Friday, December 21, 2007
Patricia A. BettersReal Estate Agent
Patricia A. Betters, 68, a real estate agent with Long and Foster, died Dec. 4 of primary pulmonary hypertension at the Duke University Medical Center in Durham, N.C. A former resident of the District and Falls Church, she had lived in Leesburg since 2000.
Ms. Betters was born in McKeesport, Pa., and received an associate degree in business in 1959 from Robert Morris University in Pittsburgh. In 1972, she joined the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission as an administrative assistant in the office of legal counsel. She was with the EEOC until 1987.
She became an agent with Long and Foster in 1988, working out of the Foxhall office in the District until 2000, when she moved to the Leesburg office. She received a number of awards from Long and Foster in recognition of her accomplishments as a top producer. She was a member of the Gold Team, for agents who sold more than $5 million in real estate.
Ms. Betters was active in the League of Women Voters in the 1960s and 1970s and in the Democratic Party in the District, Falls Church and Leesburg. A member of the Loudoun County Democratic Committee, she was chair for the Leesburg district from 2000 to 2005 and was named Outstanding District Chair in 2001 and Volunteer of the Year in 2005.
Her marriages to Robert Joseph Limberger and Seymour S. Snyderman ended in divorce.
A daughter from her first marriage, Dr. Sheri Limberger, died in 1999.
Survivors include two children from her first marriage, Robin Martinhue of Leesburg and Lori Pittman of Raleigh, N.C.; her parents, Samuel and Julia Betters of Loveland, Colo.; two brothers; a sister; and three grandchildren.
-- Joe Holley
Kwang-Ping HsuCoast Guard Officer
Kwang-Ping Hsu, 71, a former Coast Guard officer and a professional photographer, died of complications of a brain tumor Dec. 11 at the Johnson Center at Falcons Landing in Potomac Falls.
Capt. Hsu served in the Coast Guard for 30 years, becoming a commanding officer at stations from the District to Hawaii. He completed tours at the North Pole and the South Pole and flew a helicopter from Coast Guard icebreakers.
He was the commanding officer at Barbers Point, Hawaii, in 1986 when he flew the first U.S. military aircraft to go to Beijing since 1947. At an aerospace exhibition there, Capt. Hsu and his crew provided tours of the U.S. Coast Guard HC-130 aircraft at Beijing's Capital Airport and gave a presentation on the advances in air-sea search and rescue techniques used by the Coast Guard.
His last tour was at the Pentagon as the liaison to the Joint Chiefs of Staff during the Persian Gulf War. He retired from the military in 1992.
His second career as a photographer, from his home in Vienna, took him on wedding and architecture shoots. His work appeared in Home & Design magazine.
Capt. Hsu was born in the Shantung province of China and emigrated to the United States with his family when he was 11. He lived in Charlottesville and in 1962 became the first Asian cadet to graduate from the U.S. Coast Guard Academy.
Survivors include his wife of 45 years, Rosemary Hsu of Potomac Falls; two children, Army Lt. Col. David Hsu, who is serving in Iraq, and Cindy Hsu of New York; a sister; and three granddaughters.
-- Patricia Sullivan
Dorothy Haynes KephartHairdresser
Dorothy Haynes "Dot" Kephart, 90, a former hairdresser at George Washington University Hospital, died Dec. 2 of congestive heart failure at Sunrise at Hunter Mill, an assisted living facility in Oakton.
Mrs. Kephart was born in Rockville and grew up in Southwest Washington. She graduated from Western High School.
For about 75 years, she lived in the Glover Park neighborhood of Northwest Washington, where she began her hairdressing career at home. She later became a hairdresser at GWU Hospital, where she worked for more than 25 years until retiring at 65.
She was a former president of the PTA at Stoddard Elementary School and was a member of St. Luke's United Methodist Church, both in the District.
Her marriage to Thomas J. Haynes ended in divorce.
Her second husband, Homer O. Kephart Jr., died in 2000.
Survivors include a son from her first marriage, Thomas H. Haynes of Fairfax County; two nieces she helped raise, Lorretta Polend of Rehoboth Beach, Del., and Dottie Hanson of Vienna; and two grandchildren.
-- Matt Schudel
Thurman BaldwinCourier Service Manager
Thurman Baldwin, 58, a former hotel sound engineer and courier service manager, died Dec. 2 at Howard University Hospital. He had acute leukemia.
Mr. Thurman, a District resident, worked for about eight years at the Washington Hilton and later for Speed Courier Services as a primary route manager. At the time of his death, he was on disability.
He was born in Raeford, N.C., and lived in the Washington area for 35 years. He was drafted in the 1960s to play in the minor leagues for the Pittsburgh Pirates and stayed on for about a year.
An avid sports fan, he was a skillful basketball and baseball player. He played on the Washington Hilton baseball team when he worked there. The New York Yankees was his favorite team. He also was considered a billiard champion in his home town, a family member said.
Mr. Thurman, who never married, is survived by his daughter, Yolanda Natasha Moss of Lincolnton, Ga.; two sisters, Barbara Jean McKinnon of Raeford and Beverly Ann Wall of Brooklyn, N.Y.; six brothers, Oscar L. Baldwin, Rudolph S. Baldwin, Lonnie A. Baldwin and Leonard A. Baldwin, all of Raeford, Calvin D. Baldwin of Brooklyn and Anthony A. Baldwin of Springdale; and a grandson.
-- Yvonne Shinhoster Lamb
Beverly Ehrlich GoldmanInsurance Broker
Beverly Ehrlich Goldman, 74, who sold insurance from the mid-1960s to early 1980s, mostly for the Silver Spring firm of Statland and Katz, died Dec. 19 at Presbyterian Hospital of Plano, Tex. She had complications from a brain hemorrhage that occurred six months ago.
