Friday, September 21, 2007
Pamela Oughton ArmstrongDesign Firm Owner
Pamela Oughton Armstrong, 60, who opened an interior design business in Washington in 1996, died Sept. 10 at her home in Washington. The cause of death had not been determined, according to the spokeswoman for the D.C. medical examiner's office.
Ms. Armstrong owned Details design firms in Lancaster, Pa., and Newport Beach, Calif., before founding one in Washington.
She was born in Chicago and was a great-granddaughter of William Dickson "W.D." Boyce, a noted newspaper publisher and founder of the Boy Scouts of America. Another great-grandfather, John R. Oughton, was a founder of the Keeley Institute, which, in the 19th century, was the first hospital to treat alcoholism as a disease.
Ms. Armstrong graduated from the Madeira School in McLean and the Sorbonne in Paris.
She donated her time and talents to many endeavors, including the centennial celebration of the Madeira School and the Georgetown House Tour. She also cared about the welfare of dogs, performing rescue work and adopting them.
She was a member of Saint John's Episcopal Church in Georgetown.
Her marriages to James Bobbitt Powell and Andrew Armstrong ended in divorce.
Survivors include a daughter from her first marriage, Daphne Oughton Powell Markcrow of Pawlet, Vt.; two sisters; and a granddaughter.
-- Yvonne Shinhoster Lamb
Jean Sanford LoweWatercolor Artist
Jean Sanford Lowe, 84, who spent the past 20 years creating and exhibiting watercolors, died Sept. 18 at the nursing home at Arleigh Burke Pavilion in McLean. She had Alzheimer's disease.
She was born Mary Jean Sanford in St. Louis and grew up in Webster Groves, Mo. She graduated from Purdue University in Indiana, where she was a member of the Chi Omega sorority and the university choir.
She lived in Los Alamos, N.M., Richland, Wash., and Brunswick, Maine, before settling in McLean in 1956.
She was an accomplished watercolor artist who painted landscapes, lighthouses, still lifes and other scenes. She took classes over the years and exhibited her work along the East Coast.
Ms. Lowe also loved music and had a beautiful singing voice, a daughter said.
Her marriage to William Webb Lowe Jr. ended in divorce.
Survivors include five children, William Webb Lowe III of Hammonton, N.J., Judith Anne Lowe of McLean, Barbara Jean Lowe-Fierke of Northfield, Minn., Robert Sanford Lowe of Hatfield, Pa., and Jennifer Joan Foley of Catlett; 15 grandchildren; and three great-grandchildren.
-- Yvonne Shinhoster Lamb
Doris H. BaumNIH Secretary
Doris H. Baum, 85, a former secretary at the National Institutes of Health, died Sept. 17 at her home in Bethesda. She had Alzheimer's disease.
Mrs. Baum was born in Annapolis and studied at Strayer University in Washington. She was a secretary with the War Department (later the Defense Department) from 1941 to 1956.
In 1978, she went back to work at NIH as an administrative assistant in the office of contract laboratory studies at the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases. She retired in 1996.
Survivors include her husband of 53 years, Justin Baum of Bethesda, and a son, Robert Baum of Bethesda.
-- Matt Schudel
Marian Page SellmanChurch Member
Marian E. Page Simon Sellman, 86, a longtime member of Scripture Cathedral Church in Washington, died Aug. 15 of cardiac arrest at the Manor Care nursing center in Silver Spring. She lived in Bladensburg.
Mrs. Sellman was born in Washington and attended Armstrong High School. She raised nine children and spent more than 10 years as a single mother after her first husband, Roland Lincoln Simon, died in 1966.
Three of her children preceded her in death. Ronald Simon died in 1981, Diane Simon White died in 1987 and Ronald "Rodie" Simon Jr. died in 1998.
Survivors include her husband of 30 years, Joseph Sellman of Bladensburg; six children from her first marriage, Vincent "Bootsey" Simon of Bladensburg, Norman Simon of Deltona, Fla., James Simon of Washington, Gloria "Jean" Simon Knight of Upper Marlboro, Joyce Simon Leftwich of Montgomery, Ala., and Shirley Simon Gross of Gaithersburg; 37 grandchildren; 85 great-grandchildren; and seven great-great-grandchildren.
-- Matt Schudel
William E. Ten EyckAir Force Officer, Artist
William Emmet Ten Eyck, 61, a retired Air Force major who later worked as an intelligence analyst and launched a part-time career as an artist, died Sept. 10 of cancer at his home in Great Falls.
Maj. Ten Eyck, who was born in Kalamazoo, Mich., entered the Air Force in 1969 after graduating from Western Michigan University.
