Letitia Jane Bryce

Letty was born on June 22, 1940, in Fort Wayne, Indiana. She was preceded in death by her parents George Miller Bryce and Margaret Lepper Bryce and by her brother James Walter Bryce. She is survived by her brother George and his wife Linda, her brother Jerry and his wife Cindy, her sister-in-law Carol Bryce, and her nine nieces and nephews and their families.

In Fort Wayne Letty went to Hamilton and Lincoln Schools and graduated from North Side High School. She earned degrees at Denison University and Stanford University and did further graduate work at Johns Hopkins University. She had a long career in education, first in student affairs at Cornell University and Quinnipiac College, and next in the Panama Canal Zone. Following that, for almost thirty years, she was a psychologist and counselor in Prince George’s County, Maryland, mostly at Greenbelt Elementary School, where she won outstanding educator awards. Letty loved and worked effectively with Greenbelt’s diverse student body.

Letty lived most of her adult life in Severna Park, Maryland. She loved her house on Sullivan’s Cove on the Severn River. Letty was an excellent photographer and took scores of beautiful photos of Sullivan’s Cove, at dawn, at sunset, and in the winter. She was an excellent host and cook. Many friends enjoyed her delicious crab cake sandwiches and crabs she caught off the end of her dock. She loved making Christmas cookies (and yes, fruitcakes, suffused with bourbon). She loved taking friends on trips in her boats, both of which she christened FoxSea Lady. One time with two of her best pals she was standing at the helm, cruising on the Bay at high speed, when a duck flew into her path and hit her in the head. Concussed but undaunted, she recovered.

Like her father, Letty had perfect pitch. She could sing, and she played the piano by ear. She would often roll through a medley of show tunes on her piano (her favorite: The Sound of Music), and finish up with a rousing version of “Oh, Canada!”.

Letty loved to travel. As a young woman, she traveled extensively in Europe. After college and university, she adventured her way down to Panama on the Pan American Highway and lived there for two years. In 2000 she had a memorable trip to Scotland with family. In her later years, she enjoyed annual July trips to Georgian Bay to visit Canadian cousins, and in 2018 and 2019, excursions to California and Wyoming. She made more than a few memorable road trips in her Acuras, first Greenie, then Bluie. Green was her favorite color.

Letty faced struggles in her life. For over thirty years she survived breast cancer. In September 2003, Hurricane Isabel flooded her house on the Severn River, four feet up and into her living room. She spent several hard years rebuilding her house and finished the job. In her final years, she was burdened with dementia. She twice broke her hip and experienced four bouts of covid. But she endured. She spent her final years in retirement communities in Silver Spring, Maryland, and Ashland, Virginia.

Letty loved her family, especially her nieces and nephews. She loved her friends at North Side High School and at Denison, and her friends and colleagues at Greenbelt Elementary, and her friends and neighbors in Severna Park. She leaves behind many of those friends, and her treasured American and Canadian cousins and their progeny.

Her family thanks Letty’s caregivers for their kind, thoughtful care, especially Samantha McDaniel at Riderwood and Sarah Blackard at Hanover Manor. Please send memorials to the Alzheimer’s Association or the charity of your choice. There will be a private remembrance for family later on.