86 - CAPE GAZETTE - Friday, April 11 - Monday, April 14, 2008
Obituaries
Continued from page 85
industry. She was a very loving
mother to her family.
Mrs. Vanca is survived by her
husband of 59 years, George
Vanca; two daughters, Anita
Vanca of Brooklyn, N.Y., and
Gail Rogers of Beverly, Mass;
and two grandchildren, Devin
and Olivia Rogers.
Arrangements and burial will
be private. Memorial contribu-
tions are suggested to Safe Haven
Animal Sanctuary of Sussex
County, P.O. Box 430, Nassau,
DE 19969; or the Historic Lewes
Cat Society, P.O. Box 353,
Lewes, DE 19958.
Arrangements are being han-
dled by Parsell Funeral
Enterprises, Inc., Lewes.
Patricia Dumas Babbie,
former tavern owner
Patricia Dumas Babbie, 75, of
Milton, died Sunday, April 6,
2008, at home withher three sons
by her side.
Born Aug. 4, 1932, in Moores,
N.Y., to the late Joseph and Irene
Kingsbury Dumas Averill, she
was the youngest.
She graduated from Moores
Central School
in 1950. She
attended the
Plattsburgh
Business
College and
worked for
several busi-
nesses in
Plattsburgh,
N.Y. Later in BABBLE
life she moved to Jacksonville,
Fla., where she owned her own
business, the Three T's Tavern,
for a number of years. In the
early 1980s she moved to
Dela,;vare, where she enjoyed a
career in real estate.
In her retirement years, she
found pleasure in caregiving for
the elderly.
Throughout her life she
enjoyed reading, gardening and
working on puzzles.
She most treasured her time
with her sons and her extended
"family.
She is predeceased by her par-
ents; her brother, Lawrence
Dumas; and Joyce Dumas.
She leaves behind her three
beloved sons, Trevis Babbie of
North Pole, Alaska, Terrance
Babbie of Milton, and Timothy
Limberger of Churchville, Md.; a
beloved sister and brother-in-law,
Gertrude and Albert Dean of
Moores; a special aunt,_ Mary
Hogle of Moores; nine nieces,
three nephews, nine cousins and
her most precious gems, her
'seven grandchildren.
A memorial service in her
honor will be held at 10 a.m.,
Saturday, April 12, at Epworth
United Methodist Church, 19285
Holland Glade Road, Rehoboth
Beach, with a reception following
at The Baycenter at Ruddertowne
in Dewey Beach.
In lieu of flowers, the family
requests contributions to be made
in memory of Ms. Patricia Dumas
Babbie to Delaware Hospice, 100
Patriots Way, Milford, DE 19963.
Arrangements handled by Short
Funeral Services, Milton.
Charles F. Kaiser,
Vitro machinist
Charles F. Kaiser, 87, of
Dagsboro, and formerly of
Romney, W.Va., passed away
Sunday, April 6, 2008, at Harrison
House in Georgetown.
Mr. Kaiser was born May 23,
1920, in Cumberland, Md., to the
late Charles and Clara Ash Kaiser.
Mr. Kaiser was a machinist at
Vitro Automation in Silver
Spring, Md., for more than 20
years; prior to that he worked for
Hercules in Pinto, W.Va.
Mr. Kaiser was a member of
Mary Mother of Peace Catholic
Church, Millsboro. He was a
member of the Millsboro Senior
Center and participated in many
bowling leagues back in West
Virginia as well as in Millsboro.
He enjoyed hunting and fishing
and was a good mechanic, and
great carpenter and machinist.
Mr. Kaiser was a U.S. Navy veter-
an of World War II.
He was preceded in death by his
first wife, Wanda Mauk Kaiser, in
May 1986, and his second wife,
Margaret Steele Kaiser, in January
2003.
Mr. Kaiser is survived by a son,
Martin J. Kaiser and his wife
Pamela K. of Gaithersburg, Md.; a
daughter, Jacqueline N. Kaiser of
Beckley, W.Va.; four stepchildren,
Larry Bosworth and his wife
Georgia of Slainesville, W.Va,
James Bosworth and his wife
Joanne of Huntingtown, Md.,
Janet Couvillon and her husband
David of Clarksville and Robert
Pace and his wife Josie of Del
Ray, W.Va.; two sisters, Catherine
McNeel of LaVale, Md., and Jean
Rapson of Bedford, Md.; 17
grandchildren; and eight great-
grandchildren.
Mass of Christian Burial will be
offered at 11 a.m., Friday, April
11, at Mary Mother of Peace
Roman Catholic Church, Route
24, Oak Orchard, near Millsboro.
