Tuesday, September 11, 2007
Josephine Kirby BoespflugGift Shop Manager
Josephine "Joey" Mary Kirby Boespflug, 77, who combined her retail sales experience with her love of volunteer work to manage the Little Shop gift store at Inova Alexandria Hospital for more than 20 years, died Aug. 10 of complications from pneumonia in her home in Alexandria.
She was born in Quantico and graduated from Immaculata high school and preparatory school in Washington. After graduation, she worked in the family jewelry business in Northern Virginia.
She married in 1954 and moved to Alexandria, where she split her time between raising her three children, working in the family business and volunteering. Her volunteer work included managing the hospital gift shop.
Mrs. Boespflug was a member of the KiWives/Kiwaniannes from 1971 to 2007 and served as president in 1986 to 1987. From 1986 to 1996, she volunteered with the Alexandria Voter Registration Outreach Program and was a registrar and polls election official.
She was a member of the Inova Alexandria Hospital Foundation board of trustees in its early years and the auxiliary board of Inova Alexandria Hospital.
She loved golf and was a longtime member of Belle Haven Country Club in Alexandria, where she enjoyed weekly golf games with her friends from Post Cana, a widows group. She traveled extensively, enjoying group tours and golfing trips with her family and friends.
Her husband of 26 years, Anton "Tony" Boespflug, died in 1980.
Survivors include three children, Brian Boespflug of Falls Church, Rosanne Kershaw of Cranberry Township, Pa., and Mark Boespflug of Alexandria; a sister, Frances Maddox of Woodbridge; and six grandchildren.
-- Yvonne Shinhoster Lamb
Harriette Bayard CooperClub Member, Volunteer
Harriette Bayard Cooper, 88, a club member and volunteer who made crafts to benefit charities, died of pneumonia Aug. 12 at her home in Arlington.
She was born in Vincennes, Ind., and worked as a stenographer for the FBI during World War II. She attended Sullins College in Virginia and George Washington University.
At GWU, she was a member of Kappa Kappa Gamma Sorority. Members of the group started a monthly bridge group 50 years ago, and although the bridge faded away, the friendships did not. About 30 years ago, armed robbers entered the Georgetown home of one of the members while the women played bridge, made them lie on the floor and took their jewelry, a daughter recalled.
Mrs. Cooper volunteered with the Florence Crittenden Society and the Assistance League of Northern Virginia, making beadwork crafts, jewelry and ornaments to sell to raise money for the two groups. She also drove cancer patients to their treatments for the American Cancer Society.
She supported her husband's business ventures, which included two Japanese steakhouses in Arlington and Bethesda. Her husband, Benjamin Herbert Cooper Jr., and his brother-in-law, Frank Trent, also founded the Cooper-Trent Printing Co., which had sites in the District, Maryland and Virginia.
Her husband of 53 years died in 1998.
Survivors include four children, Benjamin Herbert Cooper III, Suzanne Cooper Buck and Barbara Cooper Keaton, all of Arlington, and Katherine Cooper Miller of Durham, N.C.; and six grandchildren.
-- Yvonne Shinhoster Lamb
Jane Atherton RomanCIA Officer
Jane Atherton Roman, 91, a 27-year veteran of the CIA, died of respiratory failure due to chronic obstructive pulmonary disease Sept. 6 at her home in Bethesda.
Mrs. Roman joined the Office of Strategic Services in 1944, and her early assignments took her to wartime London and postwar Germany. For much of her later career, she worked as a counterintelligence officer, serving as a liaison between the CIA and the FBI. She received a Distinguished Service Medal when she retired in 1971.
She was a native of New York City and graduated from Smith College in Massachusetts in 1936. She worked for a Cape Cod, Mass., theater company and a New York advertising agency before joining the OSS.
She married a CIA colleague in 1954. After retirement, they divided their time between Washington and Stockbridge, Mass.
Mrs. Roman helped create the Washington chapter of Recording for the Blind and Dyslexic, and served on its board. She was also a member of the board for the now-defunct Volunteer Braille Services. She worked for the D.C. Board of Elections and volunteered at Washington National Cathedral and Children's Hospital.
Her husband, Howard Edgar Roman, died in 1988.
Survivors include two daughters, Elizabeth Roman of Williamstown, Vt., and Margaret Roman of Portland, Maine; three grandchildren; and two great-grandchildren.
-- Patricia Sullivan
Frederick W. LawrenceFederal Energy Official
Frederick W. Lawrence, 85, an expert in natural gas regulation and policy, died of a heart attack Sept. 6 at Sibley Memorial Hospital. He lived in Chevy Chase for 42 years until moving to the District two years ago.
Mr. Lawrence worked on energy and environmental policy for the federal government for more than 30 years, at the Federal Power Commission, the Environmental Protection Agency and the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission. He retired from FERC in the early 1990s.
He was born in New York and graduated from the University of Virginia. During World War II, he served in Bahrain as part of the U.S. Army's logistical and material supply branch.
After the war, he worked for American Cyanamid in New York City and several other energy companies.
Mr. Lawrence moved to Chevy Chase in 1963. He served as president of the Chevy Chase Valley Citizens Association and was a longtime member and poll watcher for the League of Women Voters of Montgomery County. He also was a past leader of the Chevy Chase Recreation Association and a volunteer at the Bethesda Avenue Co-op.
At North Chevy Chase Christian Church, which he attended for more than 30 years, he was an elder, a Sunday school teacher and the greeter at the church's doors.
His first wife, Jonney Lawrence, died in 1991.
Survivors include his wife of 11 years, Connie Gall of Washington; two children from his first marriage, Andrew C. Lawrence of Bethesda and Donna R. Lawrence of Palo Alto, Calif.; a brother; and two grandchildren.
-- Patricia Sullivan
Bernard I. GleesonElectrical Engineer
Bernard Ignatius "Buddy" Gleeson, 78, an electrical engineer, died of heart disease Sept. 4 at Johnson City Medical Center in Johnson City, Tenn.
A third-generation native Washingtonian, he graduated from Gonzaga College High School and studied electrical engineering at the University of Maryland and University of Virginia.
He served in the Army's 25th Infantry Division in Korea during the Korean War and received a Bronze Star Medal for his service.
He worked in electrical construction for the next decade at a number of jobs throughout the Washington area until he joined the Washington Navy Yard in 1967 as a design engineer. He built the electrical components of hangar doors at the Anacostia Naval Air Station. He retired about 1982 and moved to Greeneville, Tenn., in 1995.
Mr. Gleeson was also a member of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, Local 26.
Survivors include his wife of 49 years, Texie Lee Gleeson of Greeneville, and a brother.
-- Patricia Sullivan