A Moment She Treasured

A Moment She Treasured

One of the most poignant remembrances in Southern Maryland is the one for Carol Ann Echols at the cemetery at St. George Catholic Church in Valley Lee. It is an etching of one of the most profound experiences that she and her husband, Garyton, shared several times a year on the Caribbean island of Bonaire. Both were diving enthusiasts, and after a day of exploring the ocean floor, they would sip a cocktail and watch the sun go down.

When the sun hits the horizon, a "green flash" is sometimes visible in a refractive mirage of red and orange turning green. These are crepuscular rays, in which the atmosphere acts as a giant lens. This phenomenon has been captured by the etcher, the colors in perfect harmony with the seascape.

Carol was the first regent of the Port Tobacco branch of the Daughters of the American Revolution and president of the Garden Club of Charles County.

Remembrance of a Farmer's Life

An extraordinary green stone at Charles Memorial Gardens in Leonardtown is that of a longtime local farmer affectionately known as "John Deere Joe," Joseph P. Russell Jr. He was enamored of his tractors and treated them with great care, especially after a day's work in the field, when he would scrub them down.

Taking his fascination a step further, he always dressed in John Deere green, formally and informally, and was a frequent participant, with his machines, in county fairs and parades. After 50 years of raising tobacco, he opted for the state government buyout and switched to other crops. One of his dear friends, state Sen. Roy P. Dyson (D-St. Mary's), sponsored a resolution citing Russell's devotion to the community, which was adopted unanimously.

An Angel's Wings

This stone at Charles Memorial Gardens is an example of sculpture and hand etching. The wings of the angel were sculpted at a granite quarry, and the picture of Christina Marie "Squeeze" Quesenberry was taken from her high school graduation portrait. She died in an accident on a rain-slick road a month before she would have graduated in 2006.

The dove is symbolic of the expression she used about "someday catching a bird in her softball glove." Her nickname derived from the difficulty that some of her peers had pronouncing her last name properly. It was also a reference to her ability as a six-foot basketball player to squeeze through opponents for a layup shot.

Besides being the center of Chopticon High School's basketball team, she played catcher on the softball team. She had been taking nursing courses and received a basketball scholarship to the College of Southern Maryland.

At her funeral, her high school principal presented her mother, Tammy, with Christina's diploma and several achievement awards.

His Loves and Hobbies

Daniel Leo Sebring is remembered at his grave at the St. George Cemetery in a tranquil scene of a house he built with the truck he laboriously restored parked on the front lawn and two deer watching.

He was skilled in carpentry but was happiest when serving as a lieutenant in the 2nd District Volunteer Fire Department and Rescue Squad in Valley Lee. He was given a traditional firefighter's funeral, in which the ladders of two hook-and-ladder trucks are angled at 45 degrees, an American flag suspended in between, with the funeral procession passing underneath.

On Her Motorcycle

On Oct. 1, 1992, an accident occurred at Naval Air Station Patuxent River. Rose Marie Emory was at the wrong place at the wrong time. She was driving a pickup along the base's perimeter when an F/A-18 Hornet jet fighter ran into trouble over the field, and the pilot and radar officer ejected. The plane came down on top of Emory's truck, killing her instantly.