Barbara and George Adelhardt's third child was born at their rowhome at 1419 Federal Street across the street from P.S. #20, a large public high school in East Baltimore's Old Town neighborhood on Sunday, May 5, 1935. They named her Carlita Barbara – she was named after a woman that Barb had known as a child who had become a nun then named Sister Mary Carlita – in honor of the nun's father Charles. Carlita in Spanish is the feminine version of "young Charles." Baby Carlita would cry so much that her parents would cover her head with a blanket in the summer in order for her to quiet down and fall to sleep.
Little Carlita was born with curly blonde hair that her mother used to style in ringlets like the famous child star of Hollywood films, Shirley Temple. Carlita struggled as a young child with a series of diseases. A bout with strep throat left her with a heart murmur that triggered other health problems throughout her life. She had to be out of school for months when she suffered with the debilitating childhood nervous disorder – St. Vitus's Dance or juvenile chorea.
She attended grammar school and high school at the all-girl Institute of Notre Dame where the School Sisters of Notre Dame taught her. When she was in grammar school, her parents bought a house and moved to Richard Avenue in the Hamilton neighborhood of Northeast Baltimore. Her best friend in high school "Anita" Gardiner called her Lita. She sang in the Glee Club at IND and performed in many operettas. Longtime Adelhardt family friend, Bill Horten escorted her to her junior prom. (It was Bill's brother-in-law Les Powers who nicknamed her Leetzie.)
After high school graduation in 1954, Carlita attended the St. Joseph Hospital School of Nursing for three years. Carlita graduated at a joint ceremony of the city's Catholic hospitals at the Lyric Theater in 1957. She received her diploma from Archbishop Francis P. Keough.
Carlita married Bill on September 13, 1958 at the St. James the Less Church (the same German immigrant Catholic church in Baltimore where four generations of her family were also wed) by Rev. John Hoetzlein, CSSR. Her maid of honor was her sister Mary Margaret Adelhardt and his best man was his brother-in-law John Kogler. Other attendants included Anita Gardiner, Vivian Pope, Betty Moran, George Adelhardt, Jr., Bill Parker and Jimmy Jansen. A reception was held at the Park Plaza Hotel on Charles Street. They first lived in an apartment at 3719 Bonview Avenue. Sadly Carlita's first child was stillborn in August 1959.
Carlita and Bill bought their first house in a newly constructed small green bungalow at 1204 Oakland Terrace Road in Baltimore County in the Arbour Manor neighborhood of the suburban community of Arbutus.
Their oldest son Billy (christened William Joseph) was born on December 22, 1960 at St. Joseph Hospital and was brought home to Arbutus on Christmas Day. Just over a year later their daughter Jo-Ann Marie was born in January 2, 1962. Billy and Jo were blonde toddlers and were very often confused as twins. Carlita sang to her young children the song Bushel and a Peck from the 1951 Broadway musical - Guys and Dolls ( that was made into a motion picture starring Frank Sinatra in 1954).
Carlita began a Horten family tradition that she shared early on in 1956 with her mother. Each day she would watch the top rated television soap opera As the World Turns. When her kids were young or during summer vacation, they too would watch with her. Even Bill would return each day from the office and ask for an update of the storyline during nightly conversation over dinner.
On Oakland Terrace Road, Carlita befriended her next-door neighbors Marie and Elmer Donohue. Both women called each other "Suzie." Over the years she had close friendships with other neighbors in other homes such as Carol Benson, Anita Diez, Clara Gartrell, Doris Gosnell, Agnes Tabler, and Mary Lou Lunsford.
· Carlita was a member of the women's Sodality club at Church of the Ascension parish in Halethorpe.
· Carlita continued to cut her hair short but in her twenties and thirties had it frosted and teased into the beehive hairstyle.
· At most every family barbeque, Carlita prepared her popular potato salad. At Christmastime Carlita used to bake her delicious Tollhouse cookies and drop cookies decorated in red and green sugar.
· Their next son Richard Edmund was born on December 9, 1968 and friends Shirley and Bunk Kick were the godparents at Ricky's christening.
The family moved in February 1971 to a suburb called Midlothian in rural Chesterfield County, Virginia on the south side of the James River from Richmond. Carlita and Bill purchased a newly constructed, brown, four-bedroom home based on a split-level model called the Monterrey in a subdivision called Olde Coach Village. They lived here until Bill received a job transfer to Culpeper, Virginia.
· Carlita had many good friends who are "Westinghouse wives" notably Vivian Pope, Lois Hopkin, and Marilyn Sawaya.
· Mom loved her summer vacations at the beach with her family at memorable places like Wildwood Crest, New Jersey, Nags Head, North Carolina, and Myrtle Beach, South Carolina.
In 1972, Carlita and Bill contracted with a home builder who took their plans for a custom designed colonial-style home and spent four months longer than promised finishing the construction. With nowhere else to live the Horten's rented a 200-year-old house known as Spring Hill Farm about two miles from the rural hamlet of Rapidan near the Culpeper boundary with Orange County. They later moved into their new home on Lakemont Drive in the Mountain Run Lake subdivision near the town of Culpeper. That was until Westinghouse sold the factory in Culpeper and Bill returned to work again near Baltimore.
