Obituaries: Warnetta Gussie; Joan Doherty Harper; Edmond N. Howar; Polly Krieger

Warnetta Gussie Real Estate Broker

Warnetta Gussie, 88, who ran an Alexandria real estate business for many years, died Aug. 21 at Our Family assisted living facility in Mount Airy. She had a heart attack.

Mrs. Gussie, who lived in the Wellington neighborhood of Fairfax County near Alexandria, became a licensed real estate broker in 1957 and founded Gussie Real Estate a year later. She specialized in commercial real estate early in her career and later focused on residential sales. She retired in 2007.

Warnetta May Hutchinson was born in Uniontown, Pa. Although she was not legally adopted by her mother's second husband, she was known throughout her youth by his last name, Morton. She attended West Virginia University.

Mrs. Gussie lived in Japan, Italy and Cyprus with her husband, an Army officer, and studied ikebana, or the Japanese art of flower arranging, in Tokyo. She wrote a book on the subject and later taught ikebana at flower clubs in the Washington region.

She volunteered with the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation, was president of a cooperative real estate listing service and was a member of several real estate boards. After studying to be a clown in the 1980s, she occasionally performed as one.

Her husband of 36 years, retired Army Col. Michael Gussie, died in 1977.

Survivors include three children, Michele Lendt of Council Bluffs, Iowa, Diane M. Gussie of Fairfax and David V. Gussie of Hatfield, Pa.; a sister, Beverly Haney of Purcellville; six grandchildren; and nine great-grandchildren.

-- Matt Schudel

Joan Doherty Harper Real Estate Agent, Model

Joan Doherty Harper, 72, a longtime real estate agent in Montgomery County who often modeled in advertisements with her twin sister in the 1950s, died Aug. 13 of ovarian cancer at Georgetown Hospital. She lived in Kensington.

Mrs. Harper was born Joan Doherty in Washington and graduated in 1956 from the Marymount School in Arlington County. For several years, she and her sister Jean were featured in advertising campaigns for tourism, chewing gum, and other products and services.