Doris Czarra

Doris Anne  Catherine Lane Czarra, 89, of Boonsboro, Maryland and formerly of Rohrersville Maryland, Potomac, Maryland, and Bethesda, Maryland departed this life peacefully on Tuesday, June 4, 2013 at the Fahrney-Keedy Memorial Home also located in Boonsboro.  She was surrounded by her loving family and friends.

Born on August 8, 1923 in Derby, Connecticut, she was the daughter of the late Maurice P. Lane and Susan K. (nee, Kosh) Lane.  She was referred to fondly as "Dorie" by most everyone she touched.  The youngest of four children, Dorie enjoyed growing up in the small Connecticut manufacturing town of Ansonia with her sisters Margaret (Peg), Reita, and her brother Maurice Vincent.  As a child, Dorie enjoyed ice skating, skiing, and collecting wildflowers, blueberries, and mushrooms.  She also loved to sing and dance.  Along with her sister Reita, Dorie would often perform with Billy Purcella's dance revue.

Dorie attended the Assumption School in Ansonia, Connecticut where she completed her parochial grammar education in 1938.  Throughout her life, Dorie referred fondly to the Catholic sisters that helped to develop her unique set of values and fiery spirit.  Dorie matriculated to Ansonia High School in Ansonia Connecticut, where she graduated in 1942.  Following high school, Dorie attended Larson Junior College in New Haven, Connecticut where she successfully completed the advanced secretarial course curriculum in 1943.

After completing her formal education, Dorie was off to set the world on fire!  She worked for Chance Vought Aircraft in Stratford, Connecticut in the waning years of World War II, helping in her own way to restore freedom and sensibility to the world.  In addition to her work as a secretary and as a laboratory technician in the Structural Department, Dorie also performed as a singer and dancer in the Chance Vought Varieties club.  After the war, Dorie continued her career at Yale University and the Yale Law School Library.  While working at Yale, Dorie became a member of the Yale Dramatic Club where she continued to act, dance, and sing in many of the club's performances in surrounding New England.

Dorie loved to travel.  After high school, she traveled with friends through New England on a youth hostel trip and would frequently go skiing in Vermont and Massachusetts.  Her most memorable trip was in 1947 when Dorie and her mother Susan traveled from Connecticut by bus to Mexico via Louisiana and Texas.

While working at the Yale Law School Library, Dorie met  Edgar F. Czarra, Jr., a young and aspiring law student from Hyattsville, Maryland.  The attraction was instant yet lasting.  Upon Edgar's graduation from the Yale Law School, the couple were wed at the Assumption Church in Ansonia, Connecticut on June 14, 1952.

Dorie settled with her husband Edgar in the Washington, D.C. area where he began to practice law and she continued with her career at the National Confectioners' Association.  In 1953 Dorie and Edgar started a family with the arrival of their first child.  As they continued to expand their family, Dorie made the decision to devote her full time and attention to raising four children.  Her family became her life!  Dorie was actively involved in her children's school PTA's and was chairperson of the Foreign Language in Elementary School (FLES) program at Radnor Elementary School in Bethesda, Maryland.  Over many years of caring and nurturing, Dorie became an inspiration to her children, her grandchildren and all that were fortunate to know this remarkable woman.

Dorie, along with her husband Edgar and their four children established Little Antietam Farm in Rohrersville, MD in the late 1960's.  What started as a country retreat from the hustle and bustle of city life, turned into a family agri-business producing cattle, corn, and hay.  But the farm brought out the "country girl" in Dorie.  She always encouraged her children and grandchildren to be involved with the countryside, each in their own way.  As she often did in life, Dorie provided the enthusiasm, spirit and moral compass necessary to build the business and to keep the family working in harmony.

Dorie and her husband Edgar were lifetime members of Congressional Country Club in Bethesda, Maryland.  They enjoyed playing golf on the PGA-sanctioned courses and bowling for many years with the Club's coed duckpin league.

In later years, Dorie enjoyed world travel with her husband Edgar as they explored family roots,  and visited their children and grandchildren in Europe, India, and throughout the United States.

Dorie was predeceased by her husband Edgar F. Czarra, Jr., in 2009.  Edgar was a senior partner at Covington and Burling in Washington, D.C.  She was also predeceased by her sister Reita Reilly of Connecticut and her brother Maurice Vincent Lane of Georgia.

Dorie Czarra is survived by her eldest sister, Margaret (Peg) Butts of Connecticut; daughter Penelope L. Czarra of Boonsboro, MD; son, Edgar F. Czarra III and wife Kelli of Thurmont, MD; son, Jonathan C. Czarra and wife Joan of Centreville, VA; and daughter Melanie Anne Czarra Panek and husband Edward S. Panek, Jr. of London, England.  Dorie is also survived by her six adoring grandchildren; Erin E. Lepère and husband Fabien of Paris, France; Lindsey A. Czarra of Centreville, VA; Edward S. Panek, III and Sarah Lane Panek, of London, England; and Natalie L. Czarra and Caroline T. Czarra of Thurmont, MD.  And finally, Dorie is survived by many grown nieces and nephews for whom she was extremely fond.

Dorie recently became a great-grandmother with the birth of Gabriel William Jean Lepère in April.

The family will receive friends at the Bast-Stauffer Funeral Home in Boonsboro, MD on Sunday, June 9, beginning at 12 noon.  A graveside service will follow at the Boonsboro Cemetery.

Memorial donations may be made to the Fahrney-Keedy Memorial Home, 8507 Mapleville Road, Boonsboro, MD, 21713.