 1951. She attended Marietta College and received a bachelor's degree from the University of Maryland in 1955.

After her marriage, she lived in Winston-Salem, N.C., Columbia, S.C., and Memphis before returning to Washington in the 1980s. She analyzed intelligence data for the Central Intelligence Agency until her retirement in 1997 and moved to Oak Ridge the next year.

Ms. Baker was a life member and former treasurer of the Society of Mayflower Descendants in the District and governor of the Society of Mayflower Descendants of Tennessee. She also was an avid birdwatcher and compiled an extensive list of birds sighted during a number of trips around the world.

Her marriage to Yelverton Cowherd Jr. ended in divorce.

Survivors include four children, Diane Cowherd Golfetto of Charlotte, James Y. Cowherd of Clinton, Tenn., Scott Baker Cowherd of Campbell, Calif., and Andrew Alan Cowherd of Oak Ridge; and four grandchildren.

Adrian Grant SharffAssociation Field Director

Adrian Grant Sharff, 86, who retired as director of field services for the Society of American Florists in 1985, died of cardiac arrest March 13 at Florida Hospital in Orlando. He was a resident of Mount Dora, Fla.

Mr. Sharff, who was with the association for 20 years, coordinated the group's marketing personnel across the country to build membership among growers and florists.

He was born in Tomahawk, W. Va., and served in the Army during World War II. He received a bachelor's degree in business from George Washington University in 1949.

He lived in Arlington from 1950 to 1985, when he moved to Florida.

He was a member of Trinity Presbyterian Church in Arlington and a Masonic lodge in Alexandria.

His wife, Jeanne M. McKane Sharff, whom he married in 1950, died in 1967.

Survivors include five children, Paula Duesing, John Sharff and William Sharff, all of Eustis, Fla., Phillip Sharff of Arlington, Mass., and Robert Sharff of Mount Dora; 14 grandchildren; and a great-granddaughter.