Sylvia C (Cheek) Brady

Sylvia Cheek Brady, 85, of Upper Marlboro, Maryland, passed away after a short illness on July 2, 2023. Sylvia was born on March 19, 1938, in Concord, North Carolina, and grew up in nearby Kannapolis. Much of her childhood she lived at the Towel City Inn, a boardinghouse her parents managed. She graduated from A.L. Brown High School in Kannapolis in 1956. She was part of the first class at Wake Forest to spend all four years at the school's Reynolda Campus in Winston-Salem. She studied secondary education and English, graduating in 1960.

After college, she moved to Annapolis to teach high school English at Severna Park High School. There she met her husband, Charles, then an industrial arts teacher at the school. She and fellow roommates from North Carolina lived near Annapolis in Bay Ridge, where they rented a summer cottage on the Chesapeake Bay during low season. Returning to North Carolina in the summers to attend graduate school, she completed her masters degree in education from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 1964 and married Charles a couple weeks later.

The couple made their home in Upper Marlboro in a house built by her husband. She taught English at Central High School in Capitol Heights until starting her family, first with son Christopher in 1968, then with son Mark coming on New Years Eve in 1970. Sylvia became a dedicated mother and homemaker. She also used her educational background and musical interests to teach piano out of her home for several years to local students. Later, she became a home and hospital teacher for Prince George's County, working with students who were unable to attend classes in person for health matters.

Distressed by the challenges she saw faced by both students and teachers in similar situations, Sylvia advocated for better awareness and services. She helped organize a statewide association for home and hospital teachers. In 2006, she received an award recognizing her as that year's outstanding home and hospital teacher in Maryland. Sylvia had a love of language, learning, and exploration. She enjoyed books which were among her favorite gifts to others.

She would lose herself in museums, often to the consternation of her sons. She loved travel. When younger, she and her husband took road trips from Maryland to Banff and Nova Scotia. When her children were older, the family fulfilled a long-standing desire and caravanned across the country on a six week journey. In later years, Sylvia traveled internationally with friends and family. One of her book finds helped her rediscover her great-grandmother's ancestral town in Alsace. A visit to the town led to a search for family records and an unexpected introduction to cousins still living there. Later, she was able to do the same in her Bavarian great-grandfather's hometown.

Sylvia was preceded in death by her parents, Millard and Idell Cheek. She is survived by her husband, Charles; her sons, Chris and Mark (Alida); her sister, Sue LaGrange of Jacksonville, Florida; one granddaughter; extended family and friends.

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