Maryland Will Miss... Robert C. Curran died on October 8 at the


age of 62. Born with Down Syndrome, Curran lived for 34 years at the Jewish Foundation for Group Homes, to whom his family is grateful. He enjoyed the support of day programs at CHI Centers, T e Support Center and Easter Seals. He loved his family, music, dancing, a party and good food. He never knew a stranger and brought joy, love and laughter to all he met.


Charles Robert Player, Jr. of Playland Farm in Union Bridge died unexpectedly on Oc- tober 11. He was 86. Growing up during the Great Depression, Player worked as a child to contribute to his family and was the fi rst of his paternal line to go to college. He worked his way through college and was drafted into the U.S. Army during the Korean War. After the war, Player became a CPA as well as a fi nancial advisor, estate planner, real estate agent, general contractor and a farmer.


Eve Lloyd T ompson Submitted by Crystal Brumme Pickett Former Poolesville


resident Eve Lloyd T ompson died on Oc- tober 13 at her home in Wellington, FL, from complications related to dementia and Al- zheimer’s. She was 86. A graduate of from


Cornell University with a major in Zoology, T ompson intended to become a veterinarian, but was stymied by her sex and thus subse- quently followed a diff erent path: modeling in New York City. She also worked as a buyer in women’s sports and leisure wear for department stores in NY and Washington, DC, while con- tinuing her amateur career in horses competing in saddle seat, hunters, jumpers, dressage and competitive trail riding. In 1967, T ompson married DC dentist Rich-


ard K. T ompson, Jr. In 1971, the couple settled in Poolesville, where they bred racehorses and be- came active members of the Potomac Hunt. T ompson’s tenure as the executive director


of the Washington International Horse Show coincided with the shows most glamorous years, when Presidential First Ladies were often WIHS’s honorary chairs, when embassies threw parties, ambassadors crowded to attend and black tie was de rigueur. Gracious and dynamic,


www.equiery.com | 800-244-9580 Eve Lloyd Thompson


COMINGS & GOINGS


T ompson adroitly made sure WIHS remained the social event for Washingtonian society. During the early years of ca-


ble television, T ompson served as color commentator of horse sports for the local cable channel Home Team Sports (later known as Comcast SportsNet Mid-At- lantic and today known as NBC Sports Washington). She also served as presi- dent of the Maryland Horse Shows Associa- tion, secretary of the American Horse Shows Association (today the United States Eques- trian Federation), chaired numerous AHSA committees, and in 1996 was a member of the FEI Judicial Committee at the Centennial Olympic Games in Atlanta. T ompson was a founder of the Bernice Bar- bour Foundation, a signifi cant contributor to organizations working to improve animal wel- fare in the US, with a signifi cant impact on key veterinary schools. She served on the University of California, Davis School of Veterinary Medi- cine’s fi rst External Advisory Coun- cil, which she chaired from 1998 to 2018, becoming the fi rst Dean’s Leadership Council Emeriti. In 2005 she received the UC Davis School of Veterinary Medicine Service Award. She also served on veterinary boards at University of Pennsylvania, Tufts University, and Johns Hopkins Cen- ter for Alternative to Animal Test- ing. T ompson was also one of the founders of Animal Grantmakers.


A fond farewell to longtime MJC Stakes Coordinator Coley Blind, who has retired. Former trainer Jason Egan has been promoted to Stakes Coordinator as of November 1, 2020. Jason is married to MHC Board member Jordyn Egan.


Former Hilltop Farm (Colora) trainer, Jess Fay has moved back to her home state of Maine.


Mission. Following the Viking Mission, she became a health scientist administrator at the National Institutes of Health, retiring in 2001. “To Mars With Love,” published in 2019, is


Straat’s memoir about the Viking Mission and her early experiences foxhunting. Always a “horse girl,” Straat discovered fox- hunting in the 1970s, was smitten with the sport, and quickly became a member of the now Howard County-Iron Bridge Hounds, partici- pating in every aspect of the club, mounted and unmounted. From an enthusiastic green fi eld member in the back, to club horse shows, so- cial events and hound walking, to serving as a whipper-in and honorary secretary and a gov- ernor, Straat touched every aspect of the club. Even after hanging up her stirrups, Straat con- tinued to actively support the club and the sport. Straat and her life partner, Mary Grande, settled on a small horse farm in Sykesville, where Straat could indulge her love of woodworking.


Standarbred owner William “Bill” Leon


Patricia Ann Straat Submitted by Crystal Brumme Pickett Foxhunter and scientist Dr. Patricia Ann Straat died on October 23 at her home in Sykesville af- ter a six-year battle with lung cancer. She was 84. Born in Rochester, NY, Straat became a Mary- lander in the 1960s when she attended Johns Hopkins University to earn a PhD in biochemis- try. She had earned a BA from Oberlin College. After Johns Hopkins, Straat became a team member on the Infrared Interferometer Spec- trometer (IRIS) experiment, which was on board the 1971 Mariner 9 Mission, the fi rst spacecraft to orbit Mars. She went on to be named Co-Experimenter of the Labeled Re- lease life detection experiment on the 1976 Viking Mission, the fi rst spacecraft to suc- cessfully land on Mars, and was a member of the Biology Flight Team during the Viking


Spicer died on November 2 at the age of 93. Spicer attended local schools and joined the Merchant Maries as a young adult. He served on ships that delivered troops and supplies for the World War II war eff ort. When the war ended, he returned to Dorchester County to work for Luthy Farm Machinery. Spicer married Nancy Malkus in 1950 and the couple had two children. In 1954, he started working at the Spicer Lumber Mill as a mechanic and became owner of the family mill in 1983. He continued the operation until he retired in 1997. After Nancy died in 2016, Spicer began farming with his brother-in-law Ted Malkus. Spicer loved horses and considered himself a


“racehorse man.” He spent a lot of time at Gypsy Hill Farms with Marty Burton and his son Brian working with trotters. After retiring, Spicer as- sisted his son Tommy at Chesapeake Wood Products. Over the years, Spicer owned several horses and traveled to various tracks watching them race on the circuit. He was a member of the Cloverleaf Standardbred Owners Association.


THE EQUIERY A MARYLAND HORSE COUNCIL PUBLICATION | DECEMBER 2020 | 55


WIHS photo


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