Obituaries

-- Yvonne Shinhoster Lamb

Margaret Stancil SellersExecutive Secretary

Margaret Stancil Sellers, 80, an executive secretary who worked for Energy Secretary James R. Schlesinger and other federal officials, died Jan. 12 of septicemia and multiple organ failure at Inova Fairfax Hospital. She was an Annandale resident.

Mrs. Sellers was born in Wilson, N.C., and was reared on a tobacco farm. After graduating from high school, she moved to Washington shortly after World War II to work for the federal government. Starting in the secretarial pools, she worked for a number of agencies, including the former Department of Health, Education and Welfare, the Drug Enforcement Administration and the office of the attorney general. She also took classes at Strayer Business School.

She worked for key federal executives, including Martin R. Hoffmann, who was general counsel at the Defense Department from 1974 to 1975 and secretary of the Army from 1975 to 1977. He praised her "boundless energy and high standards of character."

In 1977, she worked for Schlesinger when he was selected by President Jimmy Carter to be the nation's first secretary of energy. Schlesinger noted her "knack for getting things done."

Mrs. Sellers retired from federal service in 1979 and worked briefly in the private sector before returning to North Carolina. She returned to Washington and worked for Schlesinger at Lehman Brothers from 1989 to 2001, when she retired again for health reasons.

She was a member of St. Michael Catholic Church in Annandale and of the Top Side Club, a select group of secretaries who worked for top executives in government and the private sector. A lover of the arts, she enjoyed music and theater, especially at the Rachel M. Schlesinger Concert Hall and Arts Center at Northern Virginia Community College in Alexandria. She also loved animals.

Mrs. Sellers's marriage to Lloyd Sellers ended in divorce.

Survivors include a daughter, Margaret "Marty" Sellers of North Grosvenordale, Conn.; and a brother and sister.

-- Joe Holley

William Frederick BurnettFBI Employee

William Frederick Burnett, 87, a retired employee of the Federal Bureau of Investigation who was involved in early computer operations, died Jan. 31 of complications from prostate cancer at his Garrett Park residence.

Mr. Burnett was born in Harrisburg, Ill. He initially worked for the FBI from 1941 to 1943, before receiving his undergraduate degree from Culver-Stockton College in Canton, Mo., in 1943. After serving in the Marine Corps in the Pacific theater during World War II, he rejoined the FBI in 1946.

Mr. Burnett worked in the First Identification Division, where he was involved in the development of automated systems of fingerprint identification. The bureau's systems evolved during the course of his career from punch cards to computerized operations. He retired in 1975 as supervisor of computer operations.

A Garrett Park resident since 1962, he was an avid golfer, a Redskins fan and a member of the old Washingtonian Country Club. He also was an enthusiastic member of a monthly eating club called the ROMEOs ("Retired Old Men Eating Out").

Mr. Burnett's wife of 60 years, Mary Jefferson Burnett, died in 2003.

Survivors include a sister.

-- Joe Holley

Robert N. Warren Jr.C&P Foreman Supervisor

Robert N. Warren Jr., 88, a foreman supervisor for C&P Telephone Co., died of cancer Jan. 29 at Homewood Retirement Community in Williamsport, Md.

Mr. Warren, a former Kensington resident, worked for C&P from 1950 to 1978, starting as a linesman.

He was born in Cambridge, Md., and enlisted in the Navy after high school, serving as an electrician. He was discharged, then reenlisted during World War II. He served in the Pacific theater and was a member of the Sino-American Cooperative Organization, a joint military effort between the United States and the Chinese Nationalist forces, which taught the Chinese how to infiltrate the Japanese, wiretap phone lines and intercept radio transmissions.

After the war, Mr. Warren moved to the Washington area and worked for the telephone company. He was a member of St. Paul's United Methodist Church in Kensington, where he was Sunday School superintendent and Boy Scout troop leader. He was also a lifetime member of the Masons.

In 1978, he and his wife moved to Charles Town, W.Va., where Mr. Warren served on the Jefferson County Planning Commission and taught AARP classes on how aging affects driving.

