LIFE & TIMES


Maryland Will Miss... Former Maryland Racing Commission mem-


ber Ernest Roy Grecco died on December 13, 2023. He was 81. Grecco retired in 2017 after 55 years as the Metropolitan Baltimore AFL- CIO Council President. He became involved in the labor movement while working at Calvert Distilleries. He was a member of the United Food & Commercial Workers, Distillery Divi- sion, Local 34-D. He rose through the ranks to become the Political (COPE) Director of the Metropolitan Baltimore Council AFL-CIO Unions, and then became the COPE director for the Maryland State & District of Columbia AFL-CIO, before being elected President of the Metropolitan Baltimore AFL-CIO Coun- cil. His love of horses led him to a seat on the Maryland Racing Commission where he held a special interest in the well-being of backstretch workers and the status of Pimlico Race Course.


Emmalee Ann Moreland, 20, of Lusby


passed away December 17, 2023. Emmalee was raised in Huntingtown and graduated from Huntingtown High School in 2022, where she was a member of the marching band. At the time of her death, she was employed as a Pa- tient Care Technician at Calvert Health Medi- cal Center. She obtained her nursing assistant, geriatric nursing assistant and medical assistant licenses through the Career Technology Acad- emy. Emmalee enjoyed being outdoors, fi sh- ing and camping, she loved animals, especially horses and most of all, loved spending time with her family and loved ones.


“T e voice of steeplechasing,”


race announcer Will O’Keefe of Remington, VA, died on December 18, 2023. He was 76. O’Keefe was a race caller in Maryland, Virginia and all along the mid-Atlantic steeple- chase circuit for more than 40 years before retiring at the end of the 2022 season. He was in- ducted into the Virginia Stee- plechase Hall of Fame in 2007 and earned the S. Bryce Wing award from the Maryland Hunt Cup Association in 2012. He also won VSA’s Francis T ornton Green award in 1990, and in 2019 won the Monk Noland Award for service to the racing community by the National Stee- plechase Association. In addition to calling races, O’Keefe estab- lished Central Entry Offi ce. T e site is a single


Margaret Howard Wor-


rall, Maryland Hunt Cup and steeplechase historian, died on December 20, 2023, at the age of 81. Born and raised in Bal- timore County, Worrall grew up in Maryland’s hunt country riding with Green Spring Valley Hounds. She graduated from Hereford High School before attending Randolph-Macon Woman’s College where she graduated with a degree in English. Worrall married Doug Worrall in 1963 and the couple raised a family and horses at their Monkton farm, Scanden. She had a lifelong commitment to


Margaret Worrall


Carroll County Equestrian Coun- cil member Martha “Marty” Bai- ley Schmidt Lanham of Westmin- ster died on December 21, 2023. She was 75. Lanham was born in Baltimore and earned a degree in photojournalism from the Univer- sity of Maryland. She worked in public relations for the Camp Fire Girls, the University of Maryland at Baltimore, and the City of West- minster. She was also the offi ce


Will O’Keefe


preserving Maryland’s open space and in the 1970s, she and her hus- band were among the fi rst land- owners to place their farm in the Maryland Environmental Trust. She continued her environmental advocacy by serving as Executive Director of the Valleys Planning Countil from 1991 to 1995. Worrall also had a lifelong pas- sion and commitment to the sport


of steeplechasing. In 1995, she became the fi rst female member of the Maryland Hunt Cup Committee and later served as Executive Sec- retary from 1998 to 2006. Worrall fox hunted, showed horses and was District Commissioner of Green Spring Hounds Pony Club. As a stee- plechase horse owner, her Maryland Hunt Cup


46 | FEBRUARY 2024 | THE EQUIERY YOUR MARYLAND HORSE COUNCIL PUBLICATION


manager of her husband’s medical practice in Westminster and later a tax specialist for H&R Block-Westminster. Lanham was very active in trail maintenance at Morgan Run and was a supporter of Days End Farm Horse Rescue and Gentle Giants Draft Horse Rescue.


Former Maryland state Senator Doug J.J.


Peters died on December 30, 2023, at the age of 60. Peters attended Springbrook High School in Silver Spring and earned a bachelor’s degree in fi nance in 1985 from the University of Maryland. Peters later earned a Master of Business Administration from the University of Baltimore in 1990. Peters served in the U.S. Army Reserve from 1988 to 1998, reaching the rank of Captain. During that time, he served in Operation Desert Storm and was awarded a Bronze Star. Peters was the President and CEO of T e Peters Group. He was elected to the Maryland state Sen-


ate for his fi rst of four terms in 2006, serving continued ...


800-244-9580 | www.equiery.com


entity where horsemen can enter horses, receive overnights and view results as well as post and share photos of races. T e site also holds an ex- tensive history of individual horses with career statistics and results. O’Keefe was born in 1947 and grew up at


Pine Brook Farm near Warrenton, VA. His parents bred the 1966 Kentucky Derby and Preakness winner Kauai King. O’Keefe at- tended Episcopal High School in Alexandria and played rugby for the University of Virginia. O’Keefe was secretary of the Virginia Point-to-


Point Association and president of the Virginia Steeplechase Association. He also volunteered in the role of racing secretary for the Casanova Point-to-Point and later became Executive Di- rector of Morven Park and Race Director of their fall sanctioned meets. O’Keefe also served as Chairman of the National Steeplechase As- sociation’s race chairman’s committee.


of Marylanders


dreams came true in 1992 when Von Csadek won Maryland’s biggest timber race. Von Csadek was ridden to victory by Worrall’s son Patrick and trained by her husband. Worrall was a professional writer as well, pen- ning several magazine articles and eight books, most notably: T e History of the Green Spring Valley Hunt Club, 100 Runnings of the Mary- land Hunt Cup, and T e My Lady’s Manor Races, 1909-2009. Worrall was presented with the 2015 S. Bryce


Wing Award by the Maryland Hunt Cup As- sociation for her outstanding contributions to Maryland timber racing. Outside of horses, Worrall spent ten years as an


administrative judge on the Baltimore County Board of Appeals, was the Dorchester County area representative for the Maryland Environ- mental Trust for many years and was also an English teacher at Garrison Forest School.


Liz Callar


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