Mary Hains

Mary Charlotte Hains, 96, died at her home in Ellicott City on May 1, 2025. Charlotte was the daughter of Melvin I. Coar and Emma Mildred Renn Coar. She was born September 5, 1928, in Catonsville in the same house as her mother and aunts. She grew up at Athol, Howard County.

Charlotte attended one of the last one-room grade schools in Howard County at Atholton. She graduated from Ellicott City High School in 1945. She married Lewis H. Dennis, Jr., and had four children, Lewis H. Ill, John Charles, Mary Elizabeth, and James Michael.

A convert to Catholicism, St. Lawrence Martyr Catholic Church in Jessup was her home parish where she was involved with the CYO and the Church Council. She sent her children to St. Paul’s in Ellicott City and her older sons on to Mt. Saint Joseph’s. Necessity dictated that she work outside the home so she went to work for C&P Telephone Company beginning as a manual (switchboard) operator in Laurel. She progressed through various offices, retiring from a thirty-five-year career in the engineering department in Baltimore. During that time, Charlotte found the time to exercise twice a week to overcome the effects of adult-onset

polio that she had contracted when she was twenty-five. College waited a while, but she finally got her degree with a major in economics and a minor in history.

Charlotte married Hamilton Hains in 1977. They so enjoyed their lives together until his death in 2006. They traveled to many countries on all the continents except Antarctica. One of their most memorable journeys included the Galapagos Islands. They spent a New Year’s Eve in Morocco and once viewed an eclipse from Costa Rica. They toured across the USA and particularly enjoyed Savannah visiting several times over the years.

Charlotte was predeceased by her parents; her husband, Hamilton; and sons Lewis and John. She is survived by her daughter, Mary Elizabeth Griffin; son, James Michael Dennis; daughters-in-law Ruth Bittinger Dennis and Joyce Smelser Dennis; her grandchildren Christina Marie Dennis, Dennis Joseph Griffin and Sean Lewis Griffin; and nine great-grandchildren.

The family will receive friends, Monday May 5th from 4-7 p.m. at the Slack Funeral Home, P.A., 3871 Old Columbia Pike, Ellicott City, MD 21043. Services from the above funeral home will take place Tuesday May 6th at 11:30 a.m. Interment, St. Johns Cemetery, Ellicott City, MD. In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions in honor of Mrs. Hains may be directed to the St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital (www.stjude.org) or to the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation (www.komen.org)