Marietha Johnette Slade

Marietha J. Slade was born in Pittsylvania County, Virginia on November 2, 1951. Her mother relocated to northwest Washington, D.C. in the late 1950s. It was there that Marietha attended Cook and Truesdell Elementary schools, MacFarland Junior High and Francis L. Cardozo High School. She then emolled in a Job Corps program located in Charleston, West Virginia where she excelled in office and business administration and graduated from the course in 1969.

The oldest of seven children, Marietha helped to care for her younger siblings and maintained the household while her mother worked. As a young teenager, she enjoyed reading the Washington Post newspaper, especially the Sunday edition, while munching on a Pay Day; her most favorite peanut and caramel candy bar.

Marietha loved entertaining friends and sharing fashion trends while hand dancing to Motown music by singers like Aretha Franklin, the tempting Temptations, Smokey Robinson, the Four Tops, and numerous rhythm and blues performers during the early 1960s. The Dixie Cups were three female singers that sang "Chapel of Love". This was a record that she would play repeatedly. She cherished gospel music and listened to Mahalia Jackson's spirituals.

After completing Job Corps training, Marietha was employed by the Washington D.C. Navy Yard and then worked for various organizations in D.C. to include: the American Academy of Child Psychiatry, the Association of American Railroads, and the National Federation of Federal Employees.

Because of her love of business and administration, she was able to obtain employment at temporary secretarial agencies and also became a Real Estate saleswoman for a Bethesda, Maryland realty company at the age of 28. During 40 years of working and always striving to improve her career skills, Marietha attended Strayer Business College. She also became an associate of B.C. Harris Publishing Company of Norfolk, Virginia and the News Journal newspaper of Wilmington, Delaware.

A few of Marietha's treasured hobbies were baking cakes, dressing dolls, and collecting frog ornaments. She loved Rock Creek Park, and traveling to places like New Orleans and Las Vegas, Nevada.

Purple and pink were colors that Marietha liked to wear. "Pink Cadillac" by Aretha Franklin was a song that really caught her attention. Marietha liked to dress up and attend formal Black Tie dinners and events. She engulfed herself in the biographies of rich and famous personalities like Muhammad Ali and Motown record company performers.

Danville Virginia, Martinsville Virginia, Washington D.C., Chesapeake Virginia, Middletown Delaware, New York City, and Randallstown Maryland were all home to Marietha before becoming a Manor Care Towson Rehabilitation facility resident in May of 2016.

Marietha is preceded in death by her mother Carson Ann Slade Mercer, a brother Paul Nathaniel Slade, and sisters Wanda Lyn Mercer Jones and Dinah Carfreda. Mercer. She is survived by two sisters, Patricia Ann Hassell and Robin Mercer-Snead, and youngest sibling Troy Nicholas Mercer and a host of nieces, nephews.

The family will receive friends at Lemmon Funeral Home of Dulaney Valley, Inc. at 10 West Padonia Road, Timonium, MD 21093 on Tuesday, April 2, 2025, from 10:00 am to 12:00 pm at which time a Celebration of Marietha's Life will begin. Interment Services will follow at Dulaney Valley Memorial Gardens at 200 E. Padonia Road, Timonium, MD 21093.