Long-time resident of Severna Park, Marie S. Coulter, died peacefully on April 18 at the age of 93 at her son’s home in Vienna, Virginia. She had been in a hospice shortly after surgery in Annapolis and rehabilitation in Virginia. Marie was dedicated to her faith, her family, her friends and her flowers. Born at home in the Smoky Mountains of western North Carolina, she lost her father early in her childhood and grew up on a 25-acre farm outside the small town of Cullowhee with her sister and mother, a teacher. She finished second grade from her high school at age 15 and attended college briefly before going to work during World War II. She settled in Baltimore, where she met the young naval officer Frank J. Coulter as a young assistant director of a large theater. A storm of publicity sparked her new career as a Navy wife, accompanying her husband on missions to Hawaii, Annapolis, Norfolk, Washington, DC, Korea, San Diego, and New York State while raising her two children. Marie and her husband Frank moved to Severna Park in 1970, where both were church and community active. She left her job as a Girl Scout trainer to focus on church and garden club activities and the Rotary Club Inner Wheel. She has served her faith and church as a Sunday School teacher, women’s group leader (including president of the Association of Lutheran Church Women in Maryland), member of Bible study groups, volunteer for the homeless and the disadvantaged, and for decades the principal creator of weekly altar flower arrangements. Creation and craftsmanship were at the heart of her work in gardening clubs. She began gardening on the family farm as a child and began arranging flowers through the Naval Academy Garden Club in the early 1950s. Her decades of experience flourished at Severna Park, where she not only won hundreds of blue ribbons and special awards for her arrangements, but also served as President of the Chartwell Garden Club and the Federated Garden Clubs of Maryland, Director for District II and the Central Atlantic Region of State Garden Clubs and as a decade-long board member of National Garden Clubs, Inc. Certified and Accredited Landscape Critic / Advisor and Master of Flower Shows, she shared her knowledge and love of gardening, flowers and creative arrangements with thousands of others in the Over the years, toured the state giving demonstrations and hosting hundreds of workshops in her basement workroom, both for teaching and leading groups making wedding and funeral arrangements for friends. She was an active member of Ikebana International and an avid student of the Sogetsu School of Design. Marie was particularly passionate about daffodils, growing dozens of varieties, and serving as a judge for the American Daffodil Society and Chair of the District II Daffodil Show for 39 years. The Federated Garden Clubs of Maryland presented her with their most prestigious award in honor. Marie and Frank had been married for 62 years when he died in 2011. They were avid fans of Orioles baseball and, in particular, football at the Naval Academy, where Frank was a proud member of the 1939 class. Marie continued his season ticket holder after Frank’s death and had already bought tickets for the upcoming season. She is survived by her sister, Jean Mincey of Cullowhee; Daughter Cynthia Dougherty (Chuck) from Washington, DC; Son Frank Jr. (Liz) from Vienna, Virginia; Grandchildren: Megan Coulter Hoffmann (Bruno), Janey Coulter Keon (Travis), Leslie Dougherty Parker (Matt) and Peter Dougherty; five great-grandchildren (Nico, Luca, Riley, Betsy and Timmy); and several nieces and nephews. Following the current pandemic, a memorial service and a funeral at the Naval Academy will follow. In lieu of flowers, memorial donations can be made to Our Shepherd Lutheran Church, 400 Benfield Road, Severna Park, MD 21146
Published by The Capital Gazette on April 26th, 2020.