· Carlita joined the women's auxiliary of the Knights of Columbus at Precious Blood parish where she developed her friendship with Barbara Noonan.
· Carlita gave birth to her last baby named Julie Denise on July 24, 1973 at the Culpeper Memorial Hospital.
· In 1975, Carlita and Bill once again built another new home in the Rolling Hills subdivision in the Carroll County town of Sykesville, Maryland.
Carlita lost both of her siblings to cancer – first, her brother Junie to leukemia in 1972. While her sister Mary Margaret was treated for cancer of the salivary gland, Carlita took care of her daughter Karen in Virginia but MM eventually passed away too. Carlita also buried her father George in 1979. Carlita continued to care for her mother Barbara who spent many years in a nursing home suffering from mini-strokes until her death in 1988. Carlita was the only member of the original Adelhardt family remaining.
Carlita struggled for years to reduce her blood pressure level with medication. She suffered a series of strokes - one in the middle of daughter Jo-Ann and Tony's wedding ceremony and another a year later when her first grandchild Ashton was born. Through hard work and physical therapy Carlita was able to rehabilitate herself. In late 1999, Carlita discovered she had breast cancer and a radical mastectomy was performed on her with many months of chemotherapy treatments and years and she was cancer free for six years.
· Carlita and Bill enjoyed a second honeymoon trip to Hawaii and other leisure travel. They continued to spend summer vacations with family in Ocean City, Maryland.
· In June 2002, Carlita and Bill sold their house on Stratford Drive and bought a retirement condominium at Nell's Acres near Liberty Dam Reservoir in Carroll County. They attended Sunday Mass here at the Holy Family parish.
In September 2006 Carlita suffered a broken hip due to a recurrence of breast cancer that had metastasized. She had hip replacement surgery and after rehabilitation walked with the aid of a walker. Shortly after she was readmitted to the hospital also suffering from congestive heart failure. She continued cancer treatment with drug treatments of bone strengthener and estrogen reduction.
She had lost a lot of weight by the spring of 2007 and continued to return to the Carroll Hospital Center after falling or with complications of the congestive heart failure. She contracted C. Difficile – a super infection usually spread in hospitals causing extreme diarrhea. This third condition wreaked havoc on her weak heart and she moved to the Dove Center Hospice in Westminster. Three days later she passed away of congestive heart failure on Friday, July 13, 2007 at 6:45 am at the age of 72.
The following death notice was published:
HORTEN , Carlita B. Peacefully, on July 13, 2007, Carlita B. Horten of Sykesville, beloved wife of William E. Horten, loving mother of Bill Horten and partner Eric Johnson of San Diego, CA, Jo-Ann Landers and husband Tony of Baltimore, Rick Horten of Fairfax, VA and Julie Beatty and her husband Eric of New Windsor, cherished "Gram" of Ashton, Noelle, Bard, Parker and Piper. She was the daughter of the late Barbara and George Adelhardt.
A Mass of Christian Burial will be held on Tuesday at 11am at Holy Family Catholic Church, 9531 Liberty Rd., Randallstown. Interment private. Friends may call at the Haight Funeral Home & Chapel, Rt. 32 near Eldersburg, on Monday from 2-4 and 7-9pm. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to Carroll Hospice Dove House, 292 Stoner Ave., Westminster, MD 21157.
Published in the Baltimore Sun on 7/15/2007
For 72 years Carlita has been many things to many people – a dedicated nurse, a supportive partner to her husband and his career, a caretaker of her children, a devoted daughter and daughter-in-law, sister and mother-in-law and a doting grandmother to Ashton, Noelle, Bard, Parker and Piper. She has been a friendly neighbor and active in her community, parish and children's schools. Carlita defended her children and the ones she loved with the ferociousness of a mother lioness. She worked hard on maintaining a good home - washing, ironing, cleaning, dusting, vacuuming, cooking, and mending with due diligence. Adapting to different environments, she helped her husband as the family moved from house to house and state to state. She was well known for her strong will and sharp memory recall as well as her unshaken loyalty to family and friends. Sassy Carlita never had a loss for words and was always glad to share her strongly felt opinions. Carlita's contagious laughter could bring herself and others to tears!
Everyone knew her as "Carlita" or "Lita" or "Leetzie" ; "Mom" or "Aunt Carlita" or "Miss Carlita" or "Gram".
Leetzie was the beach lover, the housekeeper, the holiday hostess; Lita was the Glee Club songbird, the Johns Hopkins student nurse, the domestic engineer; Carlita was a nemesis of construction contractors; new home designer or social calendar keeper, Mom was an avid soap opera and talk show fan, Aunt Carlita was a Scrabble player and Hummel figurine collector, Gram was a word search or crossword or jigsaw puzzle wiz; Carlita is remembered well as a disciplinarian of misbehaving children in church, as a visitor of the sick, aged, and lonely; as a courageous patient and the quintessential survivor.
In Moms words – " so that's my story and I'm sticking to it"
To Carlita la mamacita -
I love you
A bushel and a peck
A bushel and a peck and a hug around the neck.
I love you, a bushel and a peck –
A bushel and a peck and a hug around the neck.