His wife of 54 years, Betty Elaine Robey Warren, died in 1999. Mr. Warren moved to Williamsport in 2005.

Survivors include two children, Mary Lee Nielsen of Plano, Tex., and Steven Warren of Kensington; four grandchildren; and three great-grandchildren.

-- Patricia Sullivan

Connie Mae ChiakaHome Health-Care Provider

Connie Mae Chiaka, 59, who was a home health-care provider, died Jan. 19 at the Sligo Creek Nursing and Rehabilitation Center in Takoma Park. She had diabetes.

Ms. Chiaka, who lived in Capitol Heights, was born in Washington and attended Eastern High School. She worked for the U.S. Department of Labor. She was in home health-care nursing for about 15 years.

Marriages to Lynwood Strayhorn and Sundie Chiaka ended in divorce.

Survivors include two children from her first marriage, Lynwood Strayhorn of Silver Spring and Bernice Strayhorn of Hyattsville; her mother, Bernice Blunt of Alexandria; two brothers, James Blunt and Robert Blunt, both of Alexandria; three sisters, Bernice Kinrelere of Hyattsville, Marsha Flemings-Clay of Capitol Heights and Sandra Thomas of Alexandria; four grandchildren; and two great-grandchildren.

-- Yvonne Shinhoster Lamb

John W. McConnell Jr.Lawyer

John W. McConnell Jr., 86, who practiced law for 14 years in the Washington offices of Haight, Gardner, Poor and Havens before retiring in 1991, died of congestive heart failure Jan. 29 at Richland Rehabilitation Center in Nashville.

Mr. McConnell was a native of Bessemer, Ala., and a 1942 graduate of the University of Alabama. He served in the Army in Europe during World War II and graduated from Yale Law School in 1948.

After law school, he moved to Mobile, Ala., and became partner in the law firm of Ambrecht, Jackson, McConnell and DeMouy. In 1963, Mr. McConnell was a plaintiff and attorney in Reynolds v. Sims, the case that resulted in the 1964 landmark "one man, one vote" ruling by the U.S. Supreme Court.

He joined the Peace Corps in 1965 and lived with his family in Nigeria for three years. After returning to the United States, he became vice president and general counsel for Sea Land Shipping and played a role in the development of the company's containerized shipping method.

He retired from practicing law in Washington and moved with his wife to Charleston, S.C. After his wife of 62 years, Margaret McConnell, died in 2006, he moved to Nashville, where a daughter lives.

Survivors include four children, Margaret Evans of New York City, Rebecca Braden of Nashville, Catherine McConnell of Florence, Ala., and John W. McConnell of Washington; two brothers, James M. McConnell of Arlington County and Walter S. McConnell of Asheville, N.C.; six grandchildren; and four great-grandchildren.

-- Yvonne Shinhoster Lamb

Guy R. SmithMontgomery County Principal

Guy Raymond Smith, 80, a Montgomery County principal who retired in 1980 from Francis Scott Key Middle School in Rockville, died Jan. 22 at Vantage House retirement community in Columbia. He had non-Hodgkin's lymphoma.

Mr. Smith spent about five years at Key. He began his career in the early 1950s, teaching biology, English and history at Richard Montgomery High School in Rockville.

He later was assistant principal at the old Broome Junior High School in Rockville and Gaithersburg Middle School and principal at Parkland Junior High School in Rockville.

He was a native of Hurlock, on Maryland's Eastern Shore, and a 1950 graduate of Western Maryland College (now McDaniel College). He received a master's degree in education from the University of Maryland.

He served in the U.S. Merchant Marine from 1945 to 1947 and saw combat as an Army platoon leader during the Korean War.

In retirement, he traveled throughout North America and Europe.

Survivors include his wife of 56 years, Peggy Timmons Smith of Columbia; two children, Laura E. Smith of Ellicott City and Michael B. Smith of Columbia; three sisters; and a grandson.

-- Adam Bernstein