Mrs. Ehrlich Goldman, born Beverly Baynard, was a native Washingtonian. She was raised by her mother after her father died in 1938 and was a graduate of Roosevelt High School.
Her memberships included Temple Shalom, a reform synagogue in Chevy Chase. She was a longtime Silver Spring resident before moving to Boynton Beach, Fla., 13 years ago.
She enjoyed jazz, once having followed the tour circuit of saxophonist Stan Getz in the early 1950s. Her other interests included taking cruises.
Her first marriage, to Tom Mineo, ended in divorce. Her two later husbands died, Marvin Ehrlich in 1980 and Lou Goldman in 1996.
Survivors include two daughters from her first marriage, Hope Mineo of Brentwood, Calif., and Joy Shepherd of Dallas; four stepdaughters, Monica Brecka of Longboat Key, Fla., Ren¿e Gates of Mechanicsville, Michelle Lavenstein of Cockeysville, Md., and Dina Ellington of Prince Frederick; and a grandson.
-- Adam Bernstein
Haig K. TufenkTennis Umpire
Haig K. Tufenk, 78, a retired National Security Agency employee and a professional tennis umpire for 35 years, died Nov. 21 of lymphoma at Suburban Hospital in Bethesda. He was a resident of the District.
In 1979, a line judge in a match between Guillermo Vilas and Marty Riessen at the Washington Star International tennis tournament made a close call that went against Vilas, the top seed and the tournament's only real drawing card. Vilas got angry. He argued. He served up a zinger of an obscenity, directed at Mr. Tufenk, who was umpiring.
Mr. Tufenk sat in the chair and listened, although he didn't overrule the call. Had he defaulted Vilas, he would have risked the wrath of the fans and promoters. So he took it.
"So why would anyone want to be a tennis official?" John Feinstein of The Washington Post asked him a couple of years later.
"Good question," he said. "You get into this because you love tennis, probably because you once wanted to be great and you weren't and because you've got enough ego that you love being out there, you know, show biz."
Haig Karekin Tufenk, of Armenian descent, was born in St. Paul, Minn. Shortly after graduating from high school, he joined the Army Air Forces in 1946 and served in what became the Air Force until 1949. He graduated in political science from the University of Minnesota in 1957 and then joined NSA. He retired in 1988.
Mr. Tufenk, who umpired his first tournament in 1969, was one of the founders of Washington Area Tennis Officials. He umpired the U.S. Open and other major professional tournaments across the country and in later years worked the college circuit.
"Once people were umpires just to be around players, to go to the cocktail parties and hang around with them," Mr. Tufenk told The Post in 1981. "Not now. We're not even allowed to fraternize on the men's tour under the rules. Now you have to do it because you have pride in what you're doing. And you better be good."
"He just loved what he did," said his longtime partner, Grace Farrior.
Survivors, in addition to Farrior of the District, include a brother and sister.
-- Joe Holley
Francis J. FabrizioDental Professor
Francis J. Fabrizio, 96, a retired clinical professor in the Dental Department of Georgetown University and a practicing dentist in the District, died Dec. 9 at Washington Home and Community Hospice of complications of a series of strokes.
Dr. Fabrizio, a third-generation Washingtonian, graduated from Eastern High School. He received a bachelor's degree from George Washington University in 1931 and a dental degree from Georgetown University in 1935. He also did postgraduate work at New York University and the University of Pennsylvania.
As a dental student, he was instrumental in establishing a Georgetown connection with the Navy Dental Corps, thereby providing scholarships for dental students and a source of Navy dentists.
After receiving his dental degree, he established a private practice in the District and began teaching at Georgetown. During World War II, he was a Navy dentist in Jacksonville, Fla., and he remained active in the Naval Reserve, ultimately achieving the rank of rear admiral.
He returned to his practice and to teaching after the war. He also helped create a residency program for periodontics at the National Naval Medical Center in Bethesda. He retired from his practice in the late 1960s and from teaching in 1974.
Dr. Fabrizio served as president of the District of Columbia Dental Society and as national vice president of the American Dental Association. He was a founder of the Georgetown Club of Washington and was its second president. He also served as vice president of Georgetown University's national alumni association.
With his brother, Michael Fabrizio, he owned and operated the Henlopen Hotel in Rehoboth Beach, Del., from 1951 to 1971. He was involved in a number of civic and philanthropic efforts in Rehoboth Beach.
He was a member of the Metropolitan Club and the Rehoboth Beach Country Club.
His wife, Louise Ryan Fabrizio, died in 1995.
Survivors include two children, C.A. Knoll and Francis J. Fabrizio Jr., both of the District; five grandchildren; and six great-grandchildren.
-- Joe Holley
Carolyn RiceTeacher
Carolyn Rice, 66, a teacher for 20 years in Prince George's County public schools, died of lung cancer Dec. 3 at Bethesda Memorial Hospital in Boynton Beach, Fla., where she lived for the past 12 years.
Mrs. Rice taught English at Benjamin Tasker Middle School in Bowie and a school in Riverdale, before retiring in 1995.
She was born in Baltimore and graduated from Salisbury State Teachers College in 1963. She did graduate work at the University of Maryland and Bowie State University.
She taught English in Baltimore County schools and then taught at Creative Garden Nursery School in Crofton before joining the private Wroxeter-on-the-Severn in Severna Park. She joined the Prince George's school system in 1975.
She moved to Florida from Severna Park after her retirement.
Her marriage to Dr. Edward H. Mitchell ended in divorce. Her second husband, Felix Rice, died in 1998.
Survivors include a son from her first marriage, Jesse S. Mitchell of Edgewater; two stepsons, David Rice of Dallas and Seth Rice of Port St. Lucie, Fla.; and two grandsons.
-- Patricia Sullivan