Mabel McCamy - Obituary

abel Alice "Cho-Cho" McCamy, Nee Bellarud, a 9-year resident of Edgewater, MD and previously of Wappingers Falls, NY died on July 25, 2014 of a stroke while at her home. She was 93. Born in Grand Forks, ND to the late Alice Mabel and Haaken Bellarud, Mabel attended Concordia College and the prestigious Miss Woods Institute. She taught first grade from 1942 to 1943. While her fiancé, Calvin, was in officer training with the Navy at the University of Minnesota, Mabel took a place as the governess for Nancy Nash's children, who she kept in touch with for 70 years. She and Calvin were married on November 4, 1945 following his commission. In 1946, they went to Panama and their first child, Susan, was born. Later they moved to South Carolina, where, their second child Nick, was born. After her husband accepted a position with the National Bureau of Standards in Washington D.C., the family lived in Garret Park and in Potomac, MD, where Mabel was well-known as a precious, loving wife and mother, a delightful hostess and a fabulous cook. In 1952, their third and last child, Carter, was born. In 1960, Mabel began studying the Japanese flower style Ikebana under the world's leading teachers. After 30 years of study, she received teacher's certificates from the Sogetsu School in Kyoto and the Ikenobo School in Tokyo. She was given the honorary Japanese name "Cho-Cho," meaning butterfly. Mabel was the chairman of the Chevy Chase Ikebana Workshop. In 2005, she relocated to Edgewater, MD. On August 1, 2013, she suffered a stroke that paralyzed her left side, inflicted severe dementia and nearly destroyed her voice. Mabel is survived by her husband, Calvin; three children, Susan Becker of Hedgesville, WV, Nicholas McCamy of Youngstown, OH and Carter McCamy of Edgewater, MD; and five grandchildren, Christopher McCamy of Bethesda, MD, Lynley Herbert of Catonsville, MD, Patrick McCamy of Chicago, IL, Cynthia Murrell of Frederick, MD and Julianne McCamy of Baltimore, MD. She also had four great-grandchildren. A memorial service will be held on Sunday, August 3 at 1pm at the George P. Kalas Funeral Home, 2973 Solomons Island Road, Edgewater, MD.