LIFE & TIMES Maryland Will Miss...


Richard Joseph “Dick” Strauss of Baltimore died on January 21. Strauss grew up in Rich- mond, Virginia, and graduated from T omas Jeff erson High School before attending the University of Richmond. He served in the U.S. Army and then worked for CSX Corporation as an accountant for 30 years. Strauss was a well-known horseback rider, breeder, showman and judge, competing and judging in Mary- land and Virginia. Some of his homebreds won Broodmare of the Year and Pony of the Year from the Maryland Pony Breeders Association of which he was an Honorary Director. Strauss was inducted into the Maryland Horse Show Association Hall of Fame in 2012 and has a perpetual trophy in his name at the annual Maryland Horse and Pony Show.


Peter A. Jay of Harford County died on Janu-


ary 23 at the age of 83. Born in New York City, Jay’s family settled in Maryland after his father retired from the U.S. Army in 1946. T e family purchased Windmill Hill Farm near Churchville where Jay spent most of his childhood riding and foxhunting with his father. Jay earned a Bach- elor’s degree in English from Harvard College and then joined the fi rst groups of Peace Corps volunteers, where he spent two years in Peru. Upon returning to the States, he landed a job


as a reporter for the Aegis in Bel Air before mov- ing on to the Washington Post where he covered Maryland news and politics as well as being a foreign correspondent during the Vietnam War. Jay returned to the family farm in 1973 and mar-


Holly Bank VanCourt of Cockeysville died


on January 24 at the age of 49. VanCourt was a lifelong equestrian both as a competi- tor, horse owner and supporter of the sport. She started riding and competing in show hunters at an early age and also played polo in high school at Garrison Forest School where her team won the National Polo Cham- pionship. VanCourt graduated from Garrison as an All Amer- ican athlete in 1992 and earned a Bachelor of Science degree at


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ried Irna Moore. Together they purchased and ran the Record, which is the weekly newspaper in Havre de Grace. T ey sold the paper to the Balti- more Sun in 1989. Jay also wrote a regular column for the Sun. He published a history of Havre de Grace in 1986, and Timepieces, a collection of his Sun columns, was published in 2022. When not writing or running the paper, Jay helped his father run the farm and continued to foxhunt as well as steeplechase here and there. Jay turned to farming fulltime in the 1980s and served on the board of the Chesapeake Bay Foundation. In 1991, Jay and some local friends founded the Harford Land Trust to preserve as many acres as possible in Harford County. He served as Vice President and later President of the Trust and in 2023 received the Lifetime Conservation Award.


Comings & Goings


Farrier Sara Snyder of New Windsor is headed to South Africa representing the American Farriers’ Association on a 10- week AFA’s Farrier Exchange program. Snyder


is a member of the Maryland


Farriers Association which is an Association Life Member of the MHC.


Aidan Butler has been appointed as President of 1/ST, which runs racing at Pimlico and Laurel Park.


Boston Univeristy. Outside of the horse world, VanCourt was a successful realtor with Berk- shireHathaway specializing in buying and sell- ing horse properties.


Salvador Avila “Chava” Gongora died on


February 5. Gongora worked for Michael Dick- inson Racing for 20 years at the Fair Hill Training Center before Dickinson retired. Gongora cared for many horses at Fair Hill, most notably multiple graded stakes winners Cetawayo and Bowman Mill.


After Dickinson


of Marylanders


retired, Salvador Avila Gongora


Gongora spent the last 10 years working with Lady Olivia at North Cliff farm splitting his time between the young stock off site and Carla Morgan’s training op- eration at Parlo III at Fair Hill.


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