A hug around the neck and a barrel and a heap
A barrel and a heap ‘cause I'm talking in my sleep
About you.
I love you, a bushel and a peck.
You betcha pretty neck I do.
Doodle-loodle -loodle
Doodle-loodle -loodle
Doodle-loodle-loodle-doo!
Little Carlita was born with curly blonde hair that her mother used to style in ringlets like the famous child star of Hollywood films, Shirley Temple. Carlita struggled as a young child with a series of diseases. A bout with strep throat left her with a heart murmur that triggered other health problems throughout her life. She had to be out of school for months when she suffered with the debilitating childhood nervous disorder – St. Vitus's Dance or juvenile chorea.
She attended grammar school and high school at the all-girl Institute of Notre Dame where the School Sisters of Notre Dame taught her. When she was in grammar school, her parents bought a house and moved to Richard Avenue in the Hamilton neighborhood of Northeast Baltimore. Her best friend in high school "Anita" Gardiner called her Lita. She sang in the Glee Club at IND and performed in many operettas. Longtime Adelhardt family friend, Bill Horten escorted her to her junior prom. (It was Bill's brother-in-law Les Powers who nicknamed her Leetzie.)
After high school graduation in 1954, Carlita attended the St. Joseph Hospital School of Nursing for three years. Carlita graduated at a joint ceremony of the city's Catholic hospitals at the Lyric Theater in 1957. She received her diploma from Archbishop Francis P. Keough.
Carlita married Bill on September 13, 1958 at the St. James the Less Church (the same German immigrant Catholic church in Baltimore where four generations of her family were also wed) by Rev. John Hoetzlein, CSSR. Her maid of honor was her sister Mary Margaret Adelhardt and his best man was his brother-in-law John Kogler. Other attendants included Anita Gardiner, Vivian Pope, Betty Moran, George Adelhardt, Jr., Bill Parker and Jimmy Jansen. A reception was held at the Park Plaza Hotel on Charles Street. They first lived in an apartment at 3719 Bonview Avenue. Sadly Carlita's first child was stillborn in August 1959.
Carlita and Bill bought their first house in a newly constructed small green bungalow at 1204 Oakland Terrace Road in Baltimore County in the Arbour Manor neighborhood of the suburban community of Arbutus.
Their oldest son Billy (christened William Joseph) was born on December 22, 1960 at St. Joseph Hospital and was brought home to Arbutus on Christmas Day. Just over a year later their daughter Jo-Ann Marie was born in January 2, 1962. Billy and Jo were blonde toddlers and were very often confused as twins. Carlita sang to her young children the song Bushel and a Peck from the 1951 Broadway musical - Guys and Dolls ( that was made into a motion picture starring Frank Sinatra in 1954).
Carlita began a Horten family tradition that she shared early on in 1956 with her mother. Each day she would watch the top rated television soap opera As the World Turns. When her kids were young or during summer vacation, they too would watch with her. Even Bill would return each day from the office and ask for an update of the storyline during nightly conversation over dinner.
On Oakland Terrace Road, Carlita befriended her next-door neighbors Marie and Elmer Donohue. Both women called each other "Suzie." Over the years she had close friendships with other neighbors in other homes such as Carol Benson, Anita Diez, Clara Gartrell, Doris Gosnell, Agnes Tabler, and Mary Lou Lunsford.
· Carlita was a member of the women's Sodality club at Church of the Ascension parish in Halethorpe.
· Carlita continued to cut her hair short but in her twenties and thirties had it frosted and teased into the beehive hairstyle.
· At most every family barbeque, Carlita prepared her popular potato salad. At Christmastime Carlita used to bake her delicious Tollhouse cookies and drop cookies decorated in red and green sugar.
· Their next son Richard Edmund was born on December 9, 1968 and friends Shirley and Bunk Kick were the godparents at Ricky's christening.
The family moved in February 1971 to a suburb called Midlothian in rural Chesterfield County, Virginia on the south side of the James River from Richmond. Carlita and Bill purchased a newly constructed, brown, four-bedroom home based on a split-level model called the Monterrey in a subdivision called Olde Coach Village. They lived here until Bill received a job transfer to Culpeper, Virginia.
· Carlita had many good friends who are "Westinghouse wives" notably Vivian Pope, Lois Hopkin, and Marilyn Sawaya.
· Mom loved her summer vacations at the beach with her family at memorable places like Wildwood Crest, New Jersey, Nags Head, North Carolina, and Myrtle Beach, South Carolina.
In 1972, Carlita and Bill contracted with a home builder who took their plans for a custom designed colonial-style home and spent four months longer than promised finishing the construction. With nowhere else to live the Horten's rented a 200-year-old house known as Spring Hill Farm about two miles from the rural hamlet of Rapidan near the Culpeper boundary with Orange County. They later moved into their new home on Lakemont Drive in the Mountain Run Lake subdivision near the town of Culpeper. That was until Westinghouse sold the factory in Culpeper and Bill returned to work again near Baltimore.
· Carlita joined the women's auxiliary of the Knights of Columbus at Precious Blood parish where she developed her friendship with Barbara Noonan.
· Carlita gave birth to her last baby named Julie Denise on July 24, 1973 at the Culpeper Memorial Hospital.
