Saturday, March 22, 2008
Huntington T. BlockInsurance Company Founder
Huntington T. Block, 83, founder of an insurance agency that wrote policies for museums and art collectors for six decades, died of cancer Feb. 25 at Capital Hospice in Arlington County. He was a Washington resident.
Mr. Block established his eponymous firm in 1961, and it became a leading insurer of art throughout the country. It is now owned by AON.
He was born in the District and nicknamed Bucky in honor of Bucky Harris, manager of the 1924 World Series champion Washington Senators. Mr. Block graduated from St. Albans, having earned three letters in football and played on three championship tennis teams.
He attended Virginia Military Institute before joining the Army during World War II. He served in the field artillery in Europe and participated in the battle for Bastogne.
After the war ended, Mr. Block returned to the United States and graduated from Princeton University.
He worked for an insurance company for several years before starting his firm. He focused on the niche trade of insurance for professional associations, nonprofit groups, corporate and private art collections, commercial art galleries, fine art and antique dealers, auction houses, museums and large international art exhibitions.
He sold his firm, which had grown to 135 employees, and worked for several years as a consultant before retiring in 1992.
Mr. Block volunteered as president of Tudor Place, a historic museum house in Georgetown, and was president and director of the Sconset Trust, a land preservation group on Nantucket, Mass., where he had summer home.
His wife of 54 years, Amie Willard Block, died in 2006.
Survivors include four children, Huntington M. Block of Westport, Conn., Bonnie Block Levison of Greenwich, Conn., William B.W. Block of New York and Amie Block Ratajczak of Brooklyn, N.Y.; a brother, Roger W. Block of Washington; and seven grandchildren.
-- Patricia Sullivan
Hermione Evelyn BoswellPrinting Employee, Homemaker
Hermione Evelyn "Peg" Boswell, 92, a retired U.S. Bureau of Engraving and Printing employee, died of congestive heart failure March 19 at her home in Sterling.
Mrs. Boswell was born in Richmond and came to Washington as a child. She graduated from Dunbar High School and began working for the federal government about 1940. She retired on disability in the late 1950s and became a full-time homemaker.
She enjoyed bowling and sports.
Her husband, Warner W. Boswell, died in 1984. A daughter, Joyce Johnson, died in 1983.
Survivors include five daughters, Faith Van of St. Petersburg, Fla., Judith Arnaud of New Orleans, Betty Frances Boswell and Constance Boswell of Sterling, and Cecile McKoy of Woodbridge; 13 grandchildren; and 16 great-grandchildren.
-- Patricia Sullivan
Maysie Williams FloydOffice Manager
Maysie Williams Floyd, 83, who was office manager at a Northern Virginia distillery, died March 17 of cancer at her home in Sterling.
Mrs. Floyd was born in Cynthiana, Ky., and worked for a publisher in Kentucky and for McCall's Corp., the publisher of McCall's magazine, in Dayton, Ohio, before moving to Northern Virginia in 1968.
She was a bookkeeper at Capper's Nursery in Tysons Corner before working as office manager at the A. Smith Bowman Distillery in Reston for more than 10 years. The distillery produced Virginia Gentleman bourbon whiskey and, for many years, was Virginia's only legal distillery. Mrs. Floyd retired when the distillery moved to Fredericksburg in 1987.
She was a member of St. Matthew's Episcopal Church in Sterling and enjoyed reading, gardening and watching birds and animals.
Her husband of 50 years, Robert Forsythe Floyd, died in 2002.
Survivors include four children, Mary Lynne Hensley of Minneapolis, Suellen Pometto of Boone, Iowa, Robert W. Floyd of Furnace Mountain, Va., and Elaine Wilkinson of Purcellville; a sister; 10 grandchildren; and a great-grandson.
-- Matt Schudel
L. Garry CoitCIA Agent
L. Garry Coit, 81, a former CIA agent, died of pneumonia Feb. 29 at Memorial Hospital in Easton, Md. He lived in Oxford and had dementia.
Mr. Coit worked for the CIA for 26 years, starting as a French translator for Vietnamese trainees in Guam and spending four years at the U.S. Embassy in Paris and four years in London.
He was a native of Duluth, Minn., and moved to the Washington area as a youngster, graduating from Landon School in Bethesda. He attended the Massachusetts Institute of Technology until he joined the Navy during World War II. He served in the United States.
After the war, he transferred from MIT to the University of Maryland, where he graduated. Sailing by freighter to France, he spent a year at the Institut de Politique in Paris.
