New Members Join The Board of Directors
New board members from left are; Gordon Katz, Hunter "Bunk" Mann, Amanda Cropper, Margaret Steimer, Louis S. Parsons III and Melanie Ayres Merryweather
MEET THE NEW MEMBERS OF THE MUSEUM BOARD
Six new members were introduced at the most recent meeting of the Ocean City Life-Saving Station Museum Society?s Board of Directors held on October 20. Here is what each of them shared about their backgrounds, their interests and their support for the continuing mission of the Society.
AMANDA CROPPER Amanda lives near Berlin, Maryland. For thirty years she co-owned and ran a paint business in the Midway Shopping Center on 8th Street in Ocean City. After she retired from the paint business, Amanda opened a shop in Berlin specializing in primitive furniture and architectural pieces found in barns and out buildings, as well as interior decorating. In her spare time she enjoys cooking and entertaining, collecting antiques, reading and ?walking my beauty princess dog, Stella Mae Marie (Stella to her friends)?. Amanda was a member of the original Board when the Museum was first established, and was delighted to be asked to serve once again. She particularly enjoys the personal stories of Ocean City?s early pioneers, ?the movers and shakers and builders of the town? along with ?the characters that we had. According to tales from my parents and others, we had no shortage of them.?
GORDON KATZ Gordon lives in Ellicott City, Maryland with his wife Cindy, where he works in the Finance Department of a large national health care company. He has written several articles on the history of Ocean City which appear on the Museum?s website and has published other Maryland historical pieces in various specialty journals. When he?s not working or engaged in one research project or another, Gordon enjoys collecting postcards and Maryland postal history, playing tennis, cooking and getting to the beach as often as possible. He credits his interest in the history of Ocean City to former Museum curator Sue Hurley, who he says has inspired and encouraged him to delve into the town?s fascinating past. ?I am deeply honored?, he adds ?that I was asked to join the other members of the board and to be able to share their collective enthusiasm for the town, its people and its history.?
HUNTER MANN ?Bunk? Mann lives in Ocean Pines with his wife Shari. He is a partner in Mann & Gray Insurance Associates located in Fruitland, Maryland, with clients all over the Lower Eastern Shore. While in high school and college he spent his summers in Ocean City working as a beach boy for Rhem Lane's Ocean City Beach Service, a busboy at the English Chicken House and as a waiter for three years at the Embers Restaurant. His father was a partner of Dr. Frank Townsend at the 10th Street Medical Center in the 1970s and 1980s, and his mother still lives on Bayshore Drive. Bunk?s hobbies include travel, photography, following University of Maryland football and basketball and collecting fire department memorabilia. He has a strong love of local history and joined the Board to help preserve and expand the Museum?s outstanding collection of photos and artifacts. He is currently working on a book entitled "Vanishing Ocean City" which will include photos and personal memories of many Ocean City locals. Bunk notes that ?I have always loved Ocean City and spent some of the best times of my life there!?
MELANIE AYRES MERRYWEATHER Melanie says ?I was pleased to be asked to serve on the Board of the Ocean City Museum Society.? She is a native of Worcester County and has lived in Dorchester County for the past forty years with her husband, E. Thomas Merryweather, Esq. A graduate of St. Mary's Junior College and the University of Maryland, Melanie feels fortunate to have been able to devote a great deal of her life to non-profit work. Her community service includes roles as the current president of the Grand National Waterfowl Association in Cambridge, state registrar of National Society Colonial Dames of America in Maryland and treasurer of the Eastern Shore Committee. She is also chapter librarian for General Levin Winder Chapter DAR, past Chair of the Board of Trustees of the Dorchester County Historical Society, chairman of the committee to create a life size sculpture of a Great Blue Heron known as "the Patient Fisher" at Long Wharf Park, membership chair for the Friends of the Dorchester County Library and the compiler of several Worcester and Dorchester County family genealogy reference books. In addition, Melanie is currently a member of the Standing Committee of the Episcopal Diocese of Easton in Maryland and former member of the Diocesan Council, a director of the Old Trinity Church Association and the compiler of graveyard record books for four Episcopal Churches.
LOUIS S. PARSONS III Lou is a resident of West Ocean City. He was born and raised in Ocean City, attending local schools there including the old high school that is now City Hall, and from where both of his parents also graduated. He took an early retirement from CSX in Baltimore a number of years ago and returned to the town where he had grown up. Lou?s mother was born on the island and his paternal grandmother had a summer home in Ocean City at the turn of the 20th century. His grandfather was a surgeon as well as an avid sports fisherman in the 1930s and 1940s until his early death in the 1950s, and his father was a founder of the Ocean City Marlin Club and its second president. Lou is a member of the Atlantic United Methodist Church, Worcester County Humane Society and the Dunes Club of Maryland. His hobbies include gardening and photography. When asked about accepting a position on the Museum?s Board, he said ?I'm familiar with the town and the local families, so the Museum holds a personal interest for me.?
MARGARET STEIMER Maggie was born in Ocean City and has lived here all her life. Now retired, for the past twenty years she had owned beauty salons named, appropriately, ?Maggie?s?. Her earlier hometown business career included ownership of several gift shops and rental businesses, such as the Gordy Hall Apartments on 45th Street and Berkeley Hall on 5th Street, which was a rooming house for young ladies working in Ocean City during the summer season. Her current pursuits include canvas paintings of local birds and other scenes. She was honored to be asked to serve on the Board of the Museum Society, adding that ?I am interested in all areas of Ocean City history. As a member of the Showell family, our history also goes back to the beginning of Ocean City.?
