Helen Claire Markert's Obituary
Helen Claire Markert passed away peacefully in Lewes, Delaware, on March 18, 2026 at the age of 99. She was born on March 29, 1926, in Baltimore, Maryland, and raised in Baltimore and Elkridge, Maryland by her mother, Helen Christ, and grandmother, Ida Mae Rinehart.
A 1944 graduate of Eastern High School, an all-female public high school located in Baltimore City, Helen worked during the rest of the war years until her marriage to Francis Gavin Markert on February 15, 1947.
While raising a son and daughter in Parkville, Maryland, she took great pride in her role as homemaker before returning to the workplace with a communications company until her retirement.
Helen supported her community as PTA president while raising her children and was a registrar at her polling place in Parkville for many years. After her husband’s death in 1988, she became a member of the Friendly Seniors, a philanthropic group of seniors at the Essex campus of the Community College of Baltimore County.
In 2018, at the age of 92, she moved into independent living at Riderwood, an Erickson Senior Living Community in Silver Spring, Maryland. She traveled frequently to visit family and friends in Rehoboth Beach.
In lieu of flowers, her final wishes are to donate online to Riderwood’s Memorial Gift Program, http://donations.erickson.com/s/?com=rwv&fund=sch, a scholarship fund that benefits the students who provide many of the services that the Riderwood residents need.
Helen is preceded in death by her grandmother Ida Mae Rinehart, mother Helen Christ, father Harvey Christ, and husband Francis Markert.
She is survived by daughter Melinda Geist and son Francis Markert (Bunky), son-in-law Tom Geist and daughter-in-law Kate Markert. Her grandchildren are Heather Ashburn and Jessica (Stacey) Lituchy. Great grandchildren are Lily Lituchy, Melinda Lituchy and Alex Ashburn.
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