Farm in New Market in 1958, where her pas- sion for horses was born. She attended Visi- tation Academy, where she met her life-long friend Dale Ganley Clabaugh. Sponseller attended Linganore High School
and graduated from the newly-opened Gov- ernor Tomas Johnson High School in 1970. In 1974 she graduated from West Virginia Wesleyan College and returned to Frederick to teach in the Frederick County public schools. She coached basketball and hockey at Catoctin High School, and hockey at Hood College. After college, she also began to fuel her pas-
sion for horses and riding. She coached indi- viduals and teams of the Frederick Pony Club, and organized several horse shows to benefit the Pony Club and the New Market Hounds (known today as the New Market-Middletown Valley Hounds). Her father once gave her some excellent advice:
“Liz, if you want to make a lot of money, 98% of wealth was created in two areas: real estate and oil & gas; honey, there isn’t a lot of oil & gas in Maryland!” Taking his advice, she embarked on a very successful career change in 1977 in the Damascus office of Long and Foster Realtors, selling homes to families in Frederick and the surrounding counties. For several years, she was the top real estate producer in Frederick. During this time, she met her husband, Mi-
chael, and, in their best year, they built and sold over 400 homes to families, especially in the Lake Linganore area.
Her passion for equestrian
sports continued to blossom as she showed hunters and jumpers in Maryland, Virginia, Pennsylva- nia, and wintered in Wellington, Florida. She successfully imported warmblood horses from Germany and Eastern Europe, while training and showing under the tutelage of various trainers. Te pride and joy in her stable
is “Dubya”, named after the 43rd President of the United States! Together they captured the Unit- ed States Equestrian Foundation Zone 3 Horse of the Year honors for 2005, 2006, and 2007. In 2007, they earned the Maryland Horse Shows Association Horse of the Year honors. In 2016 the Brinkley family was honored by being in- ducted into the Maryland Horse Show Association Hall of Fame at Camden Yards in Baltimore, a highlight of her equestrian career. In July, 2012, at a competition in Pennsyl-
Horse friends of Frances Gould Fox celebrated her life at a memorial service held at the Baltimore Country Club Five Farms. Standing from left: Jamie Maher, Ross Peddicord, Georganne Hale, Ron Maher, Fran Burns and Less Vosters; seated from left: Nancy Hale and Susan Marshall.
vania, the first symptoms of her brain cancer emerged. She was diagnosed with an anaplastic astrocytoma tumor at the University of Mary- land Cancer Center. Patients are typically given 6-24 months to live, but with her fierce com- petitive spirit, Sponseller embarked on an ag- gressive experimental battle. Despite her medi-
cal team’s expectations, in a year she was “back in the saddle” riding Dubya. In 2017, the cancer returned, and Sponseller pursued additional experimental treatment at the University. While she never fully regained her mobility, she was able to enjoy company and conversation with her husband, family, and friends. She was emotionally supported by the love of her Labrador, Barney, who also helped her recover from COVID-19 last year. Unfor- tunately, Barney passed away three months ago.
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