· In 1975, Carlita and Bill once again built another new home in the Rolling Hills subdivision in the Carroll County town of Sykesville, Maryland.
Carlita lost both of her siblings to cancer – first, her brother Junie to leukemia in 1972. While her sister Mary Margaret was treated for cancer of the salivary gland, Carlita took care of her daughter Karen in Virginia but MM eventually passed away too. Carlita also buried her father George in 1979. Carlita continued to care for her mother Barbara who spent many years in a nursing home suffering from mini-strokes until her death in 1988. Carlita was the only member of the original Adelhardt family remaining.
Carlita struggled for years to reduce her blood pressure level with medication. She suffered a series of strokes - one in the middle of daughter Jo-Ann and Tony's wedding ceremony and another a year later when her first grandchild Ashton was born. Through hard work and physical therapy Carlita was able to rehabilitate herself. In late 1999, Carlita discovered she had breast cancer and a radical mastectomy was performed on her with many months of chemotherapy treatments and years and she was cancer free for six years.
· Carlita and Bill enjoyed a second honeymoon trip to Hawaii and other leisure travel. They continued to spend summer vacations with family in Ocean City, Maryland.
· In June 2002, Carlita and Bill sold their house on Stratford Drive and bought a retirement condominium at Nell's Acres near Liberty Dam Reservoir in Carroll County. They attended Sunday Mass here at the Holy Family parish.
In September 2006 Carlita suffered a broken hip due to a recurrence of breast cancer that had metastasized. She had hip replacement surgery and after rehabilitation walked with the aid of a walker. Shortly after she was readmitted to the hospital also suffering from congestive heart failure. She continued cancer treatment with drug treatments of bone strengthener and estrogen reduction.
She had lost a lot of weight by the spring of 2007 and continued to return to the Carroll Hospital Center after falling or with complications of the congestive heart failure. She contracted C. Difficile – a super infection usually spread in hospitals causing extreme diarrhea. This third condition wreaked havoc on her weak heart and she moved to the Dove Center Hospice in Westminster. Three days later she passed away of congestive heart failure on Friday, July 13, 2007 at 6:45 am at the age of 72.
The following death notice was published:
HORTEN , Carlita B. Peacefully, on July 13, 2007, Carlita B. Horten of Sykesville, beloved wife of William E. Horten, loving mother of Bill Horten and partner Eric Johnson of San Diego, CA, Jo-Ann Landers and husband Tony of Baltimore, Rick Horten of Fairfax, VA and Julie Beatty and her husband Eric of New Windsor, cherished "Gram" of Ashton, Noelle, Bard, Parker and Piper. She was the daughter of the late Barbara and George Adelhardt.
A Mass of Christian Burial will be held on Tuesday at 11am at Holy Family Catholic Church, 9531 Liberty Rd., Randallstown. Interment private. Friends may call at the Haight Funeral Home & Chapel, Rt. 32 near Eldersburg, on Monday from 2-4 and 7-9pm. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to Carroll Hospice Dove House, 292 Stoner Ave., Westminster, MD 21157.
Published in the Baltimore Sun on 7/15/2007
For 72 years Carlita has been many things to many people – a dedicated nurse, a supportive partner to her husband and his career, a caretaker of her children, a devoted daughter and daughter-in-law, sister and mother-in-law and a doting grandmother to Ashton, Noelle, Bard, Parker and Piper. She has been a friendly neighbor and active in her community, parish and children's schools. Carlita defended her children and the ones she loved with the ferociousness of a mother lioness. She worked hard on maintaining a good home - washing, ironing, cleaning, dusting, vacuuming, cooking, and mending with due diligence. Adapting to different environments, she helped her husband as the family moved from house to house and state to state. She was well known for her strong will and sharp memory recall as well as her unshaken loyalty to family and friends. Sassy Carlita never had a loss for words and was always glad to share her strongly felt opinions. Carlita's contagious laughter could bring herself and others to tears!
Everyone knew her as "Carlita" or "Lita" or "Leetzie" ; "Mom" or "Aunt Carlita" or "Miss Carlita" or "Gram".
Leetzie was the beach lover, the housekeeper, the holiday hostess; Lita was the Glee Club songbird, the Johns Hopkins student nurse, the domestic engineer; Carlita was a nemesis of construction contractors; new home designer or social calendar keeper, Mom was an avid soap opera and talk show fan, Aunt Carlita was a Scrabble player and Hummel figurine collector, Gram was a word search or crossword or jigsaw puzzle wiz; Carlita is remembered well as a disciplinarian of misbehaving children in church, as a visitor of the sick, aged, and lonely; as a courageous patient and the quintessential survivor.
In Moms words – " so that's my story and I'm sticking to it"
To Carlita la mamacita -
I love you
A bushel and a peck
A bushel and a peck and a hug around the neck.
I love you, a bushel and a peck –
A bushel and a peck and a hug around the neck.
A hug around the neck and a barrel and a heap
A barrel and a heap ‘cause I'm talking in my sleep
About you.
I love you, a bushel and a peck.
You betcha pretty neck I do.
Doodle-loodle -loodle
Doodle-loodle -loodle
Doodle-loodle-loodle-doo!