Six new members were introduced at the most recent meeting of the Ocean City Life-Saving Station Museum Society?s Board of Directors held on October 20. Here is what each of them shared about their backgrounds, their interests and their support for the continuing mission of the Society.
AMANDA CROPPER Amanda lives near Berlin, Maryland. For thirty years she co-owned and ran a paint business in the Midway Shopping Center on 8th Street in Ocean City. After she retired from the paint business, Amanda opened a shop in Berlin specializing in primitive furniture and architectural pieces found in barns and out buildings, as well as interior decorating. In her spare time she enjoys cooking and entertaining, collecting antiques, reading and ?walking my beauty princess dog, Stella Mae Marie (Stella to her friends)?. Amanda was a member of the original Board when the Museum was first established, and was delighted to be asked to serve once again. She particularly enjoys the personal stories of Ocean City?s early pioneers, ?the movers and shakers and builders of the town? along with ?the characters that we had. According to tales from my parents and others, we had no shortage of them.?
GORDON KATZ Gordon lives in Ellicott City, Maryland with his wife Cindy, where he works in the Finance Department of a large national health care company. He has written several articles on the history of Ocean City which appear on the Museum?s website and has published other Maryland historical pieces in various specialty journals. When he?s not working or engaged in one research project or another, Gordon enjoys collecting postcards and Maryland postal history, playing tennis, cooking and getting to the beach as often as possible. He credits his interest in the history of Ocean City to former Museum curator Sue Hurley, who he says has inspired and encouraged him to delve into the town?s fascinating past. ?I am deeply honored?, he adds ?that I was asked to join the other members of the board and to be able to share their collective enthusiasm for the town, its people and its history.?
HUNTER MANN ?Bunk? Mann lives in Ocean Pines with his wife Shari. He is a partner in Mann & Gray Insurance Associates located in Fruitland, Maryland, with clients all over the Lower Eastern Shore. While in high school and college he spent his summers in Ocean City working as a beach boy for Rhem Lane's Ocean City Beach Service, a busboy at the English Chicken House and as a waiter for three years at the Embers Restaurant. His father was a partner of Dr. Frank Townsend at the 10th Street Medical Center in the 1970s and 1980s, and his mother still lives on Bayshore Drive. Bunk?s hobbies include travel, photography, following University of Maryland football and basketball and collecting fire department memorabilia. He has a strong love of local history and joined the Board to help preserve and expand the Museum?s outstanding collection of photos and artifacts. He is currently working on a book entitled "Vanishing Ocean City" which will include photos and personal memories of many Ocean City locals. Bunk notes that ?I have always loved Ocean City and spent some of the best times of my life there!?
MELANIE AYRES MERRYWEATHER Melanie says ?I was pleased to be asked to serve on the Board of the Ocean City Museum Society.? She is a native of Worcester County and has lived in Dorchester County for the past forty years with her husband, E. Thomas Merryweather, Esq. A graduate of St. Mary's Junior College and the University of Maryland, Melanie feels fortunate to have been able to devote a great deal of her life to non-profit work. Her community service includes roles as the current president of the Grand National Waterfowl Association in Cambridge, state registrar of National Society Colonial Dames of America in Maryland and treasurer of the Eastern Shore Committee. She is also chapter librarian for General Levin Winder Chapter DAR, past Chair of the Board of Trustees of the Dorchester County Historical Society, chairman of the committee to create a life size sculpture of a Great Blue Heron known as "the Patient Fisher" at Long Wharf Park, membership chair for the Friends of the Dorchester County Library and the compiler of several Worcester and Dorchester County family genealogy reference books. In addition, Melanie is currently a member of the Standing Committee of the Episcopal Diocese of Easton in Maryland and former member of the Diocesan Council, a director of the Old Trinity Church Association and the compiler of graveyard record books for four Episcopal Churches.
LOUIS S. PARSONS III Lou is a resident of West Ocean City. He was born and raised in Ocean City, attending local schools there including the old high school that is now City Hall, and from where both of his parents also graduated. He took an early retirement from CSX in Baltimore a number of years ago and returned to the town where he had grown up. Lou?s mother was born on the island and his paternal grandmother had a summer home in Ocean City at the turn of the 20th century. His grandfather was a surgeon as well as an avid sports fisherman in the 1930s and 1940s until his early death in the 1950s, and his father was a founder of the Ocean City Marlin Club and its second president. Lou is a member of the Atlantic United Methodist Church, Worcester County Humane Society and the Dunes Club of Maryland. His hobbies include gardening and photography. When asked about accepting a position on the Museum?s Board, he said ?I'm familiar with the town and the local families, so the Museum holds a personal interest for me.?
MARGARET STEIMER Maggie was born in Ocean City and has lived here all her life. Now retired, for the past twenty years she had owned beauty salons named, appropriately, ?Maggie?s?. Her earlier hometown business career included ownership of several gift shops and rental businesses, such as the Gordy Hall Apartments on 45th Street and Berkeley Hall on 5th Street, which was a rooming house for young ladies working in Ocean City during the summer season. Her current pursuits include canvas paintings of local birds and other scenes. She was honored to be asked to serve on the Board of the Museum Society, adding that ?I am interested in all areas of Ocean City history. As a member of the Showell family, our history also goes back to the beginning of Ocean City.?
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