For most of his military career, he worked as an agent with the Air Force Office of Special Investigations. He had two tours of duty in Ankara, Turkey, and had been in the Washington area since 1980. He received a master's degree in international politics from George Washington University in 1985.
He retired from the Air Force in 1989 and was a member of the Association of Former OSI Special Agents.
Since 1990, Maj. Ten Eyck had worked with the Washington office of Battelle, a global science and technology company, as an analyst in the fields of intelligence and arms control.
In the 1990s, he began to make drawings and prints of local historical sites and monuments. His artworks were sold at the Potomac Gallery in Leesburg.
He was a member of Reston Presbyterian Church and was on the building committee for the Great Falls Freedom Memorial, honoring six Great Falls residents killed in the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.
Maj. Ten Eyck enjoyed playing the piano, woodworking, landscape design and gardening.
His marriage to Marianne Ten Eyck ended in divorce.
Survivors include his wife of 24 years, Elizabeth Quinn Ten Eyck of Great Falls; two sons from his first marriage, Brian C. Ten Eyck of Tucson and Gregory A. Ten Eyck of Albuquerque; and a brother.
-- Matt Schudel
Elmer Zamudio CanetMaintenance Technician
Elmer Zamudio Canet, 61, a maintenance technician at High Meadows Farm in The Plains, died Sept. 10 at Georgetown University Hospital of complications from surgery for liver cancer. He lived in The Plains.
Mr. Canet was born in Bula, the Philippines, and was a graduate of the College of San Juan de Letran in Manila. He worked in the shipping industry before he immigrated to the United States and settled in The Plains in 2001.
He enjoyed karaoke and watching sports.
Survivors include his wife of 31 years, Annabelle Alfelor Canet of The Plains; two children, Noreen Alzona of Wellington, New Zealand, and Carlo Magno Canet of Manila; one sister; five brothers; and four grandchildren.
-- Matt Schudel
John Howard NoonanNSA Analyst
John Howard Noonan, 78, a former analyst with the National Security Agency, died Sept. 11 of respiratory failure at his home in Cocoa Beach, Fla.
Mr. Noonan was born in Norwood, Mass. He served in the Army from 1946 to 1948 and was recalled in 1950 and 1951.
He worked with NSA and its predecessor organization from 1948 until his retirement in 1985. He was based in Hawaii from 1965 to 1969 and from 1982 to 1985. From 1974 to 1977, he was assigned to the U.S. Embassy in London.
He was a member of St. Mary's Catholic Church and later of Resurrection of Our Lord Roman Catholic Church, both in Laurel.
Mr. Noonan lived in Savage for 42 years before moving to Florida in 2002.
Survivors include his wife of 50 years, Sarah M. Noonan of Cocoa Beach; four children, John H. Noonan Jr. of Savage, Joseph Noonan of Baltimore, Allison Harmon of Gilbert, Ariz., and Marianne Mason of Cocoa Beach; a brother; and nine grandchildren.
-- Matt Schudel
James Keith RobertsPublic Health Administrator
James Keith Roberts, 76, a specialist in maternal and child health care for public health agencies, died Aug. 28 of complications from lung cancer at Shady Grove Adventist Hospital in Rockville. He lived at Leisure World in Silver Spring.
Mr. Roberts began his public health career in the early 1960s in Franklin County, Ky., and later worked with the Kentucky state government. In 1964, he moved to Baltimore to direct maternal and child health programs for the city.
He joined the federal government in 1965 and was in charge of public health programs in New York, New Jersey and the Virgin Islands. In 1975, he moved from New York to the Washington area to administer public health services for children and women with the old Department of Health, Education and Welfare.
He retired in 1983 but returned to the government in 1986. He retired from the Department of Health and Human Services in 1996 as deputy director of the Division of Services for Children With Special Health Needs.
Mr. Roberts was born in Middlesboro, Ky., and interrupted his college studies to serve in the Air Force from 1955 to 1959. He studied Chinese at Yale University when he was in the Air Force and was stationed in Taiwan. He developed a lifelong interest in Chinese language and culture, which he continued to study throughout his life.
After graduating from the University of Kentucky, he received a master's degree in public health from the University of Minnesota in 1963. He received a master's degree in public administration from New York University in 1976. In 1983, he received a law degree from Southland University, a now-defunct correspondence institution in Pasadena, Calif.
Mr. Roberts lived in Rockville from 1977 to 1996. For the last 10 years of his life, when he was affected by macular degeneration, he was cared for by a friend and neighbor, Joe Dulany, and his wife, Susan Dulany.
Survivors include a brother.
-- Matt Schudel