Barbara and George Adelhardt's third child was born at their rowhome at 1419 Federal Street across the street from P.S. #20, a large public high school in East Baltimore's Old Town neighborhood on Sunday, May 5, 1935. They named her Carlita Barbara – she was named after a woman that Barb had known as a child who had become a nun then named Sister Mary Carlita – in honor of the nun's father Charles. Carlita in Spanish is the feminine version of "young Charles." Baby Carlita would cry so much that her parents would cover her head with a blanket in the summer in order for her to quiet down and fall to sleep.
Little Carlita was born with curly blonde hair that her mother used to style in ringlets like the famous child star of Hollywood films, Shirley Temple. Carlita struggled as a young child with a series of diseases. A bout with strep throat left her with a heart murmur that triggered other health problems throughout her life. She had to be out of school for months when she suffered with the debilitating childhood nervous disorder – St. Vitus's Dance or juvenile chorea.
She attended grammar school and high school at the all-girl Institute of Notre Dame where the School Sisters of Notre Dame taught her. When she was in grammar school, her parents bought a house and moved to Richard Avenue in the Hamilton neighborhood of Northeast Baltimore. Her best friend in high school "Anita" Gardiner called her Lita. She sang in the Glee Club at IND and performed in many operettas. Longtime Adelhardt family friend, Bill Horten escorted her to her junior prom. (It was Bill's brother-in-law Les Powers who nicknamed her Leetzie.)
After high school graduation in 1954, Carlita attended the St. Joseph Hospital School of Nursing for three years. Carlita graduated at a joint ceremony of the city's Catholic hospitals at the Lyric Theater in 1957. She received her diploma from Archbishop Francis P. Keough.
Carlita married Bill on September 13, 1958 at the St. James the Less Church (the same German immigrant Catholic church in Baltimore where four generations of her family were also wed) by Rev. John Hoetzlein, CSSR. Her maid of honor was her sister Mary Margaret Adelhardt and his best man was his brother-in-law John Kogler. Other attendants included Anita Gardiner, Vivian Pope, Betty Moran, George Adelhardt, Jr., Bill Parker and Jimmy Jansen. A reception was held at the Park Plaza Hotel on Charles Street. They first lived in an apartment at 3719 Bonview Avenue. Sadly Carlita's first child was stillborn in August 1959.
Carlita and Bill bought their first house in a newly constructed small green bungalow at 1204 Oakland Terrace Road in Baltimore County in the Arbour Manor neighborhood of the suburban community of Arbutus.
Their oldest son Billy (christened William Joseph) was born on December 22, 1960 at St. Joseph Hospital and was brought home to Arbutus on Christmas Day. Just over a year later their daughter Jo-Ann Marie was born in January 2, 1962. Billy and Jo were blonde toddlers and were very often confused as twins. Carlita sang to her young children the song Bushel and a Peck from the 1951 Broadway musical - Guys and Dolls ( that was made into a motion picture starring Frank Sinatra in 1954).
Carlita began a Horten family tradition that she shared early on in 1956 with her mother. Each day she would watch the top rated television soap opera As the World Turns. When her kids were young or during summer vacation, they too would watch with her. Even Bill would return each day from the office and ask for an update of the storyline during nightly conversation over dinner.
On Oakland Terrace Road, Carlita befriended her next-door neighbors Marie and Elmer Donohue. Both women called each other "Suzie." Over the years she had close friendships with other neighbors in other homes such as Carol Benson, Anita Diez, Clara Gartrell, Doris Gosnell, Agnes Tabler, and Mary Lou Lunsford.
· Carlita was a member of the women's Sodality club at Church of the Ascension parish in Halethorpe.
· Carlita continued to cut her hair short but in her twenties and thirties had it frosted and teased into the beehive hairstyle.
· At most every family barbeque, Carlita prepared her popular potato salad. At Christmastime Carlita used to bake her delicious Tollhouse cookies and drop cookies decorated in red and green sugar.
· Their next son Richard Edmund was born on December 9, 1968 and friends Shirley and Bunk Kick were the godparents at Ricky's christening.
The family moved in February 1971 to a suburb called Midlothian in rural Chesterfield County, Virginia on the south side of the James River from Richmond. Carlita and Bill purchased a newly constructed, brown, four-bedroom home based on a split-level model called the Monterrey in a subdivision called Olde Coach Village. They lived here until Bill received a job transfer to Culpeper, Virginia.
· Carlita had many good friends who are "Westinghouse wives" notably Vivian Pope, Lois Hopkin, and Marilyn Sawaya.
· Mom loved her summer vacations at the beach with her family at memorable places like Wildwood Crest, New Jersey, Nags Head, North Carolina, and Myrtle Beach, South Carolina.
In 1972, Carlita and Bill contracted with a home builder who took their plans for a custom designed colonial-style home and spent four months longer than promised finishing the construction. With nowhere else to live the Horten's rented a 200-year-old house known as Spring Hill Farm about two miles from the rural hamlet of Rapidan near the Culpeper boundary with Orange County. They later moved into their new home on Lakemont Drive in the Mountain Run Lake subdivision near the town of Culpeper. That was until Westinghouse sold the factory in Culpeper and Bill returned to work again near Baltimore.
