Mary Elizabeth Clawson
November 22, 1922 — May 16, 2009
Mary Elizabeth Clawson, 86, of Catonsville, MD, and formerly of Edgewood, MD, died Saturday, May 16, 2009, at the home of her son in Urbana, MD.
She was the wife of the late Ray T. Clawson, who died in 1998.
Born November 22, 1922 in Trieste, Italy, she was the daughter of the late Baron Guido Goldschmid and the former Marianne von Strasser.
As a child, she lived in Trieste, Italy, with her parents and two brothers. At the beginning of the war, her father who was an outspoken critic of the Nazis, was forced into hiding in Rome, Italy. At great personal risk, Mary courageously smuggled food and medical supplies to her father and others in hiding throughout the war. She met her future husband during the American liberation of Rome and they were married in 1945.
Mary loved children and after raising her own, founded and was the first director of the Edgewood Methodist Church Day Care Center in Edgewood, MD. She enjoyed the arts and was a prolific writer of poetry and short stories.
Mary was fluent in four languages. She was an avid athlete in her youth and especially enjoyed tennis, swimming, horseback riding, skiing and mountain climbing. Later in life she became an accomplished table tennis competitor, winning three gold medals in the Maryland Senior Olympics, two for singles and one for mixed pairs.
Mary is survived by her sons, Ronald E. Clawson and his wife Jeanne Marie McClure of Martinsburg, WV, Thomas G. Clawson and his wife Mona of Urbana, MD, and David A. Clawson and his wife Barbara of Fredericksburg, VA; three grandchildren, Michael A. Clawson, John E. Clawson and Anne Marie McCLure; and by her brother Thomas Goldschmid of Rome, Italy.
Besides her husband and parents, she was preceded in death by her twin brother, Henry Goldschmid.
Visitation: See above information
Services: A memorial service will be held at 11:00 on June 9, 2009, at the Charlestown United Protestant Church, Charlestown Retirement Community, 719 Maiden Choice Lane, Catonsville, MD. Interment will follow on a date to be determined at Arlington National Cemetery.
In lieu of flowers, the family requests that memorial donations be made in the name of Mary E. Clawson to the Parkinson's Disease Foundation, 1359 Broadway, Suite 1509, New York, NY 10018, or http://www.pdf.org/en/fund_memdom