The Banner and The Sun both ran warm obituaries for Dr. Jeremy Walston, 64, a Bolton Hill resident and geriatrician who died of cancer during the summer. He was a world-renowned physician who ran the Human Aging Project at Hopkins Bayview Medical Center and worked tirelessly to improve the quality of life for people as they age and better manage the progression of disease in the elderly.
He also was the proud father of two sons with his husband and partner of 43 years, George Lavdas. Both men have been active in greening and supporting the neighborhood.
George Lavdas:
Jeremy and I arrived in Bolton Hill in May 1988. Jeremy scouted out the neighborhood when we were looking for a place after Jeremy’s decision to do his medical internship at what was then called Francis Scott Key Hospital (now the Bayview Medical Center). He told me that he found the right neighborhood for us, “Bolton Hill.” The location was important as I had accepted a job in D.C. to work at a law firm, and it was near Penn Station.
We immediately made friends in the neighborhood…and quickly found a new family. As one of our neighbors said to us, “Why would you ever leave Bolton Hill?” Our special friends were on W. Lafayette Avenue, where we bought our first home in 1988 (126), and on the 1400 block of John Street. Lafayette was occupied by “characters” to say the least, stemming from an earlier version of Baltimore. Suffice to say, the attached picture in front of Corpus Christi, where we (and select non-Bolton Hillers), got dressed up in drag as characters from 1970s TV shows, might give you a sense of why we found Bolton Hill so special. Jeremy and I also both loved the many trees, and I worked with Ken Williams to become his successor as a Bolton hill tree steward.
In 2002, we had our first son, Oliver and then, in 2004, Alex arrived. They were raised in Bolton Hill in the “new” house on Park Avenue, which we restored to a single family home. We were joined in that period by other Bolton Hill parents who contributed to a baby boom, changing the character of the neighborhood, and, in particular, the pool. This group, too, became a special part of our Bolton Hill family. The neighborhood is more bourgeois than in 1988, but it became and remains home and family.
Download PDF