Monday, June 9, 2008
Margaret Ann SzymczakBudget Analyst, Library Assistant
Margaret Ann Szymczak, 71, a former budget analyst who worked in Northern Virginia libraries in recent years, died May 30 of lymphoma at Georgetown University Hospital. She lived in Alexandria.
Mrs. Szymczak, who went by Peggy, was born in Scranton, Pa., and had lived in the Washington area for 48 years. She was a graduate of Northern Virginia Community College and worked as a budget analyst for the U.S. Naval Research Laboratory from 1973 to 1982. While there, she served on the board of trustees of the Naval Research Lab Federal Credit Union for three years.
She worked for the Kelly Services temporary-staffing agency for nine years before becoming a librarian with SoftCom Engineering Corp. in Adelphi, where she created an online catalogue of 5,000 documents.
She later became a page at the Kingstowne Library in Alexandria. For the past two years, she was an administrative assistant at the Pohick Regional Library in Burke.
Mrs. Szymczak was a member of All Saints Episcopal Church-Sharon Chapel in Franconia, where she served on the altar guild and was a member of the vestry.
She enjoyed needlecrafts and knitted hats and scarves for mariners as part of the Christmas at Sea program of the Seamen's Church Institute.
Mrs. Szymczak enjoyed painting, and during the 1970s she often sold her work at local art shows. She also visited many lighthouses on the East Coast and was a member of the U.S. Lighthouse Society.
She enjoyed traveling and visited Wales and Canada many times. In 2005, she took a month-long tour of Italy with her daughter. She also took annual bird-watching trips to the Blackwater National Wildlife Refuge on Maryland's Eastern Shore.
Survivors include her husband of 48 years, Chet Szymczak of Alexandria; three children, Mark Szymczak of McLean, Karen Szymczak of Alexandria and John Szymczak of Fort Belvoir; and four grandchildren.
-- Matt Schudel
Ralph WhiteberghAir Force Intelligence Officer
Ralph Whitebergh, 86, a former U.S. Air Force chief warrant officer, died of vascular dementia May 20 at Sunrise of Reston, where he lived.
Mr. Whitebergh organized the service's Human Intelligence Reserve Program, which eventually enrolled 1,000 to 1,500 reservists.
After he retired from the Air Force in 1967, he worked 25 years as a civilian in the same job at Fort Belvoir. He retired a second time in 1992.
He was a native of Cologne, Germany, and his family was separated when they fled the Nazis. His father, an international lawyer, and younger brother were arrested in 1942 and died at the Auschwitz concentration camp. Mr. Whitebergh, his mother and younger sister escaped to the coast of Belgium, where a British troop ship took them to England.
Mr. Whitebergh was so impressed by the British intelligence agents who interrogated him upon arrival that he decided to work in military intelligence, he later told friends. He enlisted in the U.S. Army and fought in the Battle of the Bulge. After the war ended, he became a U.S. citizen and brought his mother and sister to the United States with him.
He switched from the Army to the Air Force and continued to work in intelligence until his retirement. He was a member of the Fort Belvoir Jewish congregation since 1959.
His wife of 43 years, Winifred Owens, died in 1999.
He leaves no immediate survivors.
-- Patricia Sullivan