Agnes M. Lafferty, an established train for Brown Memorial Park Avenue Presbyterian Church in its fundamental school tutoring application and a hospital volunteer, died Sept. 4 from a stroke at the University of Maryland St. Joseph Medical Center. She changed into eighty. The former Agnes Mary Buhman, the daughter of Henry Buhman, president, and CEO of Wallace 7 Gale Roofing Co., and his wife, Catherine Buhman, a homemaker, were born in Baltimore and raised on Underwood Road in Guilford. She was a 1957 Notre Dame Preparatory School graduate and earned a bachelor’s diploma in 1961 biology from Trinity College in Washington, D.C.
In 1966, she married Daniel Lafferty, an accountant. Mrs. Lafferty worked as a laboratory technician at what’s now the University of Maryland Medical Center. He died in 2011. From 1967 until stepping down in 2018, Mrs. Lafferty became a volunteer teacher at Brown Memorial Park Avenue Presbyterian Church in its simple faculty tutoring software. It pairs personal volunteers with students from 4 metropolis public standard schools, enhancing their studying and writing talents. A Towson buddy knowledgeable Mrs. Lafferty approximately the schooling program and, after attending an orientation consultation, determined she’d deliver it a try.
“Kids want to study,” Mrs. Lafferty defined during her retirement in an interview with the church publication. “The large component here is to paint one-on-one with a pupil. The classroom teacher has 35 youngsters in the room and may probably address every infant’s studying issues. But one-on-one and with an assist from Martha and Amy [program directors Martha Socolar and Amy Munds], and when you have been doing this for years and years, you figure matters out.”
Ms. Socolar has been with this system for 19 years, and the director is considering 2007. “I’ve regarded Agnes all that point, and he or she tutored right here for fifty-one years,” said Ms. Socolar, a Guilford resident. “She became a fantastic person, kind, patient, and dedicated to the children she tutored. She desired to work with the extra difficult youngsters and might never surrender on any of them.” Mrs. Lafferty became devoted to this system, and Ms. Socolar started operating from Monday through Thursday. Mrs. Lafferty chose to train one scholar on Monday and the other on Wednesday.
“She was constantly considering the kids and cherished this system,” she said. “In the early years, before there were positive requirements for our drivers, Agnes could ship the youngsters in her vehicle.” “The only manner children are going to get a process and be self-enough is if you may examine and apprehend things,” Mrs. Lafferty explained in the interview. “I get lots out of it. I feel desirable that optimistically I can help somebody make development.”
Ms. Socolar lamented that this system would be specific to Mrs. Lafferty’s dying. “The software isn’t going to feel identical without Agnes,” she said. In addition to her paintings at the Bolton Hill church, Mrs. Lafferty, a longtime resident of Towson’s Wiltondale neighborhood, volunteered for many years in the cytology laboratory at the University of Maryland St. Joseph Medical Center. “She also faithfully made casseroles for Our Daily Bread,” stated Lisa Fox, Mrs. Lafferty’s next-door neighbor seeing that 1990.
She and her husband were inveterate world tourists. “They went around the world. They traveled out west as properly to Alaska, Germany, Denmark, Austria, and Norway,” stated a daughter, Kathleen E. Lee of Towson. Susan S. Wierman becomes a Wilton Road neighbor additionally. “She was a kind individual and charming,” Ms. Wierman said. “She and her husband welcomed us with a steamed crab dinner when we moved into the neighborhood in 1981.” Jean Brune changed into any other Wiltondale neighbor whose friendship dates to the Fifties and Notre Dame Prep.
“She cherished giving and website hosting an annual Christmas party for own family and friends among Christmas and New Year’s,” Mrs. Brune said. “She sincerely enjoyed gathering all people collectively.” “Agnes became the exceptional neighbor ever and an excellent lady,” Mrs. Fox said. “When my kids went to high school, she’d babysit one I had at home. She turned into always willing to help others. If I had to borrow an egg or a few sugars, she constantly had it. She was special, and we’re all going to miss her.”
A memorial Mass will be presented at noon Saturday in the Notre Dame Preparatory School chapel, 815 Hampton Lane, Towson. Mrs. Lafferty, a former communicant of St. Pius X Roman Catholic Church in Rodgers Forge, attended offerings within the chapel at the University of Maryland St. Joseph Medical Center. In addition to her daughter, she is survived by a son, Mark K. Lafferty of Sparks; another daughter, Jennifer A. O’Connor of San Clemente, California; and four grandchildren.
