Friday, January 11, 2008
Albert F. HammettHighway Maintenance Manager
Albert F. Hammett, 43, who was a manager in the Prince George's County highway maintenance department, died after a heart attack Dec. 14. Howard County police said he was driving on Route 29 and Diamondback Road in Columbia when he pulled off the road and died at the scene.
Mr. Hammett was chief of the cost and resource section in the county's highway maintenance department, where he had worked for the past 20 years.
He was the sole licensed pesticide applicator for the county and was a certified roadside tree care expert.
In 2005, he received the county's "Golden Trowel Award" for horticultural excellence.
Mr. Hammett was born in Temple Hills and graduated from Eleanor Roosevelt High School in Greenbelt.
Mr. Hammett volunteered for Christmas in April, the Prince George's County Fair, Prince George's County Day and the Prince George's Beautification Committee. He rebuilt bicycles for neighborhood children and taught them to ride. He also enjoyed making wreaths for family and friends during the Christmas holidays.
Survivors include his wife of 27 years, Sandra G. Hammett of Columbia; two children, Megan L. and Nicholas J. Hammett, both of Columbia; his parents, Carolyn and Francis Hammett of St. Petersburg, Fla.; four sisters, Dr. Carolyn A. Hammett of Takoma Park, Martha M. Hammett Welsh of Glen Burnie, Frances J. Kleponis of Lusby and Joan A. Glavasis of Springfield; and three brothers, Thomas J. Hammett of Waldorf, David P. Hammett of Herndon and Mark A. Hammett of Bowie.
-- Patricia Sullivan
Joseph W. JankowskiPublic Accountant, Poet
Joseph Walter Jankowski, 80, a public accountant in the Washington area for 53 years who also wrote poetry, died Dec. 11 of cardiac arrest at his home in Silver Spring.
He was born in Perth Amboy, N.J., and served in the Navy during World War II and the Korean War. In 1951, he worked for Try-Me Bottling Co. in Washington.
Mr. Jankowski completed an accounting course at Boyds School of Accountancy in Washington in 1954 and continued taking tax education courses throughout his practice. In 1972, he received a law degree in American law and procedure from LaSalle Extension University. Mr. Jankowski and his business partner incorporated their accounting business in the 1970s in the Hyattsville area. He served as an independent accountant for the Officer's Club and NCO Club at Fort McNair from 1968 to 1972.
He served as president of the Maryland Society of Accountants for consecutive terms, from 1979 to 1981. He was governor of District 3 of the National Society of Accountants from 1981 to 1984.
His poetry, for which he received an award, was published in anthologies in the United States and England. He also was the author of two books, "The Christmas Gift" (2006) and the yet-to-be published "Curse of A Saddle."
His wife of 56 years, Polly Ann Jankowski, died in 2003.
Survivors include two children, Susan May and Nancy Kongsomboon, both of Silver Spring; a brother; two sisters; four grandchildren; and three great-grandchildren.
-- Yvonne Shinhoster Lamb
Christopher G. TuroffAir Force Colonel
Christopher G. Turoff, a retired Air Force lieutenant colonel who had a second career in real estate, died of pulmonary failure Dec. 11 at Virginia Hospital Center in Arlington County. He was 86.
Col. Turoff was born in Springfield, Ohio, to parents who had immigrated to the United States from Macedonia in the early 1900s.
After graduating from high school in 1939, he found work during the Depression as a machinist until he enlisted as an aviation cadet in the Army Air Forces in 1943.
He later served as a bombardier and navigator with the 509th Composite Group, under the command of Col. Paul Tibbets. Tibbets was the pilot of the Enola Gay, which dropped the first atomic bomb, on Hiroshima.
Turoff, who was second lieutenant at the time, was part of one of the 15 crews that trained in secrecy in Wendover, Utah, in preparation for the mission of dropping two atomic bombs in Japan in 1945.
