When Friends at Homewood Friends Meeting die, we remember them in many ways, including with a memorial minute brought heartfully before our Meeting for Worship with Concern for Business. Below are recently approved memorial minutes, along with some additional information about these beloved members of our community.
David Greene
12-01-1934 to 01-11-2024
[Homewood Minute]
[obituary excerpt with link]
Kathy Munnell
04-26-1944 to 12-28-2023
Kathryn Munnell was born on April 26, 1944 to Edith Abraham Munnell and Clyde Munnell in McKeesport, Pennsylvania. She grew up there near both sets of grandparents and many aunts, uncles and cousins, relationships she valued throughout her life. She attended public schools in McKeesport and then William and Mary College in Virginia, where she majored in English.
For the next several decades, Kathy held many jobs, both in the United States and abroad. In the United States, she was a dedicated teacher. Teaching provided her first introduction to Baltimore in 1970–two years at Frederick Douglass High School, four years at Patterson High School, and a stint at Morgan State University. She also taught at Jackson Community College in Michigan, and for 13 years in the Brooklyn, NY, public schools. Kathy had other jobs as well: In 1987, she became director of international operations for Habitat for Humanity International and in 1990 executive director of Alternatives Publishing House, an ecumenical publishing house and resource center.
But it was working abroad that gave Kathy particular joy. Immediately after graduating in 1966, Kathy joined the Peace Corps and served in St. Kitts, the West Indies, where she worked in establishing cooperatives and in youth development. Woven throughout her life were other times abroad: teaching at Lirhembe Girls Secondary School in Kakamega County, Kenya; working at the Phanat Nihkom Refugee Camp in Thailand; working for World Vision in the northern section of Vietnam; developing and teaching an English as a Second Language curriculum in South Korea; and serving as the area-project manager for World Vision Australia/New Zealand in the island nation of Vanuatu.
Infusing all of these experiences were Kathy’s radiance and love as well as her sense of justice. Always, she wanted people who were overlooked socially or personally to get a fairer shake. Her generosity—both material and emotional–characterized Kathy’s friendships in all phases of her life. And indeed, everywhere Kathy went, she made friends. Kathy often found ways to befriend students as well as teach them, sometimes going to significant lengths to help them through difficult times. She particularly loved working with her Vietnamese colleagues, joyfully encouraging their growth in skills and experience.
As a member of Homewood Friends Meeting, a connection initiated in 1970 and reignited in 2014 when Kathy made Baltimore her final home, Kathy’s calling for justice led her to become a dedicated court watcher in a project directed at reforming the bail system. Kathy also served on the Ministry and Counsel Committee, continuing with her contributions, despite the rigors of her treatment for ovarian cancer, almost until her death. She laughed about her fondness for greeting cards, but took seriously the ministry she carried out through them, encouraging many in the meeting—and beyond, in her wide circle of friends–with her messages.
It was a profound experience to be with Kathy as she grappled with the effects of her disease and faced death. She was open about her condition but never let her own needs overwhelm her interest in the joys and sorrows of others or dampen her willingness to help them as she could. She managed a trip to New York by bus for important good-byes with friends and godchildren even as her ability to eat was waning. She returned by train with her close friend Marvin Forman a day before she died.
Kathy is survived by her sister Jennifer Rappaport of Los Angeles and her cousin Jenn Schreier of Tulsa, Okla. (with whose family she spent decades of Thanksgivings as well as memorable lake vacations, including one where the Oklahoma lake patrol demanded that Kathy cease swimming in the nude). She leaves many other valued relatives and friends, here and abroad.
Nancy Clark
May 16, 1932 – January 21, 2023
A Quaker Life of Service:
Nancy Gideon Clark was born in South Jersey. She graduated from Moorestown Friends School, earned a bachelor’s degree from Wilmington College in Ohio, and earned a Master’s degree in Social Work from Loyola College in Baltimore, MD. Nancy met the love of her life, Herb, and they were married at Westfield Friends Meeting in New Jersey in 1960. They moved to Baltimore and raised four children—Cathy, Tom, Rebecca, and Paul.
Nancy had a deep spiritual life which was expressed by active membership at Stony Run Friends Meeting and Homewood Friends Meeting, where she served on many committees, taught first day school, ministered to the sick, and served as meeting clerk.
Nancy’s commitment to the values of Quakerism led her to work tirelessly for equity, civil rights and women’s rights. Her life of service began in the late 1950’s when she began her career as a community organizer assisting unwed mothers at the Adams Morgan Project in Washington, D.C. Later, while raising her children, she worked with unwed mothers in the Baltimore City Public School system. Changing careers in 1982, she worked as a case manager and project director for My Sister’s Place and the Park Avenue Lodge for homeless and chronically mentally ill women. Later, after retirement, she volunteered at GEDCO/CARES, Viva House, and the House of Ruth. As part of her Quaker witness, Nancy served on the board of Marian House in the late ‘70’s and the Women’s Housing Coalition in the ‘80’s.
Faith and love defined Nancy’s life. She found spiritual inspiration in nature, which she enjoyed at the Clark’s summer home in Celo, North Carolina. Nancy lived by the Kahlil Gibran quote, “Work is love made visible,” and she believed service to be the love of God working through us. She was a glorious model for all of us.
Homewood Friends Meeting 
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