Sharpsburg

Birthdays Wednesday, April 17 - Cody Grim, General Lee Drive, Sharpsburg, turns 23; Adian James Hasting, Funkhouser Road, Clear Spring, turns 7; Sam Miller III, Harpers Ferry Road, Sharpsburg, turns 14. To submit a milestone, mail the information to The Herald-Mail, P.O. Box 439, Hagerstown, MD 21741; fax it to 301-714-0245; or email tonym@herald-mail.com .

1. Reservations due for rock talk Annual meeting of Antietam Historical Society. Steven Hatleberg will give an illustrated presentation on “Copper Mining Around the South Mountain.” Reservation deadline, Tuesday, April 16. Dinner is at 5:30 p.m. Tuesday, April 23. Fountain Head Country Club, 13316 Fountain Head Road, Hagerstown. $35. Meal includes chicken or vegetarian dinner. Call 717-762-2006 or email events@antietamhistory.org . 2. After the battle One-hour walking tour of Sharpsburg with a guide in period costume.

Gary L. Hammond, 72, passed away on Tuesday, April 9, 2013, at his home in Sharpsburg, Md. Born on March 18, 1941, in Sharpsburg, he was the son of the late Samuel R. and Sarah I. (Bear) Hammond. He attended Boonsboro High School. He was retired from Rust-Oleum Corporation in Williamsport, Md. Gary was a member of the Church of the Brethren in Sharpsburg. He was an animal lover, and recently lost his faithful companion Willie. He is survived by two sisters, Linda Knight of Dargan, Md., and Kirby Hendrickson of Mount Wolf, Pa; and one brother, Frank Hammond of Sharpsburg.

A Sharpsburg man planting trees at his Powell Road home Thursday unearthed a live Civil War-era shell that authorities later disposed of by setting it off at a neighboring farm. “When I saw it I knew what it was,” J.D. Taylor Jr. said. “It was the second one I found here. “It was some kind of experience.” Taylor said he at first thought he hit a rock with his steel shovel while digging in his yard about a mile from Antietam National Battlefield sometime between 8:30 to 9 a.m. He pushed the shovel under the object, which was five or six inches deep, and knelt to pry it out. The Maryland State Fire Marshal's office said in a news release that the object was a 3-inch Federal Navy Schenkl that had not been fired and had an intact fusing mechanism.

Robert and Patsy (Warner) Kretzer of Hagerstown celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary with family and friends on Dec. 8, 2012, at the Leitersburg Community Center. The celebration was hosted by the couples four children and their spouses, Bobbi and Ken Wivell of Smithsburg; Tina King of Hagerstown, and her friend, Adam Flood of Waynesboro, Pa.; Eric and Danielle Kretzer of Hagerstown; and Blane and Elizabeth Kretzer of Corbin, Ky. The Kretzers have 11 grandchildren and six great-grandsons.

“I'd like to make a comment about HCC naming the court for Coach Jim Brown. I was fortunate and blessed and privileged to be a player for him in basketball, and he not only showed me the best way to play basketball, but he also taught me things in life that's helped me, at 55 years old. He was a great coach. So I just want to thank The Herald-Mail.” - Greencastle, Pa. “I just wanted to call and thank the lady who saw me accidentally leave my wallet on a bench at the Robinwood medical facility.

William Edgar "Stoney" Jamison Jr., 82, of St. Petersburg, Fla., and formerly of Hagerstown, Md., passed away Monday, April 1, 2013, at Morton Plant Hospital in Clearwater, Fla. Born Nov. 10, 1930, in Antietam Furnace, Md., he was the son of the late William Edgar Jamison Sr. and Mary Amelia Ely Jamison. He was preceded in death by his first wife, Hilda J. Fraley Jamison, in 1999, to whom he was married for 48 years. He was employed by Mack Trucks in Hagerstown, Md., until retiring in 1987.

A Sharpsburg man accused of setting fire to his foreclosed home was acquitted Wednesday in Washington County Circuit Court of arson after a two-day trial in which several witnesses testified they saw him passed out at a picnic table at about the time the fire started. A jury deliberated about half an hour before finding Max Eugene Godlove, 50, not guilty of first- and second-degree arson, second-degree malicious burning of property, threatening arson and reckless endangerment. Godlove's Remsburg Road home had been foreclosed upon and the deed held by Fannie Mae since June 2011, although he still lived in the house when it was destroyed by fire on Sept.

Russell Ray "Bub" Smoot, 90, of Sharpsburg, passed away Tuesday, April 2, 2013, at Golden Living Center. Born May 12, 1922, in Slanesville, W.Va., he was the son of the late Ray and Hilda (Rowzee) Smoot. Russell worked as a cabinet maker for 41 1/2 years at Statton Furniture Co., retiring in 1989. He was a corporal in the U.S. Army during World War II with 41st Company A, Tank Division, 11th Armour Thunderbolts. He served in Europe and saw action in the Battle of the Bulge.

A male robbed a convenience store on Sharpsburg Pike at gunpoint early Saturday, according to a Maryland State Police news release. The robbery at 7-Eleven at 10524 Sharpsburg Pike was reported at about 3:05 a.m., troopers said. A male entered the store and proceeded to the restroom area, where he waited until all other patrons had left the store, troopers said. He then approached the counter, brandished a subcompact black semiautomatic handgun and ordered the lone employee to give him the money from the register, troopers said.