Anne "Jean" Dolores Douglass

Anne (Jean) Dolores Douglass passed away peacefully in the early morning of Saturday, February 10, 2024, in Ellicott City, MD, following a long life filled with warmth, laughter, family, and so much lasagna. She was 96.

Born in Bronx, NY, on June 22, 1927, to Joseph and Anna Messina Fiscella, Italian immigrants from Nicosia, Jean was a Great Depression baby. Her mother often gave five-year-old Jean a nickel to go down to the corner store and pick up day-old greens and a bit of meat, ingredients that would soon become delicious Italian soups and stews. Her parents slept in a Murphy bed in the living room of their snug Bronx apartment, while Jean and her only sibling, her adored brother Frank, slept in twin beds in the only bedroom, a single sheet pulled across the space between them. Jean often reflected that although they were poor, she never knew it.

Frank met Joseph (Joe) Francis Douglass in 1943 while deployed on a Naval ship during World War II. When Frank noticed Joe wasn’t receiving any letters, he encouraged Jean to become Joe’s pen pal. Little did she know as she composed note after note in careful cursive, Jean was writing to the love of her life. Jean and Joe were married on September 11, 1948, at Santa Maria Roman Catholic Church in the Bronx.

After moving from a trailer in Albany, NY, to a starter home in Newburgh, NY, Jean and Joe eventually settled in Catonsville, MD, bringing their children Jo-Anne, Christine, and Lorraine. The pair later welcomed their youngest, Cheryl, in Catonsville. On top of managing her occasionally chaotic brood, Jean worked at Koon’s Ford from 1977 until 1993 and volunteered at St. Mark Catholic Church as a CCD teacher on Sunday mornings all through the seventies. Jean loved heading to Ocean City with her family every summer, packing squishy PB&Js for lunch under the umbrella. On Saturdays, she donned a ruffled costume skirt on her way to weekly square dancing with Joe. Sunday morning, it was time for church, then Catonsville Bakery for Donuts, and maybe a John Wayne movie (her favorite) later in the day.

An exceptionally fantastic duckpin bowler, Jean was also great at nearly every other game and hated losing. (At age 93, she beat her college-aged granddaughter at beer pong after learning to play that day.) Jean also enjoyed ceramics, journaling, and watching the Orioles play (you’d reliably hear a few “bastards” in her Bronx accent if they were losing).

Jean eventually welcomed seven grandchildren and three great-grandchildren. Every Christmas, Jean got to work making her famous lasagna for everyone. The recipe, passed down from her mother, involved a precise arrangement of layer after layer of pasta, meat, sauce, and cheese into a pan the size of a bulldog. If you’ve had it, you know it’s the best in the world.

At dinner with Jean, you could expect stories, smiles, a few sly comments, and a big hug and kiss goodbye. She had love and food in equal and ample supply, and if anything ran out, there was always more in the basement.

Jean was the beloved mother of the late Jo-Anne Stough (H.H. Thomas). She is survived by her daughters Christine Jacobs (Charles), Lorraine Doucette (the late Richard), and Cheryl Dunigan (Matthew); her grandchildren, Garrett Jacobs, Daniel Jacobs (Alysia), Steven Doucette (Toby Ziemba), Kenneth Doucette, Maeve Dunigan, Silas Dunigan, and Annabelle Dunigan; her great-grandchildren, Hazel and Hunter Jacobs and Stevie-Jean Doucette; and her niece and nephews, Robert Fiscella (Kathy), Janet Argenziano (Frank), and James Fiscella (Barbara Zimmerman).

Friends may call at St. Mark Catholic Church (Chapel), 30 Melvin Ave., Catonsville, on Thursday, February 22, 2024, from 10 to 11 a.m., followed by a Mass of Christian Burial at 11 a.m. Interment at Garrison Forest Veterans Cemetery at 11:30 a.m. on March 5, 2024.

In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to the Alzheimer’s Association, 225 Michigan Ave., Floor 17, Chicago, IL, 60601 (alz.org)