Two community stalwarts, Nancie Verkerke and June Carr, have died

The first issue of the Bolton Hill Bulletin appeared in April 1972, a large tri-fold printed newsletter that would undergo surprisingly few changes over the next decades. Only in 2016 did it surrender to technology and become an online-only publication for what was then the Mt. Royal Improvement Association, now BHCA.

Nancie Verkerke holding her great granddaughter, Josephine, taken on Jan. 8, 2015

Founding editor Nancie Verkerke established the Bulletin as a staunch advocate for urban living and chatty proponent of neighborhood values—a needed tonic for a community that weathered decades of transformation dating back to the post-World War II industrial boom. During Nancie’s long tenure as editor of the Bulletin, her vision of Bolton Hill never wavered: it was an embodiment of the best that Baltimore had to offer.

Nancie Verkerke and another Bolton stalwart, June Carr, died in January. Verkerke spent her later years, after the death of her husband, Hoult Verkerke, at Edenwald, a Towson senior living facility. Their son, J.H. Verkerke, remembered by neighbors as “Rip,” is a law professor at the University of Virginia in Charlottesville.

“She certainly was a huge presence in Bolton Hill who worked tirelessly for the betterment of the neighborhood,” said Connie Lisch. “Many remember her for her very active part in making Bolton Hill what it is today. Also, she got us represented with the Parking Authority. She was the first representative,” said her friend Barbara Coleman White.

June Carr (credit Baltimore Sun)

Nancie Verkerke was born in 1932 in Philadelphia. She attended college at the University of Minnesota and arrived in Bolton Hill in 1962 with her husband, who was an architect and principal of Verkerke, Boyles & Linehan. Nancie worked first as an executive secretary at RTKL Architects and then for decades served as a freelance editor for many clients, including forensic psychiatrist Jonas Rappaport, who examined John Hinkley, Jr., the would-be assassin of President Reagan.

According to her son, she was a renowned hostess who loved to prepare elaborate and festive dinner parties and to entertain friends and neighbors. Nancie also reveled in her role as grandmother to Rip’s three children, and she was able to meet her great-grandchildren, Josephine and Daphne. She died on Jan. 10 at the age of 92.

British-born Lorna E.G. “June” Carr moved to a house on Bolton Street in the mid-1960s with her new husband, the late Lou Carr, and together they became active preservationists, restoring several neighborhood properties. She died on Jan. 15 at the age of 96.

Along with others, she was an advocate for establishing and naming the small park in the 1200 block of Bolton for the two men, both African Americans, who created and maintained it for many years. The city resisted but under pressure from Ms. Carr and others eventually agreed. The Contee – Parago Park, restored by other BHCA members in the last decade, stands as a monument to Edward William Parago and William Gailes Contee, as well as to those who insisted on city recognition for it.

Ms. Carr was an avid gardener and served as president of the Bolton Hill Garden Club.  A story on her departure appeared in The Baltimore Sun.