Mary Lawrence-Forkel

Mary Lawrence Forkel was born in 1921 near Oella in Baltimore County, Maryland, and moved to Catonsville in 1934 with her parents, Eva May (Bazzell) and Harvey Hershey Riddle, and her sister, Helen. She graduated in 1939 from Catonsville High School, where she sang in the choir conducted by her future husband, Thomas Lawrence. She became a Registered Nurse, graduating with honors from the nursing school at the Hospital for the Women of Maryland and completing post graduate work at Columbia University and Johns Hopkins University. She worked at Women’s Hospital as a nursing supervisor and clinical instructor. In 1946, she married Thomas Lawrence. After the birth of her first child in 1947 she was a volunteer nurse and head of the Civil Defense Medical Unit in Catonsville.

A 60 year member of the choir at Catonsville Presbyterian Church, Mary served on three pastoral search committees and the Synod. She was Superintendent of the Sunday school, Chairman of the Heritage Committee, and founder and President of the Catonsville Presbyterian Church Concert Series, for which she organized the restoration of a grand piano dedicated to the memory of Thomas Lawrence and Doris Ehlers.

An avid supporter of live music in the community, Mary was co-founder of the Catonsville Concert Association, a member of the Baltimore Symphony Board of Directors and the Baltimore Symphony Associates, and a co-founder of the Baltimore Symphony series in Catonsville. Her non-musical titles included President of the Catonsville High School PTA.

Widowed in 1996, she married Frederick Forkel in 2004 and lived at Charlestown, where she was beloved by everyone. She is survived by her children, Sue Sidoti and Charles Lawrence, their spouses Ray Sidoti and Barbara Lawrence, and two granddaughters, Michelle and Diana Lawrence.

Family will receive friends at Sterling Ashton Schwab Witzke Funeral Home of Catonsville, Inc., 1630 Edmondson Ave., Catonsville, MD 21228 on Wednesday from 3 to 5 and 7 to 9 pm.

There will be a Service of Witness to the Resurrection on Thursday, 27 October at 7 PM at Catonsville Presbyterian Church, 1400 Frederick Road, Catonsville, MD 21228 (410 747 6180). In lieu of flowers, gifts may be made to the Catonsville Presbyterian Church Concert Series or the Organ Fund at the Catonsville Presbyterian Church.