· Carlita joined the women's auxiliary of the Knights of Columbus at Precious Blood parish where she developed her friendship with Barbara Noonan.
· Carlita gave birth to her last baby named Julie Denise on July 24, 1973 at the Culpeper Memorial Hospital.
· In 1975, Carlita and Bill once again built another new home in the Rolling Hills subdivision in the Carroll County town of Sykesville, Maryland.
Carlita lost both of her siblings to cancer – first, her brother Junie to leukemia in 1972. While her sister Mary Margaret was treated for cancer of the salivary gland, Carlita took care of her daughter Karen in Virginia but MM eventually passed away too. Carlita also buried her father George in 1979. Carlita continued to care for her mother Barbara who spent many years in a nursing home suffering from mini-strokes until her death in 1988. Carlita was the only member of the original Adelhardt family remaining.
Carlita struggled for years to reduce her blood pressure level with medication. She suffered a series of strokes - one in the middle of daughter Jo-Ann and Tony's wedding ceremony and another a year later when her first grandchild Ashton was born. Through hard work and physical therapy Carlita was able to rehabilitate herself. In late 1999, Carlita discovered she had breast cancer and a radical mastectomy was performed on her with many months of chemotherapy treatments and years and she was cancer free for six years.
· Carlita and Bill enjoyed a second honeymoon trip to Hawaii and other leisure travel. They continued to spend summer vacations with family in Ocean City, Maryland.
· In June 2002, Carlita and Bill sold their house on Stratford Drive and bought a retirement condominium at Nell's Acres near Liberty Dam Reservoir in Carroll County. They attended Sunday Mass here at the Holy Family parish.
In September 2006 Carlita suffered a broken hip due to a recurrence of breast cancer that had metastasized. She had hip replacement surgery and after rehabilitation walked with the aid of a walker. Shortly after she was readmitted to the hospital also suffering from congestive heart failure. She continued cancer treatment with drug treatments of bone strengthener and estrogen reduction.
She had lost a lot of weight by the spring of 2007 and continued to return to the Carroll Hospital Center after falling or with complications of the congestive heart failure. She contracted C. Difficile – a super infection usually spread in hospitals causing extreme diarrhea. This third condition wreaked havoc on her weak heart and she moved to the Dove Center Hospice in Westminster. Three days later she passed away of congestive heart failure on Friday, July 13, 2007 at 6:45 am at the age of 72.
The following death notice was published:
HORTEN , Carlita B. Peacefully, on July 13, 2007, Carlita B. Horten of Sykesville, beloved wife of William E. Horten, loving mother of Bill Horten and partner Eric Johnson of San Diego, CA, Jo-Ann Landers and husband Tony of Baltimore, Rick Horten of Fairfax, VA and Julie Beatty and her husband Eric of New Windsor, cherished "Gram" of Ashton, Noelle, Bard, Parker and Piper. She was the daughter of the late Barbara and George Adelhardt.
A Mass of Christian Burial will be held on Tuesday at 11am at Holy Family Catholic Church, 9531 Liberty Rd., Randallstown. Interment private. Friends may call at the Haight Funeral Home & Chapel, Rt. 32 near Eldersburg, on Monday from 2-4 and 7-9pm. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to Carroll Hospice Dove House, 292 Stoner Ave., Westminster, MD 21157.
Published in the Baltimore Sun on 7/15/2007
For 72 years Carlita has been many things to many people – a dedicated nurse, a supportive partner to her husband and his career, a caretaker of her children, a devoted daughter and daughter-in-law, sister and mother-in-law and a doting grandmother to Ashton, Noelle, Bard, Parker and Piper. She has been a friendly neighbor and active in her community, parish and children's schools. Carlita defended her children and the ones she loved with the ferociousness of a mother lioness. She worked hard on maintaining a good home - washing, ironing, cleaning, dusting, vacuuming, cooking, and mending with due diligence. Adapting to different environments, she helped her husband as the family moved from house to house and state to state. She was well known for her strong will and sharp memory recall as well as her unshaken loyalty to family and friends. Sassy Carlita never had a loss for words and was always glad to share her strongly felt opinions. Carlita's contagious laughter could bring herself and others to tears!
Everyone knew her as "Carlita" or "Lita" or "Leetzie" ; "Mom" or "Aunt Carlita" or "Miss Carlita" or "Gram".
Leetzie was the beach lover, the housekeeper, the holiday hostess; Lita was the Glee Club songbird, the Johns Hopkins student nurse, the domestic engineer; Carlita was a nemesis of construction contractors; new home designer or social calendar keeper, Mom was an avid soap opera and talk show fan, Aunt Carlita was a Scrabble player and Hummel figurine collector, Gram was a word search or crossword or jigsaw puzzle wiz; Carlita is remembered well as a disciplinarian of misbehaving children in church, as a visitor of the sick, aged, and lonely; as a courageous patient and the quintessential survivor.
In Moms words – " so that's my story and I'm sticking to it"
To Carlita la mamacita -
I love you
A bushel and a peck
A bushel and a peck and a hug around the neck.
I love you, a bushel and a peck –
A bushel and a peck and a hug around the neck.
A hug around the neck and a barrel and a heap
A barrel and a heap ‘cause I'm talking in my sleep
About you.