After the war, he returned to his hometown and sold wine for a local family business. He was then recruited back into the Air Force and was placed on loan to the Central Intelligence Agency.
He was stationed in Greece in 1953 because of his fluency in English, Macedonian, Bulgarian and Greek.
In the 1960s, he was based in the San Francisco area as a CIA officer and worked with scientists, academics and other notables to gather information and school them in Cold War intelligence practices.
He served a tour in Saigon during the Vietnam War. In 1963, he received a bachelor's degree in political science and international relations at San Francisco State University.
He retired from the military in 1975 and was a real estate agent in Arlington for the next 10 years.
Col. Turoff had a life-long interest in history and could be relied upon for extemporaneous, learned and passionate discussions of virtually any historical event, his family said. He was also proud of his Macedonian heritage; he spoke the language, made the food of that region and attended Macedonian conventions.
He and his wife frequently attended reunions of the 509th Composite Group.
Col. Turoff was a member of St. Agnes Catholic Church in Arlington.
His marriages to Arline Turoff and Virginia Turoff ended in divorce.
Survivors include his wife, Jeanne Turoff of Arlington; three daughters from his first marriage, Clare Turoff of San Rafael, Calif., Mary Turoff of Aptos, Calif., and Kristie Turoff of Alamo, Calif.; a daughter from his second marriage, Stephanie Turoff Richey of McLean; a sister; three brothers; and seven grandsons.
-- Yvonne Shinhoster Lamb
Bonnie Hale SnapeHomemaker, Church Member
Bonnie Hale Snape, a homemaker who was active in the Chevy Chase United Methodist Church, died Jan. 2 of Alzheimer's disease at Asbury Methodist Village's Wilson Health Care Center in Gaithersburg, three days before her 84th birthday. She lived in Chevy Chase.
She was born in Van Wert, Ohio, and served as a Navy Wave. She graduated from Whittier College in California in 1950 and taught first grade in the Montgomery County school system for five years.
She met her husband during that time, and they settled in Chevy Chase after they wed. She then dedicated her life to her family. She taught Sunday school and preschool at her church and volunteered in numerous other capacities.
She later worked in the offices of the Lisner-Louise-Dickson-Hurt Home in the District for a few years in the 1980s.
Survivors include her husband of 55 years, William H. Snape Jr. of Chevy Chase; five children; Katherine Kelly of Wilmington, Del., William H. Snape III of Tacoma, Wash., Margaret Jordan of Uniondale, Pa., Anne Snape of Breckenridge, Minn., and Richard H. Snape of Silver Spring; a sister; and 11 grandchildren.
-- Yvonne Shinhoster Lamb
Lawrence E. PlantMachinist, Optics Specialist
Lawrence E. Plant, 85, a machinist and optics specialist, died Dec. 31 at Collingswood Nursing and Rehabilitation Center in Rockville. He had Alzheimer's and Parkinson's diseases.
He worked for 30 years as an optics specialist and machinist for the old Naval Ordnance Laboratory at White Oak before retiring in 1977. He then worked 15 years as a machinist for R&R Lighting of Silver Spring.
Mr. Plant was born in Washington and graduated from McKinley Technical High School. He served in the Navy during World War II, in the European and the Pacific theaters, and during the Korean War.
He returned to the Washington area and lived in Silver Spring for 57 years. He was a lifetime member of the Knights of Columbus and a member of the Holy Name Society at St. Catherine Laboure Catholic Church in Silver Spring.
Survivors include his wife of 60 years, Rose M. Plant of Silver Spring; six children, Roseann Ryba and Lawrence W. Plant, both of Annapolis, Rita M. Gerlach and Edith D. Seligson, both of Frederick, Mary Elizabeth Griner of Rockville and Michael E. Plant of Charlotte; a sister, Dorothy Buckovac of Luray, Va.; 12 grandchildren; and 11 great-grandchildren.
-- Patricia Sullivan