Aboard the family's 22 1/2 -foot Sea Sprite, accompanied by a Hobie Cat catamaran, he took two of his sons to a North Carolina sailing camp in 1976. The family adventure, which included an Albemarle Sound gale, a flipped catamaran and Mr. Coit being tossed overboard, cemented his interest in ocean sailing. After retiring in 1978, he bought a 37-foot cruiser sailboat and for the next seven years sailed to the Bahamas, the Caribbean, New England, the Azores, Europe, the Mediterranean and the Adriatic Sea.
He moved from Bethesda to Talbot County, Md., in 1987 but did not sit still. Driving a 1978 Volkswagen camper, the family toured the United States and Canada's maritime provinces, until Mr. Coit became ill.
His marriage to Phyllis Baldwin Coit ended in divorce.
Survivors include his wife of 35 years, Barbara Matzen Coit of Oxford; five children from his first marriage, Elizabeth Baldwin Coit of Laurel, Zachary Garrison Coit of Charlottesville, Seth W. Coit of Reston, Nathan Greene Coit of Colorado Springs and Roger Baldwin Coit of Salida, Colo.; two sisters; and eight grandchildren.
-- Patricia Sullivan
George William JonesEngineer, Tax Preparer
George William Jones Sr., 83, who worked for 37 years as a mechanical engineer with the Naval Air Systems Command in Crystal City, died of cardiac arrest March 17 at Woodbine Rehabilitation and Healthcare Center in Alexandria. He lived in Suitland for 51 years.
After retiring from the naval command in 1986, he joined H&R Block as a tax preparer and manager in offices in Prince George's County. He prepared taxes for a select few clients until last year.
Mr. Jones also drove a taxi for 30 years in Maryland and the District. He enjoyed talking to the people he met in his cab and sharing opinions on current events.
Mr. Jones was a Georgia native who grew up in Savannah, Ga. He attended Tuskegee Institute for a year before being drafted into the military. As a Marine, he served on Guam during World War II.
After his discharge, he continued his education at Howard University and graduated as a mechanical engineer.
In his early years, he attended St. Paul Church of God in Christ in the District with his wife. He helped deliver dinners and made donations to the church.
He was a longtime member of St. Bernardine of Siena Catholic Church in Suitland, where he served on the finance committee and as a Eucharist lay leader.
Mr. Jones, a sports enthusiast, was a Washington Redskins fan. He enjoyed reading and keeping up with current events. He regularly read The Washington Post, the Wall Street Journal and Time magazine and would clip and save articles he could not read right away. He also researched and studied stories in the Bible's Old Testament.
Survivors include his wife of 58 years, Estella C. Jones of Suitland; two sons, Zemira Jones of Leesburg and George W. Jones Jr. of Alexandria; and three grandchildren.
-- Yvonne Shinhoster Lamb
Eugene SchonbergerReal Estate Lawyer
Eugene Schonberger, 82, who practiced law in Alexandria for more than 50 years, died March 5 at the Arden Courts of Annandale assisted living facility. He had Alzheimer's disease and prostate cancer.
Mr. Schonberger was born in what was then the small village of Linci, Czechoslovakia. It is now in modern-day Ukraine. He came to the United States in 1934, when he was 8, and moved with his family to southwestern Pennsylvania.
He came to Alexandria in his teens and graduated from George Washington High School. He joined the Navy while still a high school student, then returned to Alexandria to complete his high school education.
He received a two-year associate's degree from George Washington University in 1948 and entered GWU's law school, from which he graduated in 1950.
He then began work as a real estate lawyer and spent his career with the same firm, now called Fagelson, Schonberger, Payne & Deichmeister. He retired in 2003.
Mr. Schonberger was a member of Agudas Achim Congregation and later of Beth El Hebrew Congregation, both in Alexandria. He was also a member of the Sertoma Club and the Masons.
He enjoyed golf and duckpin bowling.
Survivors include his wife of 56 years, Frances Schonberger of Alexandria; three children, Lawrence Schonberger of Leesburg, James Schonberger of Alexandria and Susan Aitcheson of Purcellville; and seven grandchildren.
-- Matt Schudel
Katharine Cram WorthingtonSystems Analyst
Katharine Cram Worthington, 60, a hospital information systems analyst and project manager, died of lung cancer March 17 at her home on Gibson Island.
Mrs. Worthington worked during the 1970s and 1980s at New England Medical Center, Georgetown University Hospital and Sibley Memorial Hospital. Most recently, she worked at Baltimore Washington Medical Center.
The native Washingtonian grew up in Virginia and Ohio and returned to the Washington area in adulthood.
She was a member of the Army Navy Country Club and the Gibson Island Club. She enjoyed tennis throughout her life.
Survivors include a brother, Joseph Muse Worthington of Alexandria.
-- Patricia Sullivan