I love you, a bushel and a peck.
You betcha pretty neck I do.
Doodle-loodle -loodle
Doodle-loodle -loodle
Doodle-loodle-loodle-doo!
Little Carlita was born with curly blonde hair that her mother used to style in ringlets like the famous child star of Hollywood films, Shirley Temple. Carlita struggled as a young child with a series of diseases. A bout with strep throat left her with a heart murmur that triggered other health problems throughout her life. She had to be out of school for months when she suffered with the debilitating childhood nervous disorder – St. Vitus's Dance or juvenile chorea.
She attended grammar school and high school at the all-girl Institute of Notre Dame where the School Sisters of Notre Dame taught her. When she was in grammar school, her parents bought a house and moved to Richard Avenue in the Hamilton neighborhood of Northeast Baltimore. Her best friend in high school "Anita" Gardiner called her Lita. She sang in the Glee Club at IND and performed in many operettas. Longtime Adelhardt family friend, Bill Horten escorted her to her junior prom. (It was Bill's brother-in-law Les Powers who nicknamed her Leetzie.)
After high school graduation in 1954, Carlita attended the St. Joseph Hospital School of Nursing for three years. Carlita graduated at a joint ceremony of the city's Catholic hospitals at the Lyric Theater in 1957. She received her diploma from Archbishop Francis P. Keough.
Carlita married Bill on September 13, 1958 at the St. James the Less Church (the same German immigrant Catholic church in Baltimore where four generations of her family were also wed) by Rev. John Hoetzlein, CSSR. Her maid of honor was her sister Mary Margaret Adelhardt and his best man was his brother-in-law John Kogler. Other attendants included Anita Gardiner, Vivian Pope, Betty Moran, George Adelhardt, Jr., Bill Parker and Jimmy Jansen. A reception was held at the Park Plaza Hotel on Charles Street. They first lived in an apartment at 3719 Bonview Avenue. Sadly Carlita's first child was stillborn in August 1959.
Carlita and Bill bought their first house in a newly constructed small green bungalow at 1204 Oakland Terrace Road in Baltimore County in the Arbour Manor neighborhood of the suburban community of Arbutus.
Their oldest son Billy (christened William Joseph) was born on December 22, 1960 at St. Joseph Hospital and was brought home to Arbutus on Christmas Day. Just over a year later their daughter Jo-Ann Marie was born in January 2, 1962. Billy and Jo were blonde toddlers and were very often confused as twins. Carlita sang to her young children the song Bushel and a Peck from the 1951 Broadway musical - Guys and Dolls ( that was made into a motion picture starring Frank Sinatra in 1954).
Carlita began a Horten family tradition that she shared early on in 1956 with her mother. Each day she would watch the top rated television soap opera As the World Turns. When her kids were young or during summer vacation, they too would watch with her. Even Bill would return each day from the office and ask for an update of the storyline during nightly conversation over dinner.
On Oakland Terrace Road, Carlita befriended her next-door neighbors Marie and Elmer Donohue. Both women called each other "Suzie." Over the years she had close friendships with other neighbors in other homes such as Carol Benson, Anita Diez, Clara Gartrell, Doris Gosnell, Agnes Tabler, and Mary Lou Lunsford.
· Carlita was a member of the women's Sodality club at Church of the Ascension parish in Halethorpe.
· Carlita continued to cut her hair short but in her twenties and thirties had it frosted and teased into the beehive hairstyle.
· At most every family barbeque, Carlita prepared her popular potato salad. At Christmastime Carlita used to bake her delicious Tollhouse cookies and drop cookies decorated in red and green sugar.
· Their next son Richard Edmund was born on December 9, 1968 and friends Shirley and Bunk Kick were the godparents at Ricky's christening.
The family moved in February 1971 to a suburb called Midlothian in rural Chesterfield County, Virginia on the south side of the James River from Richmond. Carlita and Bill purchased a newly constructed, brown, four-bedroom home based on a split-level model called the Monterrey in a subdivision called Olde Coach Village. They lived here until Bill received a job transfer to Culpeper, Virginia.
· Carlita had many good friends who are "Westinghouse wives" notably Vivian Pope, Lois Hopkin, and Marilyn Sawaya.
· Mom loved her summer vacations at the beach with her family at memorable places like Wildwood Crest, New Jersey, Nags Head, North Carolina, and Myrtle Beach, South Carolina.
In 1972, Carlita and Bill contracted with a home builder who took their plans for a custom designed colonial-style home and spent four months longer than promised finishing the construction. With nowhere else to live the Horten's rented a 200-year-old house known as Spring Hill Farm about two miles from the rural hamlet of Rapidan near the Culpeper boundary with Orange County. They later moved into their new home on Lakemont Drive in the Mountain Run Lake subdivision near the town of Culpeper. That was until Westinghouse sold the factory in Culpeper and Bill returned to work again near Baltimore.
· Carlita joined the women's auxiliary of the Knights of Columbus at Precious Blood parish where she developed her friendship with Barbara Noonan.
· Carlita gave birth to her last baby named Julie Denise on July 24, 1973 at the Culpeper Memorial Hospital.