A viewing will be held from 9 to
10 a.m., at the Watson Funeral
Home, 211 S. Washington St.,
Millsboro.
Father Daniel McCloskey will
officiate. Interment with honors
will be at the Delaware Veterans
Memorial Cemetery, Patriots
Way, Millsboro.
The family suggests contribu-.
tions to the American Cancer
Socie.ty, 1138 Parsons Rd,
Salisbury, MD 21801.
Michael Joseph English,
hospital tmstrator
Michael Joseph English, 60,
legal and administrative leader at
St. Elizabeth's Hospital and
visionary, manager at the
Substance Abuse and Mental
Health Services Administration
(SAMHSA), died of cancer
Sunday, April 6, 2008, at his home
in Rehoboth Beach.
Mr. English
was born in
Coventry,
Conn., grew up
in Hawthorne,
N.Y., and was a
graduate of
Georgetown
University and
Georgetown ENGLISH
University
Law Center. In the mid-1970s,
Mr. English began a long and
noteworthy career as both a
lawyer and a hospital administra-
tor at St. Elizabeth's Hospital, the
District of Columbia's large pub-
lic mental health facility. During
his first eight years at the hospital
Mr. English served as a senior
attorney in the hospital's Legal
Adviser's Office. He successfully
represented the hospital in a broad
variety of federal litigation,
including complex medical mal-
practice cases and class actions
brought on behalf of hospital
patients.
Mr. English played a pivotal
role in orchestrating the federal
defense of the landmark Dixon, et
al. v. Williams case, brought in the
1970s to deinstitutionalize the
long-te.rm patient population at St.
Elizabeth's. He was intimately
involved in the development of
plans to implement this 1975 fed-
eral court mandate requiring the
outplacement of patients into
community-based treatment pro-
grams. Mr. English was tapped to
become the hospital's chief
administrative officer in 1983. In
that position he had the lead man-
agement responsibility for all the
hospital's financial and personnel
functions, as well as the exten-
sive, 300-acre property and
numerous buildings and facilities
at the hospital's Southeast D.C.
campus.
He was also involved in train-
ing at the local and national level
on issues relating to the interface
of law and psychiatry. He fre-
quently made educational presen-
tations to psychiatrists and other
mental health professionals. He
co-authored the medical school
text "Law and Ethics, A Guide for
the Health Professional," ed. N.
Sidley, Human Sdences Press,
1985.
In 1987, when control of St.
Elizabeth's Hospital was trans-
ferred by federal legislation from
the federal Department of Health
and Human Services to the
District of Columbia government,
Mr. English continued as the chief
operating officer for the newly
formed Commission on Mental
Health Services, which combined
the previously federal mental
health programs at St. Elizabeth's
with the District of Columbia's
community mental health system.
In the early 1990s Mr. English
returned to federal government
employment in a top management
position with the Department of
Health and Human Services. At
SAMHSA, he was the director for
the Division of Services and
Systems Improvement. Mr.
English served on the mental
health and substance abuse work-
ing group headed by Tipper Gore.
Later on, he designed a grant pro-
gram that brought together the
Justice Department, the
Department of Education, and the
Department of Health and Human
Services to focus on the role of
mental health in addressing
school violence. "It was creative
both in the content and in the
process," said Dr. Bernard Arons,
the former director of the Center
for Mental Health Services at
SAMHSA. "He's the one person I
know who can take a long-term
project, design it from beginning
to end and gee it through. Not
many people can do that. He did it
in one of the best ways that has
been done in the nation." Many
of those who worked with him
believe that the $1.4 billion feder-
al investment in preventing school
violence is Mr. English's most
important legacy.
Mr. English was a true
Renaissance man: avid reader,
word traveler, craftsman, photog-
rapher, philatelist, hiker, golfer,
cook, equestrian in his younger
years, and renovator of homes. He
enthusiastically shared his knowl-
edge and experiences with every-
one. Those experiences are partic-
ularly reflected in the many
exquisite photographs he took,
printed and framed. He collected
and loved books and music.
He and his wife-Maureen
retired in 2003 with a lifetime of
new adventures on their agenda.
Above all, Mr. English loved
his family. In September of this
past year, he wrote to a friend, "I
can't describe how good it feels to
have a new goal - to hold Jenny's
new baby, due in early April!" His
wish came true when on March
28, his daughter, Jenny, placed her
three-day=old baby, Seamus
Michael, in her father's arms.
Survivors include his wife of 34
years, Maureen Perrotti English of
Rehoboth Beach; daughter,
Jennifer English Lynch; son-in-
law, Scan Lynch; and grandchil-
dren Caeley English Lynch and
Seamus Michael Lynch of
Continued on page 87
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