Md. Animal Shelter Gets Major Gift

SPCA officials said Carder had donated smaller amounts to the organization in past years.

For all the hoopla over the windfall, things were relatively calm at the shelter yesterday. Cats stretched and settled down for their afternoon naps, oblivious to their unexpected fortune. Dogs, finishing up their noon lunch, wagged their tails, barked and circled their mats.

Helping animals was what Carder wanted most, said Diane Catania Burian, 52, who used to live across the street from her.

Burian said Carder had no immediate family or survivors, and she lavished her affections on animals. She rarely cooked for herself but prepared meals for her frequent visitors from the wild, which included a raccoon, an opossum and a couple of ducks. Every day she set out goodies on plates, metal tins and pie pans. There was always cantaloupe and cabbage for the groundhog and fresh feed for the birds and squirrels.

"If one of them didn't come to eat, she would wonder what happened to them," Burian said.

Carder, originally from Iowa, moved to Annapolis in the early 1960s. She retired as an editor who reviewed classified documents at the CIA.

Her mind stayed sharp in old age, friends said, adding that she was quick with her wit and well-read.

She had kept several cats and at least one dog in her home in the Cape St. John neighborhood in Annapolis, some of them adopted from the SPCA.

By the time she died, however, only one was left: a Russian Blue cat named George.

Linda Webb, a neighbor who now cares for George, said Carder's friends were not surprised by her donation.

"That's the big thing about Janie," Webb said. "She was very fond of animals."