· In 1975, Carlita and Bill once again built another new home in the Rolling Hills subdivision in the Carroll County town of Sykesville, Maryland.
Carlita lost both of her siblings to cancer – first, her brother Junie to leukemia in 1972. While her sister Mary Margaret was treated for cancer of the salivary gland, Carlita took care of her daughter Karen in Virginia but MM eventually passed away too. Carlita also buried her father George in 1979. Carlita continued to care for her mother Barbara who spent many years in a nursing home suffering from mini-strokes until her death in 1988. Carlita was the only member of the original Adelhardt family remaining.
Carlita struggled for years to reduce her blood pressure level with medication. She suffered a series of strokes - one in the middle of daughter Jo-Ann and Tony's wedding ceremony and another a year later when her first grandchild Ashton was born. Through hard work and physical therapy Carlita was able to rehabilitate herself. In late 1999, Carlita discovered she had breast cancer and a radical mastectomy was performed on her with many months of chemotherapy treatments and years and she was cancer free for six years.
· Carlita and Bill enjoyed a second honeymoon trip to Hawaii and other leisure travel. They continued to spend summer vacations with family in Ocean City, Maryland.
· In June 2002, Carlita and Bill sold their house on Stratford Drive and bought a retirement condominium at Nell's Acres near Liberty Dam Reservoir in Carroll County. They attended Sunday Mass here at the Holy Family parish.
In September 2006 Carlita suffered a broken hip due to a recurrence of breast cancer that had metastasized. She had hip replacement surgery and after rehabilitation walked with the aid of a walker. Shortly after she was readmitted to the hospital also suffering from congestive heart failure. She continued cancer treatment with drug treatments of bone strengthener and estrogen reduction.
She had lost a lot of weight by the spring of 2007 and continued to return to the Carroll Hospital Center after falling or with complications of the congestive heart failure. She contracted C. Difficile – a super infection usually spread in hospitals causing extreme diarrhea. This third condition wreaked havoc on her weak heart and she moved to the Dove Center Hospice in Westminster. Three days later she passed away of congestive heart failure on Friday, July 13, 2007 at 6:45 am at the age of 72.
The following death notice was published:
HORTEN , Carlita B. Peacefully, on July 13, 2007, Carlita B. Horten of Sykesville, beloved wife of William E. Horten, loving mother of Bill Horten and partner Eric Johnson of San Diego, CA, Jo-Ann Landers and husband Tony of Baltimore, Rick Horten of Fairfax, VA and Julie Beatty and her husband Eric of New Windsor, cherished "Gram" of Ashton, Noelle, Bard, Parker and Piper. She was the daughter of the late Barbara and George Adelhardt.
A Mass of Christian Burial will be held on Tuesday at 11am at Holy Family Catholic Church, 9531 Liberty Rd., Randallstown. Interment private. Friends may call at the Haight Funeral Home & Chapel, Rt. 32 near Eldersburg, on Monday from 2-4 and 7-9pm. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to Carroll Hospice Dove House, 292 Stoner Ave., Westminster, MD 21157.
Published in the Baltimore Sun on 7/15/2007
For 72 years Carlita has been many things to many people – a dedicated nurse, a supportive partner to her husband and his career, a caretaker of her children, a devoted daughter and daughter-in-law, sister and mother-in-law and a doting grandmother to Ashton, Noelle, Bard, Parker and Piper. She has been a friendly neighbor and active in her community, parish and children's schools. Carlita defended her children and the ones she loved with the ferociousness of a mother lioness. She worked hard on maintaining a good home - washing, ironing, cleaning, dusting, vacuuming, cooking, and mending with due diligence. Adapting to different environments, she helped her husband as the family moved from house to house and state to state. She was well known for her strong will and sharp memory recall as well as her unshaken loyalty to family and friends. Sassy Carlita never had a loss for words and was always glad to share her strongly felt opinions. Carlita's contagious laughter could bring herself and others to tears!
Everyone knew her as "Carlita" or "Lita" or "Leetzie" ; "Mom" or "Aunt Carlita" or "Miss Carlita" or "Gram".
Leetzie was the beach lover, the housekeeper, the holiday hostess; Lita was the Glee Club songbird, the Johns Hopkins student nurse, the domestic engineer; Carlita was a nemesis of construction contractors; new home designer or social calendar keeper, Mom was an avid soap opera and talk show fan, Aunt Carlita was a Scrabble player and Hummel figurine collector, Gram was a word search or crossword or jigsaw puzzle wiz; Carlita is remembered well as a disciplinarian of misbehaving children in church, as a visitor of the sick, aged, and lonely; as a courageous patient and the quintessential survivor.
In Moms words – " so that's my story and I'm sticking to it"
To Carlita la mamacita -
I love you
A bushel and a peck
A bushel and a peck and a hug around the neck.
I love you, a bushel and a peck –
A bushel and a peck and a hug around the neck.
A hug around the neck and a barrel and a heap
A barrel and a heap ‘cause I'm talking in my sleep
About you.
I love you, a bushel and a peck.
You betcha pretty neck I do.
Doodle-loodle -loodle
Doodle-loodle -loodle
Doodle-loodle-loodle-doo!
Gravesite Details
cremated remains buried with her husband, son & grandparents John & Julia Horten
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